[WSIS CS-Plenary] Civil Society "Vision" declaration

[Evan Leibovitch]

I am President of the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), an accredited
member of Civil Society at WSIS. LPI is the only NGO exclusively
promoting Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) with a booth on the
ICT-4D exhibit floor. LPI's 22-person team at WSIS includes
representatives from six continents.

Please be made aware that LPI does NOT endorse the WSIS Civil Society
"visionary declaration" that was issued today, the text of which is
located at
http://mboom.draper.albany.edu/%7Emciver/WSIS/CSDeclaration/Summit/Final/

Specifically, in footnote two, the document unfairly denigrates open
source software; clearly, nobody amongst the drafters of the declaration
has made the effort to understand the value of open source concepts as
well as the principles advocated by the Free Software Foundation.

The language used in the document represents a view that is needlessly
limited, and certainly inappropriate for a supposedly visionary
statement. Indeed, the exclusionary tone of this section throws into
doubt the validity and utility of the entire declaration.

I will be consulting with the Board of LPI, as well as with our
international network of affiliated organizations and our thousands of
volunteer community participants, in order to determine the appropriate
action needed to address this situation within the FOSS community and
the general public.

I would be more than happy to discuss our objections in more details. I
can be easily reached at booth 502, or on my cellphone at
+1 416 418 0574.

Evan Leibovitch
President
Linux Professional Institute
evan at lpi.org