[Chapter-delegates] Fwd: Copyright violations are a real problem - At least I think we can all agree?

[Eric Burger]

I would offer that Mr. Carasoo-Muñoz's analysis is spot on. The Internet is built on free and open standards. Anyone can download the specifications for free from the IETF. Anyone can build software to implement those specifications. Nowhere is one required to buy or use a Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, Huawei, or Lenovo product to get on, publish, or retrieve information from the Internet. Even better, as you point out, all of the software you need to get on, publish, or run the internet is available, for free, today.

Where should we be focusing? Do we focus on convincing Microsoft to give away their software? Or, do we foster more free and open source software? 

On Apr 29, 2012, at 7:04 AM, Norbert Klein wrote:

> Jordi Carrasco-Muñoz, working in 2002 for the European Commission, compiled some economic data showing that – under the present copyright rules for commercial software - the Internet is obviously not for everyone (if they would use proprietary software), pleading for “FREE/LIBRE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE AS OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT AID(http://cosgov.ow2.org/xwiki/bin/download/Main/Sessions/munoz.pdf)
> These are some of his figures (from Vietnam and from 2002 – surely prices and salaries have somewhat changed since – though his discourse is much wider than economics). He does not end up “convinced that the only way forward is through voluntary agreements between content and technology communities to deal with those violations,” - but makes a proposal: “Mass Distribution0f one OfficialDevelopmentAid-FreeLibreOpenSourceSoftware CD-ROM.” This is not our business here, of course; but the economics he researched are:
> a) COST (I) - BASIC DATA
> Cost Windows XP + MS Office
> – Standard Version $560
> – Professional Version $800
> As an example, we can use the two most common packages found on a computer: The MS Windows operating system and the MS Office package. They cost $560 in the standard version and $800 in the professional version.
> a) COST (II) - VIETNAM
> (GDP per capita $440/year)
> XP+Office = 1 Year 3 months
> XP+Office (Pro) = 1 Year 10 months
> To a Vietnamese, that represents dedicating -respectively- 1 year and 3 months of wages or 1 year and 10 months of basically not eating; depending on the version.
> a) COST (III)
> Cost-Equivalent for the US
> (GDP per capita $30,200/Year)
> XP+Office = $38,436
> XP+Office (Pro) = $54,909
> For an American, that would be like paying more than $38.000 for the standard version, and almost $55.000 for the professional version.
> 
> The Internet is for everyone? Surely not. – And there is not much room left, to be found “through voluntary agreements between content and technology communities to deal with those violations.”

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