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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><font color="#000000"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="2"><font color="#161413"><font style="font-size: 20pt;" size="5">I</font></font><font color="#161413"><font size="3">n
this edition we choose to write about an important topic concerning
each citizen of India. Let us start this with a simple question. Why
do we endorse free software? Free software is 'freedom' software. The
user has the full freedom to understand the software (by analyzing
the source code), has complete freedom to upgrade or customize
according to his need, and can also fix the bugs without any
dependency. So freedom to understand a piece of source code is very
crucial as far as an individual is concerned. </font></font></font></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><font color="#000000"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="2"><font color="#556b2f"><font face="LiberationSans-Italic, sans-serif"><font size="3"><i>We
know this, then why are we reiterating this basic question?</i></font></font></font></font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">The
union budget '09 proposed to provide a Unique Identifier (UID) number
to each citizen in this country. It is argued that this UID number
would help the Government in identifying targeted beneficiaries for
various welfare schemes. Various departments based on their needs,
would be using this number. Going forward, this UID number would
avert the need for multiple proof of identity for citizens like,
ration card, electoral card, pan card, etc.(Apart from availing
Government services, it would be used for private needs also, such as
opening bank accounts or seeking telephone connections). Hence no
doubt, the role of this number is very crucial. Taking all these
arguments into consideration, the implementation of this project has
to take place with utmost care as it carries a very important
projected role as far as society's progress, justice and welfare is
concerned. Another important aspect is security. The UID database
hold very crucial information and is very much important as far as
National Security is concerned. Virtually this UID Database holds the
key for all kinds ofinformation. Considering the global and national
scenarios, this project is of prime importance. The project is very
huge. Initial budget estimation is of Rs 120 crores. And for sure it
would be revised multiple times before implementation (and can end up
3 to 5 times above budget estimation considering our practical
experiences from the industry.) Any one can oversee the complexity of
the work which includes construction of a new online database with
identity and biometric details of each citizen of India. We feel this
includes development of sophisticated applications which may include
many tiers, huge databases, different types of reports, packages etc.
It may also include interaction with different existing systems, and
migration of data from those system.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><font color="#556b2f"><font face="LiberationSans-Italic, sans-serif"><font size="3"><i>So,
what has happened? </i></font></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">Well,
some disturbing news is heard. </font></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><font color="#000000">“<font face="LiberationSans-Italic, sans-serif"><font size="2"><i>Microsoft
is keen to partner in this project.” </i></font></font></font><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">We
have serious reservations on the involvement of Microsoft in this
crucial project. Freedom is each individual's fundamental right. He
cannot allow infiltration to his privacy or dictating terms to him.
What about a society? A society can be termed as progressive only
when each individual's right and freedom is protected. This is
exactly the State's role. It should ensure the freedom and well being
of each of its citizens. Microsoft is notorious on denial of the
freedom (in digital world). Restricting access to source code and not
allowing modifications from users is denial of his fundamental right
- freedom to know – which is the corner stone of any society's
progress. Denial of freedom to know (for a user and in this context
the user is Indian government) gives freedom for Proprietary Software
companies to infiltrate his(user's) privacy. The sheer number of
anti- rust suits against Microsoft and other Proprietary Software
makers is a testimony to the monopolistic tendencies of corporates
and their utter disregard to the laws of the land, in pursuit of
making money by hook or crook. In one of those cases, Microsoft
argued that it cannot continue revealing further information to the
judge, as the information is closely related to US national security.
In short Microsoft is bound by the US Laws and is having strong
strategic alliance with US Government, obviously this is in conflict
with our national interest as USA can use this alliance for achieving
any objectives they wanted (they have also announced Cyber warfare
NSPD 16 for crippling any networks across the world, which makes the
whole scenario more complicated). All these facts suggests an
impending danger is looming on the sovereignty of India if we allow
Microsoft in implementing this project. Just imagine how terrible it
will be if the presence of malicious code or bugs in Microsoft's
proprietary closed source crashes or corrupts the database, where
future ofmillions depends. The source code of a project which is
having tremendous importance to India, should be owned solely by the
Govt. of India and not by Microsoft or any other corporates. A
software can be termed as secure only if the freedom to examine or
modify the code lies with its user, in this case Govt. of India. As
per IT Act 2000, public systems cannot have malicious code inside. IT
Act further says, public systems should not cause leakage of
sensitive information relating to "privileges of parliament,
trade, or other sensitive information". This can only be ensured
if public systems are only on Free Software. Besides this, what if
Microsoft resorts to steal the most vital and crucial information (as
Satyam computers did to World-bank) and thereby destabilizing the
country as part of USA's global imperial agenda? It is unimaginable.
Another classic example is </font></font></font><font color="#000000"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="2">the
case of Venezuela’s state-owned oil </font></font></font><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">company
PDVSA, which demonstrated how Proprietary Software is a threat to the
sovereignty of a country.
(<a href="http://news.northxsouth.com/2008/11/18/prot">http://news.northxsouth.com/2008/11/18/prot</a>
ecting-sovereignty-with-free-software-is-agood-
idea-and-the-duty-of-governmentssays- stallman/). Apart from the
security concerns shared above, we identify Microsoft's attempt as a
crooked one! Microsoft sees the huge benefits it could accomplish by
involving in this project. Huge budget involvement, support work (in
software industry, majority of revenue is churned from the support
work, and one can not deny the possibility of introducing bugs in the
software for getting the support work!), upgradation work, backward
entry to National E-commerce project implementations, increased
market penetration and forcing of the implementation of IPR and copy
right laws by close association with the policy makers etc are few of
the advantages they could easily get! Adding to above, storage,
distribution and display formats of this crucial data is very
important. Openness andInteroperability are two vital and basic
requirements for any standard. It is often correctly noted that the
closed standards would drive one in to the folds of proprietaryrealm
and thereby much serious patent complications. We must ensure that
vital data of this stature is stored in formats that are open and
free of all constraints like royalties, patent claims etc and there
by should not allow to be controlled by anyone. Incidentally,this is
also time where India's Draft Policy on Open Standards close to
finalization, and in a </font></font></font><font color="#000000"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="2">surprise
move, Nasscom – a representing </font></font></font><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">body
of the industry and MAIT recommended inclusion of standards under
RAND terms and the usage of multiple standards in the same domain.
Both of these recommendations have serious implications as far as
India's interest is concerned. Issues of interoperability (between
different standards), complications (on adhering to multiple
standards) and high cost (of proprietary standards and bringing one
in to the fold of patent issues) are few of the major issues. We
suspect Microsoft's role and motivation on Nasscom and MAIT's
recommendation. Another disturbing fact is Nandan Nilakeni whom our
union ministry entrusted to implement this crucial project. This
project can be handled easily by any senior administrative officer
who is having prior experience of implementing complexecommerce
applications. He could be biased as his previous company shares,
business interest with Microsoft and also they voted for OOXML, much
against national interest. Considering his links and role he played
in Infosys, the possibility of Infosys being promoted cannot be
overruled (and obviously going with the proprietary realm). All
indications are that Microsoft is directing heavy lobbying in India
for accomplishing its vested interests. Different studies have shown
the superiority of Free Software when compared with Proprietary
Software. Robert Francis Group (IBM-sponsored research) found
securitylevels in GNU/Linux generally exceeded those in Windows,
providing a more secure and manageable environment out of the box
with significantly more functionality in terms of security
integration and management. The Linux kernel programming code is
better and more secure than the programming code of most Proprietary
Software - based on a four-year analysis of the 5.7 million lines of
Linux kernal source code conducted by five Stanford University
researchers. So we should use only Free Software for the
implementation of this crucial project. It is the only way for
developing a superior implementation, in a very economical way which
is important for a country like India where majority of population
is in poverty and destitution. We are afraid that this project may
lead to giving pathway for the Proprietary Software companies and
their products to the ecommerce projects, which is against </font></font></font><font color="#000000"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="2">National
interest in different ways – Huge </font></font></font><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">economic
loss for the national exchequer, inferior quality products, with
future liabilities and the most important one - invoking gross
vulnerability to National Security and stability. This needed to be
countered at any cost. State should have control on the software
products it purchases or develops. We cannot allow these proprietary
s/w companies to loot public money for inferior quality products and
allowing them to infiltrate in to the freedom of our fellow citizens.
We appeal our readers to raise your voice against the infiltration
attempts of Microsoft(and other companies who endorse proprietary
realm in software industry) and to endorse Free Software for keeping
nation's interest forefront. </font></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><font color="#556b2f">“<font face="LiberationSans-Italic, sans-serif"><font size="3"><i>The
most unfortunate thing is that India still</i></font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><font color="#000000"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="2"><font color="#556b2f"><font face="LiberationSans-Italic, sans-serif"><font size="3"><i>seems
to believe in proprietary solutions”</i></font></font></font></font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">Dr.A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam, Former President of</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">India,
May 28, 2003</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#161413"><font face="LiberationSans, sans-serif"><font size="3">For
Other Articles in the new letter. Click on the link
<a href="http://fsmk.org/node/41">http://fsmk.org/node/41</a></font></font></font></p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>regards<br>naveen<br>Be Free, Speak Free, Work Free.<br>Advocate "FREE SOFTWARE",<br>FREE as in FREE SPEECH, not as in FREE BEER<br><br>