Say No to RAND

I would like to take this opportunity to voice my strong disapproval of the
current W3C patent policy proposal. The web has become the ever-present
force that it is in today's society *because* it is based upon an array of
relatively simple, robust, open-source technologies. Where would we be today
if a company had claimed RAND rights over HTML, or JavaScript, or the DOM?
It may seem unlikely now, with the claim that only "higher-level"
technologies will be affected, but who knows what new standards will be
important in the coming years. This is a dangerous step down a slippery
slope towards monopoly control over the internet.


Josh Sandberg  (sandberg@novawebworks.com)
Website Development, Design, and Maintenance
http://www.novawebworks.com

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 17:12:40 UTC