On Thu, Jul 15, 2004 at 12:42:49PM +0200,
Michel Bouissou <michel(_at_)bouissou(_dot_)net> wrote
a message of 46 lines which said:
French law # 2004-575, June 21, 2004, that can be consulted online
here :
I'm French but I'm not a lawyer either.
Defines in "Titre Ier, Article 4" what a "standard ouvert" (an open
standard) is,
But never says (unfortunately, IMHO), that the government should use
only "open standards".
This definition excludes from being an "open standard" a standard
which use would be restricted by a license such as MS Caller-ID
license.
Yes.
Adopting as an IETF standard any protocol that would be encumbered
with implementation licenses, and thus doesn't qualify as an "open
standard" as defined by the French law would probably prohibit its
use by the French governement and public administrations.
I agree that IETF should never endorse patent-encumbered technologies
(even with vague promises such as RAND licences), not because a French
law says so, but because it is bad for the Internet users, period.