Since 1988, the Office of the United States Trade Representative has released an annual Special 301 Report which “examines in detail the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights” for every country in the world. The intention is to classify countries that either encourage or turn a blind eye to intellectual property piracy and countries can be put on a “Watch List” or “Priority Watch List”. This designation can then be used to pressure countries during trade negotiations.

Andres Guadamuz, a lecturer in law at the University of Edinburgh, recently noticed that the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has been lobbying US Trade Representative Ron Kirk to designate countries that have mandated the use of free software (specifically, Brazil, Indonesia and India) to be placed on the Special 301 Watch List. The IIPA is a private sector coalition of trade associations, including the Business Software Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); these names are familiar to digital freedom supporters as cartels hell-bent on using their power to suffocate internet freedoms and to change the course of humanity’s path towards information-based societies in the interest of their enormous profiteering.

The assertion that a country’s choice to use free software is equivalent to illegal piracy is an absurdity and a desperate response to the the free software revolution happening throughout the world. In the 498-page Special 301 report released by the IIPA, they attack Brazil’s policy of mandating the use of free software on page 183 as a reason to keep it on the watchlist:

“Government software procurement: The Brazilian Government should be encouraged to continue its efforts to implement effective software asset management practices in its public ministries and agencies, while avoiding mandates for procurement of software based on the model of development or the business model of the developer.”

On page 170, the IIPA clarifies its demands of the Brazilian government:

“Avoid legislation on the mandatory use of open source software by government agencies and government controlled companies.”

Then, the IIPA takes us to Indonesia. Starting on page 79, they attempt to form a coherent argument about how mandating a switch to open source software is somehow an act against US trade interests:

“[I]n March 2009, the Ministry of Administrative Reform (MenPAN) issued Circular Letter No. 1 of 2009 to all central and provincial government offices including State-owned enterprises, endorsing the use and adoption of open source software within government organizations. While the government issued this circular in part with the stated goal to ‘reduc[e] software copyright violation[s],’ in fact, by denying technology choice, the measure will create additional trade barriers and deny fair and equitable market access to software companies.”

Huh? It’s as if the IIPA forgot that plenty of US companies sell open source software — a fact that they probably “forgot” because no open source software company is paying them off. Why is this form of institutionalized bribery accepted? The IIPA goes on to demand that Indonesia rescind this order on page 80:

“IIPA requests that the government of Indonesia take the following actions, which would result in the most significant near term commercial benefits to the copyright industries: […] Rescind March 2009 MenPAN circular letter endorsing the use and adoption of open source software […]”

The IIPA’s war against the free software revolution then takes us to the Philippines on page 148:

“IIPA was concerned regarding reports of consideration of a Free Open Source Software bill which would require government offices to use open source software. Passage of that bill would deny technology choice regarding software usage and ultimately would stunt the growth of the IT industry in the Philippines.”

Thailand’s commitment to open source is attacked on page 353:

“Among other market access restrictions to be addressed, reverse proposed policy mandating use of open source software, and, e.g., requiring bundling of government funded computers and computers for schools with open source software; maintain neutral policies with respect to technology choice.”

Vietnam is instructed to avoid open source on page 396: “Cease government-endorsed open source preference policy which is limiting technology choice in Vietnam.”

And, Ecuador is also cited for dangerously choosing open source software on page 453: “Most of USTR’s concerns were directed at patent issues, but one major copyright problem highlighted involved a poorly drafted provision in the Education Law which appears to allow free software to educational institutions. Due to their concerns, USTR moved Ecuador back to the Watch List […]”

The IIPA Report makes a few things very clear. First, although this is already well-known, the software industry is scared to death of open source software and must resort to strong-arming as it’s only means of competing with it. Second, free software is spreading like wildfire all over the world as the smart defense against the proprietary software industry. And, finally, we can see why free software for taxpayers is not gaining traction in the United States, where industry lobby groups have a much easier time bribing decision-makers.

Elastix is a complete GNU/Linux distribution with Asterisk, DHADI, Openfire, Postfix and many other free software packages. It has a user-friendly interface that integrates the best tools available for Asterisk-based PBXs, as well as its own set of utilities which allows the creation of third party modules. The software was created by PaloSanto Solutions, an IT company from Ecuador, and released to the public for the first time in March 2006. Elastix has a good support for telephony hardware … you can see the complete list at their hardware compatibility list. Elastix was used during the last presidential elections in Ecuador and what they have to say about it is very interesting:

… it was decided to optimize the communication system in all the locations where the voting counting was taking place to help monitor the process. Elastix was chosen as the communication platform because of the technical and economic benefits it offered for this project. […] Elastix was able to provide smooth communication between more than eighty (80) locations involved in the vote counting process. Thanks to Elastix it was possible to implement a communication system of this size all over the country in only two (2) weeks!

Elastix made life easier for those who are looking for a VOIP solution, proven out by its rapid popularity growth. The project has been nominated in various categories for Source Forge’s Community Choice Awards (CCAA) in the years of 2007 and 2008. This year they are recommending that the votes go for the following categories:

• Most Likely to Change the Way You Do Everything
• Best Project for the Enterprise
• Best Project

If you want to help this amazing project to win for the first time Sourge Forge CCAA, vote for them at this link (you can select multiple categories). Remember that Friday, May 29, is the last day to vote for nominations!

FLISOL - The Latin American Festivals of Installation of Free Software are install fests organized by the regional free software communities since 2005. The event is the largest distributed free software event in the world — last year, there were install fests in more than 200 cities in 18 countries in Latin America.

The goal of the event is to promote the use of free software, so the general public can know its philosophy, install GNU/Linux on their computers, learn about the applications and understand how they are developed by volunteer communities. Every install fest is free of charge in every location and they also include lectures, presentations and workshops.

Check out the list of countries hosting the event:

KyaPanel is a panel to provide easy management in Gnu/Linux servers. Developed to increase the network administration, it supports mail management, samba management and many other features. The software was adopted by the federal and state government of Brazil and major companies from Latin America. You can find it at the Public Software Portal from Brazil’s government, which promotes the free software used inside of the government, creating a tool for the communities, which are open to the public, to communicate and work on the development of those softwares.

That is not all, last year at Latinoware, one of the biggest Free Software meetings in Latin America, KyaPanel received the Latinoware Free Software prize.  The event took place in October 2008, more than 3,000 people went to Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil to see more than 280 speeches, panels and technical expositions. KyaPanel was elected by a multidisciplinary jury formed with important attendees selected by Latinoware Organization Board to receive the prize of R$ 2,000.00. “KyaPanel development team wants to thanks its community, all resellers, partners and clients. Without them there was no prize at all” said Anahuac the KyaPanel inventor and main developer.

Read the interview conducted by North by South with Anahuac:

1. Original version in Portuguese

2. English Translation

Marco Fioretti recently published an article (A look at free software in Ecuador) about his experiences at the Congress on Free Software and Democratization of Knowledge hosted in Quito, Ecuador.

The article goes into detail about the spectacular growth of free software in Ecuador, which has its own GNU/Linux distribution (Elastix). Elastix has already been widely deployed in Ecuador: by one of the largest television networks in Ecuador (RTS), by the call center for Aerolineas Galapagos (a major airline), the Ministry of Health and other government agencies.

Ecuador has been increasingly contributing to the Latin American free software movement since Ecuador President Rafael Correa mandated a migration to open source software with Presidential Decree 1014.

Ecuador was also well-represented at CONSEGI 2008 and further demonstrates the incredible acceleration of free software adoption throughout Latin America.