[DMCA-Activists] Portuguese Free Software Resolution

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: portuguese resolution on free software
Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 22:10:12 +0100
From: Graham Seaman <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden

Hi,

The Portuguese parliament (Assembleia da Republica) recently
passed an  advisory motion on free software (proposed by the
Communist Party, but  with cross party support). You can find the
original at  http://www.pcp.pt/ar/legis-9/projres/pjr255.htm.
There is  some (portuguese language) discussion of the
resolution, together with  the text of supporting speeches by
other deputies in the ANSOL free  software list 
http://listas.ansol.org/pipermai/ansol-geral/2004-September/

I haven't seen anything about this in any language other than 
Portuguese, so I thought I would translate it.
The translation below is completely unofficial; I hope it's of
some  interest for the list, but you might want to get it
verified by a native  Portuguese speaker before using it for
anything.

Best
Graham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draft resolution no. 255/1X

Recommends that the government take measures to develop Free
Software in  Portugal

  1. Software plays an ever more pivotal role in administrative, 
political, and economic activities. As such it is essential to
guarantee  that these activities - which are fundamental for the
development and  sovereignty of the country - should not be
subject to a monopoly of  private bodies, and that it should be
possible to guarantee the  independence of the state in relation
to proprietary formats and  software suppliers who may close or
discontinue their software at any  moment.
  2. The concept of Free Software is based on four fundamental 
principles of freedom for the user, defined by the 'Free
Software  Foundation' in the following way:
         * The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
         * The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt
it to  your needs.
         * The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help
your  neighbor.
         * The freedom to improve the program, and release your 
improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
           Access to the source code is essential to make these
four  freedoms possible.
  3. Free Software, insofar as it guarantees access to the
original  source code, not only allows this independence but also
brings  significant savings when used in public administration,
since it does  not require the payment of licences for its use.
It also allows it to be  verified without question that the
software fulfills only the tasks for  which it was designed, with
no hidden functions which might place at  risk either sovereignty
or the national economy.
  4. Adaptation of the various resource centres for information 
technology, in the framework of the public educational network,
to  permit the mandatory availability of Free Software solutions
for  students and teaching staff.
  5. Inclusion of material relating to Free Software in the
definition  of the various curricula and programmes for teaching
of information  technology in primary and secondary education,
identifying in the  curricula and programmes any currently
existing references to products  or trade names of commercial
software, with the aim of their compulsory  substitution by
corresponding generic descriptions.
  6. Establishment of research grants and support programmes for 
research and development projects; translation into Portuguese 
(converting into Portuguese the technical and scientific
terminology  involved); and application of Free Software
solutions, in the area of  higher education and research or
scientific institutions.
  7. Integration of the Free Software field in programmes for 
encouragement and support for technological change, especially
for SMEs,  as well as in initiatives for publicizing information
technology to the  associational movement (youth, culture, sport,
recreation etc).
  8. Interoperability between different computing applications
is  essential for the proper functioning of the state, and it is
essential  that these are not dependent on the proprietary
formats of private  companies. The initiative of the European
Commission for the electronic  exchange of information between
administrations (IDA) gives especial  relevance to the use of
Free Software in this activity, having even  created a Free
Software Observatory.
  9. The 'eEurope 2005' programme of the European Union
recommends the  use of open source software in various sectors,
in particular e-government.
 10. As well as take-up by public administration, it is also
desireable  to motivate private companies to use this software
model, as a way of  energizing the national economy and making it
independent of private  monopolies.
 11. Free Software is a source of work for Portuguese programmers
as it  is for the micro, small, and medium portuguese computing
enterprises;  not only at the level of software development but
also in providing  technical support for these and other
applications which have the same  philosophy of implementation
and distribution.
 12. The use of Free Software in teaching not only allows a
reduction  of costs in the use of information technology, but
also allows access to  detailed information on the inner workings
of the software used by  computing students, guaranteeing an
quality of opportunity in access  since the student is not
compelled to pay a licence for its use outside  the school
environment. It also ensures that the student does not become  a
mere operator of applications from any multinational company,
but  becomes a skilled technician, an essential factor in the
development of  the country.
 13. Free Software allows the easy translation into Portuguese
of  existing programmes, since the translation is not dependent
on the good  will of the supplying companies, or limited by any
kind of licensing.

Therefore, taking into account the reasons laid out above,
Parliament  resolves, under the terms of clause 5 article 166 of
the Constitution of  the Portuguese Republic, to recommend that
the Government carry out the  following measures:

  1. Assembly of a 'White Book of Free Software in Portugal',
which  (among other aims) evaluates the current personnel,
surveys trials in  progress, and defines scenarios and lines of
intervention.
  2. Development of a programme of definition and staffing of
pilot  projects for reference use of Free Software in public
administratrion,  in particular within the scope of the Unit for
Information and Knowledge  (UMIC), and of the Ministries of
Culture, Education and Science, and  Higher Education.
  3. Creation of a support service, staffed by UMIC, for
technical  support to the implementation of Free Software
solutions in public  administration.
  4. Integration of the field of Free Software in the area of 
incentives and programmes of support for administrative
modernization of  local councils, including in particular
technical support, logistics,  and training.
  5. Establishment of mandatory access to source code and data
formats  in the acquisition of computing solutions destined for
use by public  administration and other government bodies, for
the exercise of  sovereign functions and other areas of strategic
importance.
  6. Development of an 'online library' which systematizes and
brings  up to date information on the range of Free Software
solutions and  applications, with particular attention to those
in the Portuguese language.
  7. Adaptation of the various information technology resource
centres  in the public schools network with the aim of
compulsorily making  available Free Software solutions to
students and teaching staff.
  8. Inclusion of material relating to Free Software in the
definition  of the various curricula and programmes for teaching
of information  technology in primary and secondary education,
while identifying  currently existing references in these
curricula and programmes to trade  names and products of
commercial software, with the aim of their  mandatory replacement
by corresponding generic descriptions.
  9. Establishment of research grants and support programmes for 
research and development projects; translation into Portuguese 
(converting the technical and scientific terms involved to
Portuguese);  and application of Free Software solutions, in the
area of higher  education and research and scientific institutes.
 10. Integration of the Free Software field in programmes
encouraging  and supporting technological change in companies,
especially SMEs; as  also in initiatives to encourage information
technology in the  associationist movement (youth, culture,
sports, recreation, etc).

Assembly of the Republic, May 26 2004

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