Sites Shut Down to Protest Software Patents 563
Posted
by
CowboyNeal
from the taking-a-stand dept.
from the taking-a-stand dept.
blueser writes "I went today to TUTOS homepage to check for a newer version, and I was surprised to see that the author replaced the homepage by a 'Closed because of Software-Patents' page, with a brief explanation." Just one site? that's hardly a big deal, but there's more. maliabu writes "Knoppix is closed, apparently waiting for the European Parliament to decide about the legalisation and adoption of so-called 'software patents' in Europe." And still more. SLbigE writes "The Wine HQ website has temporarily shut down its webpage in protest to a proposed law in Europe regarding Software Patents." There's many more sites as well, these were just the first I was alerted to, Feel free to note some more in comments. Looks like they're doing a good job of illustrating what could be lost soon.
Rpm find (Score:2, Informative)
Sign the petition (Score:5, Informative)
Details of the campaign against software patents can be found at http://swpat.ffii.org/group/todo/index.en.html [ffii.org]
Gimp (Score:5, Informative)
Qemu too... (Score:3, Informative)
It's closed too...
Noticed it yesterday (Score:2, Informative)
PicoSQL seems to be the home of an up and coming open source SQL server.
Freshrpms.net is also closed (Score:2, Informative)
RPMfind (Score:3, Informative)
RPMFind [rpmfind.net] and its mirror sites are closed as well. Not the front page, but after a search query you get the warning. They say it's temporarily though.
Economists wrote an open letter on the directive (Score:5, Informative)
gtk (Score:5, Informative)
Many sites closed (Score:2, Informative)
Our feathered friends (Score:2, Informative)
www.apache.org [apache.org]
mplayer and ffmpeg (Score:3, Informative)
Listing of website participating in the action (Score:4, Informative)
Bit late ... (Score:2, Informative)
Re: Slashdot is not down (Score:5, Informative)
"Slashdot is not, however, even though some have requested it be taken down for the day..."
Well, someone has to be up to let people know what is going on.
Apache Software Foundation page (Score:3, Informative)
Sigh... they had to choose the last bloody day I can download anything before I move (after which I'll be without Internet access for a week).
(Then again I can probably hold off on installing a webserver until my net access is back.)
List of Online Demo Partner Sites (Score:2, Informative)
Join in, and contact your MEPs if you are a citizen of an EU member country.
no, email your MEP (Score:5, Informative)
If you live in the EU, don't just sign the petition - email your MEPs explaining why they should oppose the motion (and reminding them - gently - that they want your vote!). Yesterday I emailed all 10 MEPs representing London explaining my concerns, and I've already received 2 thoughtful responses -- one of which was seemed convinced by my arguments.
Probably the best arguments to use are those against patenting algorithmic business methods (also covered by the directive) rather than software per se, as they're more likely to be appreciated by politicians. My example was patenting an 'algorithm' that uses a number keyed in by a bank customer to verify their identity against the account details held on their bank card. Hey presto, your "software patent" gives you a monopoly on ATMs.
You can find a list of UK MEPs at the European Parliament's UK Office [europarl.org.uk]. For other countries, check out the main EU parliament website [eu.int]. Note that each constituency is represented by several MEPs, allocated between different parites by proportional representation. The vote on the directive is next week, so email your MEP today!
Re:Apache Software Foundation page (Score:3, Informative)
That's because it's not. Their front page talks about the issue, but then they have a continue on to apache.org [apache.org] link which takes you to index2.html. This is also the case on their sub-sites, like httpd.apache.org. If you click on that link, you'll see that the Apache site is there. Sometimes we do need to read beyond the first setence of websites, even if this is Slashdot.
Re:Rpm find (Score:5, Informative)
My site is shut-down [blibbleblobble.co.uk].
Others include KDE, Gimp, gnu-darwin, GNU-savannah, and most of the French and German linux sites.
Re:Rpm find (Score:5, Informative)
slackware closed (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Rpm find (Score:3, Informative)
No, [s]he is not. The front page works, but statement is returned for any search query.
Re:Rpm find (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, they are serious. I've been bombarding my local MEPs about it. And recently I got a very interesting response [credit1.co.uk].
It made me think that maybe we misunderstand the proposal [eu.int] - especially after it was recently been amended.
I quote directly from Article 4a:
Exclusions from patentability:
A computer-implemented invention shall not be regarded as making a technical contribution merely because it involves the use of a computer, network or other programmable apparatus. Accordingly, inventions involving computer programs which implement business, mathematical or other methods and do not produce any technical effects beyond the normal physical interactions between a program and the computer, network or other programmable apparatus in which it is run shall not be patentable.
Justification
This, in conjunction with the corresponding recital, provides clarification that simply specifying technical means is not enough for patentability. There must be a technical contribution. It also makes it clear that the computer implementation of a business method simpliciter is not a patentable invention."
IANAL but to me that satisfies everything we, as Free Software advocates, are seeking? Why are we so strongly opposing this? If you read the full directive, it sounds fairly sensible.
Re:Rpm find (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Rpm find (Score:4, Informative)
- Industrial application: the EPO interprets this as "usable in a way that makes money". Don't believe me? One of the biggest proponents of software patents said so himself [wiki.ael.be] in the JURI meeting, when other proponents mentioned they were afraid that this requirement would exclude too many software patents.
- Technical effect: first of all, the "normal physical interaction between a program and the computer" is nowhere defined. Furhter, technical is also nowhere defined (and they don't want to define it, they say it has to follow from case law). In other words, you need anundefined effect apart from something which is not defined, so what could that be? Plenty of things [iusmentis.com], it turns out (see the heading "When is something technical"). Examples: processing data representing an image, saving memory, increasing speed, using computers instead of humans to process secret/private/sensitive data and automating a known process if the automated process provides surprising speed or economy of scale benefits.
Keep in mind that the directive is designed to legalise all software patents that have been illegally granted until now by the EPO. You can find some examples of patents which such "technical effects" here [iusmentis.com] and here [ffii.org].For information on her other claims, please read the the English translation [ugent.be] of the letter I sent to most Flemish MEPs, as well as this short overview [ugent.be] of why software patents are bad.
Thanks for writing your MEPs, and keep it up!
One other link to protest (Score:2, Informative)
Re:This 'protest' needs some HUGE commercial... (Score:3, Informative)
Umm... Google owns software patents [uspto.gov]. Sergey is listed as an inventor. Other companies are now resuming the fight for web-search dominance, and this patent is part of Google's defense.
It means that no one else in the US can use their highly-successful ranking algorithm. Google stands to benefit greatly from software patents- I can't expect them to take such an expensive moral stand.
(Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos stood against software patents, even though his company benefits from them. But there's much more to Amazon.com than a piece of software. Google basically justs rents access to that algorithm and their webcrawled database- and other [msn.com] companies [altavista.com] have equally extensive databases...)
Re:This is ridiculous (Score:2, Informative)