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There is nothing more boring than reading a law. However, I found it interesting to spread this project because contains some interesting definitions (what is an open standard, a protocol, a format), expresses the basic reasons why all states should adopt free standards (independence, free access to information, durability of documents, interoperability, etc.) and, finally, can be used for others to take as a model or find out what is happening in Argentina regarding this issue. As you can see, many reasons ... despite the fact that I consider that this project "falls short". |
The deputies Eduardo Macaluse, Claudio Lozano, Ricardo Cuccovillo and Nélida Beluos signed the project that bears the number 5914-D-2010 to promote the "Standard and open formats and protocols and their implementation in the National Public Administration".
The proposed text is based on the work carried out by Fundación Vía Libre, which also included the results of the public consultation made to the local Free Software Community.
Below we publish the full text of the project that must go through the Budget and Finance committees, as well as Communications and IT.
The Senate and Chamber of Deputies, ...
Implementation of Formats and Protocols
Standards and Open in Public Administration
Article 1 - Purpose - The purpose of this law is: 1. To ensure interoperability in the exchange of information between the entities of the National Public Sector and between them and the citizens. 2. Ensure the perenniality of the data of the National Public Sector stored in digital formats. 3. Guarantee free access to public information.
Article 2 - Scope of Application - Its provisions will be applicable throughout the National Public Sector, in accordance with the scope established by articles 8 and 9 of Law 24.156, modif. Law 25.827 - Financial Administration and Control Systems of the National Public Sector.
Article 3- Safeguarding of information - The entities indicated in article 2 must store all digital information using formats that comply with open standards, thus ensuring the durability of the data.
Article 4 - Public information - When the entities indicated in article 2 make information available to the public in digital formats, they must do so using communication formats and protocols that comply with open standards. When these entities require information from the public, it must be accepted in at least one format that complies with an open standard, and through at least one communication protocol that complies with open standards, without prejudice to the fact that the request can also be satisfied. using other formats and protocols.
Article 5 - Definition - For the purposes of this, "open standard" is understood to be any specification for the encoding or transfer of information that satisfies the following conditions:
1. be universally available for reading and implementation
2. not force the user to use products from certain providers or groups
3. allow the free implementation and use by any person, without royalties, rights or charges, except the charges that the standardizing body may require to certify compliance;
4. not favor one implementer over another or others for any reason other than meeting the technical standards of an implementation.
Article 6 - Enforcement Authority - Regulation - The National Office of Information Technologies, dependent on the Undersecretariat of Public Management of the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers or, the body to which said competence is assigned in the future, will be the enforcement authority of this law and will elaborate and raise the pertinent regulations within a period of no more than 180 (ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY) days from the promulgation of this law. Likewise, it will issue the complementary norms that are necessary to gradually establish a standardization of file formats that allow their compatibility among the organisms of the national State.
Article 7 - Invitation to Join - The Provincial, Municipal Governments and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are invited to join this initiative.
Article 8 - Communicate to the Executive Power.
FOUNDATIONS
Mr. president:
Increasingly, computer tools intervene in the daily tasks of public administration.
To fulfill its functions, the public administration stores and processes information both from its own entities and related to citizens.
When such tasks are carried out using automated processing equipment (computers), the State's duty to guarantee the confidentiality of the data adds other responsibilities:
overcome the disadvantages of vulnerability and obsolescence of computer media and software;
overcome the risks of data loss;
ensure its preservation and recoverability, current and future;
ensure the free exchange of information between the entities that make up the public administration and between them and the citizens.
The pillars that support the fulfillment of these duties are:
file formats and
communication protocols.
File format is a particular way of encoding information for storage.
Protocol is the set of rules used by computers to communicate with each other over a network.
If the formats and protocols are the pillars on which the fulfillment of certain duties is based, it is unquestionable that the State must adopt a policy in this regard that ensures absolute dominion over the information it stores and over the means it uses for its transfer.
Such a domain can only be obtained by implementing open standards, that is, open file formats and open transmission protocols.
An open standard consists of any specification for the encoding or transfer of information that satisfies the following conditions:
1. be universally available for reading and implementation;
2. not to force the user to use products from certain providers or groups;
3. be implemented and used freely by any person, without royalties, rights or charges, except those that the standardizing body may require to certify compliance;
4. not favor one implementer over another or others for any reason other than compliance with the specification.
These open standards, at the same time, will guarantee that the computing resources of the public administration meet these requirements:
INTEROPERABILITY
It is the ability of information and communication technology (ICT) systems to exchange data and enable the sharing of information and knowledge. This ability is what enables the effective management of administrative processes between agents sending and receiving information, regardless of the software used.
INDEPENDENCE
Closed formats and protocols put specific providers in a privileged position over others. In many cases it happens that a single provider is in a position to fully implement them. Hence, its use entails the dependence of the public administration on specific companies whose provision or service is impossible to do without. In this way, the State itself appears to grant its supplier an inadmissible dominant position within its own structure.
The State must not only promote free competition in the market and discourage monopolies, but also and above all, it must preserve its own technological independence which, in this case, is also political independence. And this can only be achieved with the implementation of open standards.
FREE ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Within the scope of administrations and public entities, open standards guarantee the free access of citizens to public information, as well as the interaction of the State with society, without imposing specific brands or manufacturers of software and hardware.
When the public administration admits the use of closed formats and protocols in its computer systems, it imposes on the public the need to avail themselves of certain computer resources, specified with brand and model, since only these are suitable to access administration data. public. This is clearly discriminatory and intolerable, to the detriment of citizens' rights of access to information guaranteed by articles 4 and 7 of Annex VII of the disclosure. 1172/2003.PERDURABILITY OF DOCUMENTS
FUTURE ACCESS
The durability of documents is an especially significant requirement in the case of administrations and public entities, for which current legislation requires their adequate conservation for periods that can be several tens of years, an eternity in terms of life and durability of programs and computer hardware architectures.
The existence of public, open and complete specifications makes it possible in the future to access the information generated today, regardless of the obsolescence of the programs used today for its digital storage.Therefore, only if the information is exchanged in open and standard formats and is kept in open and standard formats is it possible to guarantee that there will be various options for accessing said information and that its handling complies with the required levels of security and reliability.
The purpose of the bill being considered is to guarantee that the National Public Sector complies with its own responsibilities, ensuring free access to public information; current and future accessibility to data; the compatibility of information and resources for their transfer in the National Public Sector; and interoperability between the entities of the National Public Sector and between them and citizens. For all of which your approval is requested.
Via | Vía Libre Foundation