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www/philosophy savingeurope.html
|
From: |
Yavor Doganov |
|
Subject: |
www/philosophy savingeurope.html |
|
Date: |
Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:50:18 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Yavor Doganov <yavor> 07/06/16 11:50:18
Modified files:
philosophy : savingeurope.html
Log message:
Templated.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/savingeurope.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.15&r2=1.16
Patches:
Index: savingeurope.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/savingeurope.html,v
retrieving revision 1.15
retrieving revision 1.16
diff -u -b -r1.15 -r1.16
--- savingeurope.html 5 May 2005 19:37:16 -0000 1.15
+++ savingeurope.html 16 Jun 2007 11:49:56 -0000 1.16
@@ -1,31 +1,7 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
- "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en">
-
-<head>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
<title>Saving Europe from Software Patents - GNU Project - Free Software
Foundation (FSF)</title>
-<meta http-equiv="content-type" content='text/html; charset=utf-8' />
-<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/gnu.css" />
-<link rev="made" href="mailto:address@hidden"; />
-</head>
-
-<!-- This document is in XML, and xhtml 1.0 -->
-<!-- Please make sure to properly nest your tags -->
-<!-- and ensure that your final document validates -->
-<!-- consistent with W3C xhtml 1.0 and CSS standards -->
-<!-- See validator.w3.org -->
-
-<body>
-
-<p><a href="#translations">Translations</a> of this page</p>
-
-<h3>Saving Europe from Software Patents</h3>
-<p>
-<a href="/graphics/philosophicalgnu.html"><img
src="/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg"
- alt=" [image of a Philosophical Gnu] "
- width="160" height="200" /></a>
-</p>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>Saving Europe from Software Patents</h2>
<p>
Imagine that each time you made a software design decision, and
@@ -34,45 +10,51 @@
sued.</p>
<p>
That's how it is today in the US, because of software patents. Soon
-it may be the same in most of Europe (<a href="#ft1" name="toc1">1</a>). The
countries that operate
-the European Patent Office, spurred by large companies and encouraged
-by patent lawyers, are moving to allow patents covering mathematical
-computations.</p>
+it may be the same in most of Europe (<a href="#ft1">1</a>). The
+countries that operate the European Patent Office, spurred by large
+companies and encouraged by patent lawyers, are moving to allow
+patents covering mathematical computations.</p>
<p>
To block this move, European citizens must take action, and do it
-soon--by talking with their national governments to raise opposition
-to the change. Action in Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands,
-and/or Denmark is especially important, to join a campaign already
-under way in France.</p>
+soon—by talking with their national governments to raise
+opposition to the change. Action in Germany, Sweden, Finland, the
+Netherlands, and/or Denmark is especially important, to join a
+campaign already under way in France.</p>
<p>
Patents have played havoc with free software already. During the
1980s, the patent holders for public key encryption entirely
-suppressed free software for that job. They wanted to suppress PGP
-too, but facing public criticism, they accepted a compromise: adding
-restrictions to PGP so that it was no longer free software. (We began
-developing the GNU Privacy Guard after the broadest patent expired.)</p>
-<p>
-Compuserve developed GIF format for images, then was stunned when
-Unisys threatened to sue them and everyone else who developed or ran
-software to produce GIFs. Unisys had obtained a patent on the LZW
-data compression algorithm, which is one part of generating GIF
-format, and refuses to permit free software to use LZW (<a href="#ft2"
name="toc2">2</a>). As a
-result, any free software in the US that supports making true
-compressed GIFs is at risk of a lawsuit.</p>
-<p>
-In the US and some other countries, free software for MP3 is
-impossible; in 1998, US developers who had developed free
-MP3-generation programs were threatened with patent lawsuits, and
-forced to withdraw them. Some are now distributed in European
-countries--but if the European Patent Office makes this planned
-change, they may become unavailable there too.</p>
+suppressed free software for that job. They wanted to suppress
+<acronym title="Pretty Good Privacy">PGP</acronym> too, but facing
+public criticism, they accepted a compromise: adding restrictions to
+<acronym>PGP</acronym> so that it was no longer free software. (We
+began developing the GNU Privacy Guard after the broadest patent
+expired.)</p>
+<p>
+Compuserve developed <abbr title="Graphics Interchange Format">
+GIF</abbr> format for images, then was stunned when Unisys threatened
+to sue them and everyone else who developed or ran software to produce
+<abbr>GIF</abbr>s. Unisys had obtained a patent on
+the <abbr title="Lempel-Ziv-Welch">LZW</abbr> data compression
+algorithm, which is one part of generating <abbr>GIF</abbr> format,
+and refuses to permit free software to use <abbr>LZW</abbr>
+(<a href="#ft2">2</a>). As a result, any free software in the US that
+supports making true compressed <abbr>GIF</abbr>s is at risk of a
+lawsuit.</p>
+<p>
+In the US and some other countries, free software
+for <abbr title="MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3">MP3</abbr> is impossible; in
+1998, US developers who had developed free <abbr>MP3</abbr>-generation
+programs were threatened with patent lawsuits, and forced to withdraw
+them. Some are now distributed in European countries—but if the
+European Patent Office makes this planned change, they may become
+unavailable there too.</p>
<p>
Later in 1998, Microsoft menaced the World Wide Web, by obtaining a
-patent affecting style sheets--after encouraging the WWW Consortium to
-incorporate the feature in the standard. It's not the first time that
-a standards group has been lured into a patent's maw. Public reaction
-convinced Microsoft to back down from enforcing this patent; but we
-can't count on mercy every time.</p>
+patent affecting style sheets—after encouraging the WWW
+Consortium to incorporate the feature in the standard. It's not the
+first time that a standards group has been lured into a patent's maw.
+Public reaction convinced Microsoft to back down from enforcing this
+patent; but we can't count on mercy every time.</p>
<p>
The list could go on and on, if I had time to look through my old mail
for examples and space to describe them.</p>
@@ -104,97 +86,65 @@
ability to develop a large amount of software. We have refuted them
with empirical fact, by developing a broad range of powerful software
that respects users' freedom. Giving the public the full spectrum of
-general-purpose software is within our reach--unless giving software
-to the public is prohibited.</p>
+general-purpose software is within our reach—unless giving
+software to the public is prohibited.</p>
<p>
Software patents threaten to do that. The time to take action is now.
-Please visit <a href="http://www.ffii.org/";>www.ffii.org</a> for more
information, plus detailed
-suggestions for action. And please take time to help.</p>
-
-<p>
-(<a href="#toc1" name="ft1">1</a>) The European Patent Office, used by many
European countries, has
-issued quite a number of patents that affect software, which were
-presented as something other than software patents. The change now
-being considered would open the door to unlimited patenting of
-algorithms and software features, which would greatly increase the
-number of software patents issued.</p>
-<p>
-(<a href="#toc2" name="ft2">2</a>) Unisys issued a cleverly worded statement
which is often taken to
-permit free software for making GIFs, but which I believe does not do
-so. I wrote to their legal department to ask for clarification and/or
-a change in the policy, but received no reply.</p>
+Please visit <a href="http://www.ffii.org/";>www.ffii.org</a> for more
+information, plus detailed suggestions for action. And please take
+time to help.</p>
+
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<ol>
+<li><a id="ft1"></a>The European Patent Office, used by many European
+countries, has issued quite a number of patents that affect software,
+which were presented as something other than software patents. The
+change now being considered would open the door to unlimited patenting
+of algorithms and software features, which would greatly increase the
+number of software patents issued.</li>
+
+<li><a id="ft2"></a>Unisys issued a cleverly worded statement which is
+often taken to permit free software for making <abbr>GIF</abbr>s, but
+which I believe does not do so. I wrote to their legal department to
+ask for clarification and/or a change in the policy, but received no
+reply.</li>
+</ol>
<hr />
<h4><a href="/philosophy/philosophy.html">Other Texts to Read</a></h4>
<ul>
- <li>Get the latest threats to Europe's internet from <a
href="http://www.ffii.org";>ffii.org</a></li>
+ <li>Get the latest threats to Europe's internet
+ from <a href="http://www.ffii.org";>ffii.org</a></li>
</ul>
-<hr />
-<!-- All pages on the GNU web server should have the section about -->
-<!-- verbatim copying. Please do NOT remove this without talking -->
-<!-- with the webmasters first. -->
-<!-- Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the document -->
-<!-- and that it is like this "2001, 2002" not this "2001-2002." -->
-
-<div class="translations">
-<p><a id="translations"></a>
-<b>Translations of this page</b>:<br />
-
-<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical, and in the original -->
-<!-- language if possible, otherwise default to English -->
-<!-- If you do not have it English, please comment what the -->
-<!-- English is. If you add a new language here, please -->
-<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
-<!-- - in /home/www/bin/nightly-vars either TAGSLANG or WEBLANG -->
-<!-- - in /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
-<!-- one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
-<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
-<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
-<!-- Please also check you have the 2 letter language code right versus -->
-<!-- http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm -->
-
-[
- <a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.cs.html">Česky</a> <!-- Czech -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.html">English</a>
-| <a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.es.html">Español</a> <!--
Spanish -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.fr.html">Français</a> <!--
French -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.it.html">Italiano</a> <!-- Italian -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.ko.html">한국어</a>
<!-- Korean -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.no.html">Norsk</a> <!-- Norwegian -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.pl.html">Polski</a> <!-- POlish -->
-| <a
href="/philosophy/savingeurope.ru.html">Русский</a>
<!-- Russian -->
-]
-</p>
</div>
-<div class="copyright">
-<p>
-Return to the <a href="/home.html">GNU Project home page</a>.
-</p>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
<p>
Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
-There are also <a href="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to contact</a>
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
the FSF.
<br />
-Please send broken links and other corrections (or suggestions) to
+Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
</p>
<p>
Please see the
-<a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+<a href="/server/standards/README.translations">Translations
README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting
translations of this article.
</p>
<p>
-Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
-51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA
-<br />
-Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
+Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2007 Free Software
+Foundation, Inc.,</p>
+<address>51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA</address>
+<p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is
preserved.
</p>
@@ -202,10 +152,49 @@
<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2005/05/05 19:37:16 $ $Author: novalis $
+$Date: 2007/06/16 11:49:56 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
+<div id="translations">
+<h4>Translations of this page</h4>
+
+<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical. -->
+<!-- Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. -->
+<!-- Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. -->
+<!-- If you add a new language here, please -->
+<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
+<!-- - /home/www/bin/nightly-vars either TAGSLANG or WEBLANG -->
+<!-- - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
+<!-- - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
+<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
+<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
+<!-- Please also check you have the 2 letter language code right, cf. -->
+<!-- <URL:http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm> -->
+<!-- Please use W3C normative character entities. -->
+
+<ul class="translations-list">
+<!-- Czech -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.cs.html">Česky</a> [cs]</li>
+<!-- English -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.html">English</a> [es]</li>
+<!-- Spanish -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/savingeurope.es.html">Español</a> [es]</li>
+<!-- French -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/savingeurope.fr.html">Français</a> [fr]</li>
+<!-- Italian -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.it.html">Italiano</a> [it]</li>
+<!-- Korean -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/savingeurope.ko.html">한국어</a> [ko]</li>
+<!-- Norwegian -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.no.html">Norsk</a> [no]</li>
+<!-- Polish -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.pl.html">Polski</a> [pl]</li>
+<!-- Russian -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/savingeurope.ru.html">Русский</a> [ru]</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+</div>
</body>
</html>
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