*Varoitus:* Tätä sivua ei ole vielä käännetty. Alla näet sivun
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= Open Letter on Freedom and Internet Voting to Estonia's National
Electoral Committee =
[Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130730-01.fi.html ]
FSFE has sent an open letter[2] to Estonia's National Electoral
Committee (NEC) regarding the country's Internet voting system. We ask
the NEC to release the software used in the election process as Free
Software[3].
"Our aim is to safeguard the freedom and privacy of Estonia's
citizens, and to improve the security of the election process," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President.
Estonia has used Internet voting for general elections since 2005.
Unfortunately, the system's technology remains proprietary. Local
activists have recently managed to convince the NEC to release source
code for some of the software under a non-free licence, but this licence
does not permit distribution of derivative works or commercial use.
These arbitrary restrictions on software developed with public funds
hinder security research.
"Important system components remain completely unknown to the general
public. One of those components is the client side voting application
that must be loaded and executed on the voter's computer," says Heiki
Ojasild, Fellowship representative in FSFE's General Assembly. "There
is no guarantee that this widely distributed[4] black box functions
according to voters' expectations, or that it will respect their
privacy or will."
Due to the unavailability of the source code and the fact that the
client side voting application is not built on Open Standards[5], the
voter is also forced to use one of the operating systems supported by
the National Electoral Committee.
FSFE has drawn the NEC's attention to these remaining problems and
possible solutions. FSFE has offered the NEC its assistance and is
looking forward to helping them ensure that freedom, privacy, and
credibility of the elections are not forsaken in the pursuit of
technological progress.
1. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.fi.html
2. http://fsfe.org/ee/i-voting/2013-07-26_Open_Letter_to_NEC.fi.html
3. http://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.fi.html
4. http://vvk.ee/voting-methods-in-estonia/engindex/statistics/
5. https://fsfe.org/activities/os/def.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
*Varoitus:* Tätä sivua ei ole vielä käännetty. Alla näet sivun
alkuperäisen version. Lisätietoja käännösten tekemiseen osallistumisesta
ja muusta tältä sivulta[1].
= FSFE objects to claims of 'predatory pricing' in Free Software =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130729-01.fi.html ]
In a recent antitrust submission to the European Commission, a
Microsoft-led coalition falsely claimed that the distribution of Free
Software free of charge hurts competition. FSFE has written[2] a letter
to the European Commission's competition authorities to refute this
claim, and make it clear that Free Software is critical for an open,
competitive IT market.
In its letter, FSFE urges the Commission to consider the facts properly
before accepting these allegations at face value. "Free Software is a
boon for humankind. The only thing that it is dangerous to is
Microsoft's hopelessly outdated, restrictive business model," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's president.
The so-called "FairSearch" coalition is essentially asking the European
Commission to favour a restrictive business model over a liberal one.
This is exactly the opposite of what competition regulators should do in
order to achieve a fair and open market.
"Free Software is not about price, it's about liberty, a guarantee of
competition and vendor independence. Asking to cripple Free Software in
order to allow proprietary vendors to sell their locked-down systems is
just abusurd" says Carlo Piana, FSFE's General Counsel. "The most
substantial threat to competition in the mobile space today are software
patents, and we have repeatedly urged antitrust authorities to address
this problem," he adds.
FSFE asks the European Commission to dismiss the "FairSearch"
coalition's unfounded claims regarding predatory pricing, and not make
them part of whatever steps it decides to take in response to the
group's filing.
1. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.fi.html
2. http://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/20130729.EC.Fairsearch.letter.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/