Correspondence
A common task IFSO undertakes is informing people, especially politicians,
about issues relating to Free Software.
We list the letters we have sent on this page.
- 2008-April-22 - an IFSO member sends an FOI request to the NSAI
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We were disappointed that the NSAI (National Standards Authority of Ireland)
reversed its decision on OOXML, given that only minor changes had been made to
the standard. A FOI (Freedom of Information) request should give us some
insight. Noted here because it may be of interest to IFSO members.
- 2008-March-11 - IFSO writes again to the NSAI regarding the proposed OOXML standard
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ISO/IEC DIS 29500: OOXML is a proposal by Microsoft to standardize document formats. The proposal is riddled with technical flaws and
proprietary lock-ins. This letter, sent following the 2008 Ballot Resolution Meeting, urges NSAI to vote against the proposal.
- 2007-July-10 - IFSO writes again to the NSAI regarding the proposed OOXML standard
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ISO/IEC DIS 29500: OOXML is a proposal by Microsoft to standardize document formats. The proposal is riddled with technical flaws and
proprietary lock-ins. This letter urges NSAI to vote against the proposal.
- 2007-April-20 - IFSO writes to MEPs about IPRED2 (the "criminalisation" directive)
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The directive Com(2006)168 "on criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of intellectual property rights" had serious ambiguities.
We asked MEPs to reject it, or follow FFII's recommendations on amendments.
- 2007-February-01 - IFSO points
out contradictions between Microsoft's ISO application and
existing ISO standards
-
Microsoft had applied for their word processor format to be approved
as an ISO standard by a fast-track procedure. IFSO wrote to the
National Standards Authority of Ireland. Microsoft's application
for a fast-track procedure was later rejected on February 6th.
- 2005-March-04 - IFSO calls on Micheál Martin to object to the Software Patents Directive in the Competitiveness Council
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There was no qualified majority to justify the directive's presense on the
list of A-items.
- 2005-February-16 - Request for McCreevy to support restart
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We ask Commissioner McCreevy to honour JURI's request for a restart.
- 2005-January-28 - Request for a restart of the Patents Directive (pdf)
- Sent to Ireland's MEP on the JURI committee
- 2005-January-21 - IFSO requests that the Agriculture Council object to the Software Patents Directive
- The Software Patents directive was being tabled as an "A-item" on the
Agriculture Council.
- 2004-May-14 - IFSO's submission to the Copyright Consultation
- We point out that decompilation is essential to interoperability and
request that explicit exceptions to the protections of technological measures
be added.
- 2004-May-14 - Software Patents letter to Irish Competitiveness Council
- IFSO requests that Mary Harney push to uphold the decision of Irelands
MEPs and the European Parliament
- 2004-February - IFSO letter to Mary Harney, relating to the IPRE directive (pdf)
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The Directive on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights threatens to stifle competition in Europe
- 2003-December-12 - EUCD / InfoSoc comments (pdf)
- Comments on the draft of the Irish implementation of EUCD
- 2003-September-22 - Pre Vote (pdf)
- The second letter sent by IFSO to the MEPs of Ireland and the UK,
specifying which amendments should be accepted and rejected for the proposed
directive.
- 2003-September-01 - Dear MEP (pdf)
- The first letter sent by IFSO to the MEPs of Ireland and the UK,
describing the problems of software patents.