Law

In December, the long awaited version 2.0 of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) was released by the European Commission. Version 1.0 had defined “open standard” as royalty-free, a definition of enormous impact on standards policy because it focused on the user perspective rather than the perspective of standards development organizations. Some standards organizations claim that “open standards” refers only to the way the standard was developed – not the terms of availability. » Read more

Over the holidays I thought a bit about the copyright conundrum. Is copyright a vital source of creativity, or more of a hindrance?  Most of us assume that we need strong laws to prevent copying of certain forms of expression, including books, movies and computer programs. We generally take it as given that unless unpermitted copying is quashed, creators would have no incentive to create, and society would lose the benefit of their creative work. We've erected a powerful system of copyright laws, with broad scope, lengthy terms, and draconian penalties, based on these basic assumptions. » Read more

I wrote last week about the "Typhoid Mary" of internet restriction laws, observing how Wikileaks has confirmed that a wing of the US Government - the US Trade representative (USTR) - has been systematically bullying European and other world governments. » Read more

The visual components on opensource.com are an important element to the look and feel of our content. The images help set the tone for the site. The imagery embodies several qualities such as motivational, editorial, authoritative (but not authoritarian), human, and optimism.

Without our imagery, the content on the site would be plain and unsightly. We'd like to highlight some of the images from 2010 and give you a chance to pick your favorite. » Read more