RAND

I just got the information about the new licensing scheme "RAND" from
LinuxToday news.

In case the information would be accurate, I want to stress that such
a licensing scheme would be a terrible threat to scientists trying to
promote open standards and open technology. It would be a major step
back to the infamous domination of monopolistic societies on
information control. Therefore a major threat to the rights of technically 
concerned individuals to keep a control over the technology being used at a
worldwide level, and more generally to the development of science itself.

I cannot express anything else than my absolute disapproval and
disgust that such a thing could even be considered. Hope that W3C is
not yet bought by these awful big companies that are going (without
even seeing or thinking) against the most elementary rights of human
beings... In case it would be, I don't know what the next decades will
bring to humankind, but one can expect major disasters similar to what
occurred recently in New York.

Shame to scientists if they don't oppose in the strongest way against
such crazy ideas !

Jean-Pierre Demailly
University of Grenoble I
Mathematician (working in Algebraic Geometry and Computer Science)
Member of French Académie des Sciences

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 10:10:57 UTC