Michael Tiemann, CTO of Red Hat, will join Red Hat executives and other open source software advocates in a march to City Hall to lobby for the newly proposed Digital Software Security Act (DSSA). The march will thank California for being one of the states willing to stand up to Microsoft in the anti-trust trials and to ask them to take it one step further by backing the DSSA.
The proposed act will require state agencies in California to only buy software from companies that do not place restrictions on use or access to source code. The agencies would also be given the freedom to make and distribute copies of the software.
For software to be acceptable to the state, it is not enough that it is technically capable of fulfilling a task, but that the contractual condition for purchase and/or licensing must satisfy a series of requirements regarding the license.
This law has three objectives; security and open standards, obtaining the greatest value for funds spent, and stimulation of competition within software development, support and implementation. It is in response to a number of pieces of proposed and existing legislation that limit civil liberties and programming freedom such as SSSCA, DMCA, UCITA etc.
Red Hat will join those marching for software freedom around the world; in Peru, in Germany, in the UK, in New Zealand and in Finland. Right now, the future of open software is at stake -- and Red Hat is leading the charge to fight for Intellectual Property Freedom.
More details on the DSSA can be found at www.redhat.com/opensourcenow.
If you'd be interested in covering the march or an interview with Red Hat on intellectual property freedom please call:
Dayna Muller: 919 931 8991
Anuj Nayar: 617 784 7691
Red Hat press office: 919 754 3700, extension 44516
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Red Hat, the world's leading open source and Linux provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with satellite offices spanning the globe. Red Hat is leading Linux and open source solutions into the mainstream by making high quality, low cost technology accessible. Red Hat provides operating system software along with middleware, applications and management solutions. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting services to its customers worldwide and through top-tier partnerships. Red Hat's open source strategy offers customers a long term plan for building infrastructures that are based on and leverage open source technologies with focus on security and ease of management. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com
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