Code Swaraj
Just about that time, when we were working on the Gandhi portal, I came across the work of Carl, and we got connected. Carl had this mission to take standards from government documents and put it on Internet. I thought it was a very important initiative, but every time Carl tried to do that, he was hit by court cases from the governments.
All governments feel that public standards, whether it has to do with safety, fire, or building codes, are properties of the government. They say that Carl, by putting it on the Web, is violating IP [intellectual property] laws.
When I heard about that, I got even more excited, because to me, it was a Gandhian way of satyagraha. I said, “Carl, we need to fight this battle. They may be legally right, but they are morally wrong.”
[applause]
All these standards are really for public safety, public good. How could you then not allow access to these standards to larger public? Why do I have to buy standards for electrical wiring in my house, when I know that bad wiring could be a fire hazard?
Governments don’t allow you to do that. Carl is faced with court cases all over the world in the US, in Germany, in India, and you name it.
Our job is to fight this, mainly on the moral ground, that this is public information, it should be made public, and no one should listen to old, obsolete laws by the government.
When I look at Internet, and the power of Internet, I realize that we are far behind in our mindset to really deal with the opportunities knowledge and Internet provides us. Many times in India, I used to say that we have 19th century mindset, 20th century processes, and 21st century information age opportunities.
What Carl is trying to do with standards is really to bring to public notice that we must change our laws.
Everywhere you look around, you will find that the processes are all obsolete. Nowhere you will find anyone standing up to the old processes and say, “This needs to go, and we need to create new processes, new laws.” Some of it is happening, but not at the pace it should.
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