Letter to the President

This letter was prepared to introduce ourselves, show our rejection of the agree
ment MS / GOB.CL, express our desire to participate actively in the projects of
the digital agenda and requests that refer to how we hope will be the response a
nd how we want to establish communication.
S.E. President Michelle Bachelet of the Republic of Chile
Digital Liberation, [LD], is a joint initiative, spontaneous and organized a mas
sive group of Chilean citizens, without distinguishing political stripe, which d
oes not rule according to religious orientation, not for profit or share any for
m of social exclusion. We base our activities in a collaborative, non-violent an
d voluntary on the Internet. LD arises as a response to the actions and decision
s have been taken by the government of our country's information technology, are
as in which we believe has been lacking a deeper analysis. Especially with the r
ecent agreement between the Ministry of Economy and Microsoft Corporation on May
9, 2007 (1). On this agreement, we express our rejection of the following: The
agreement is very clear: there was no tender. No other proposal was discussed an
d it was not reviewed in the H. Senate or the H. Chamber of Deputies. The State
undertakes to contribute money, without specifying amounts. The State undertakes
to pay money (check points a4, b3, c2, c4, d3, e3, f3 and g3 of the agreement).
Furthermore, this model will eventually grant the exclusive benefit of Microsof
t, because in the future will have a captive market, oriented and trained only t
o their products. The agreement leads to use Microsoft software. Microsoft is a
company that does not respect international standards of technology. Thus, the u
se of their products by service providers require users to use Microsoft tools e
xclusively. The agreement is detrimental to the domestic software industry.
If the state allows Microsoft to implement its systems in education, business an
d public administration, you're closing the doors to the local software market,
which openly promotes innovation, collaboration and technology development at al
l levels. This differs from what is proposed in the Agreement, since the entire
software development guide and depend on the company. The deal ignores the globa
l trend in technology. While countries like France, Germany, Finland, Venezuela,
China, Brazil and even Japan are committed to developing free software based on
their own platforms, Chile opted for the opposite approach: We seek to give us
the solutions on strategic issues rather than develop our solutions. We emphasiz
e this. Chile must ensure its technological independence in all areas: education
, training and support MSMEs and digital government. Choosing copied foreign sol
utions and models, will only lead us to continue making mistakes like those seen
on energy and transport issues. This is also economically profitable: Currently
only license issues, regardless of computer equipment, spend figures how are yo
u: Ministry of Defence - $ 2,229,971,000. Ministry of Housing - $ 1,019,651,000.
Ministry of Economy - $ 655,566,000. Ministry of Labor - $ 780,883,000. Ministr
y of Education - $ 764,414,000. Ministry of Justice - $ 723,567,000. Ministry of
Health - $ 431,243,000. Ministry of Interior - $ 331,728,000. Ministry of Plann
ing - $ 270,004,000. Only the nine ministries mentioned a total of $ 7,207,027,0
00, equivalent to a figure several times the annual budget of more than 200 muni
cipalities in the country (57% of municipalities) which had budgets of less than
2 billion 2005 pesos (2). The agreement violates the privacy of Chileans. For M
icrosoft can implement its Digital Home project, you must access the data for ea
ch person. The SRCeI indicates that no data will be delivered, But in order to a
ctivate the service, as is as it says the agreement,
system and must have the corresponding data for validation. So far there is no c
ertainty as to which data will be used and in what form. In addition, all servic
es offered are available to any user, and which are free and delivered by a numb
er of different vendors.
While the content and discussion topics that we stick together there for quite s
ome time, was the Government-Microsoft agreement the straw that broke the camel
and led us to act. Prompted us to unite and work to discuss the many pressing is
sues concerning technological development.€Given the foregoing, we demand: That
both the agreement and all issues concerning the development of the technologie
s are subject to open and inclusive discussions, in which is discussed the techn
ical implications, ethical, legal and economic influence a future decision . Thi
s includes all projects of the Digital Agenda. Manifest His Excellency agreed on
between Mr. Alejandro Ferreiro, Minister of Economy, and Microsoft Corporation.
We do not want other people to continue to give full explanations unsatisfactor
y. Furthermore, as our movement is open and front, we want your answers is safe.
This letter, like your response will be made freely available to anyone in the
world and will be translated into several languages. We hope your answer. Digita
l release, and is working to contribute and participate in each project and disc
uss the government to implement technology. We have the knowledge, ability and a
bove all the support of thousands of people from different areas, each willing t
o work hard.
Sincerely http://www.liberaciondigital.org/ Digital Release (1) The agreement ma
y be revised in our documents section. (2) also attached a more extensive analys
is of the agreement.
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Annex 1 Analysis of the Implications of the Agreement GobiernoMicrosoft
Madam President, here are a critical analysis of the cooperation agreement signe
d by the minister, Alejandro Ferreiro, representing the State of Chile. Being co
nsistent with our libertarian and independent nature, we demand that our State t
o respect and promote freedom of citizens to choose their tools. The agreement t
o materialize, the consequences would detail below, in each of its points: a) Di
gital Training: participants would be trained in such courses in Microsoft tools
exclusively, on Windows environment. As the 15 million people trained, it is ca
lled 15 million million potential customers and digital disabled, as these peopl
e will be prepared only for the use of Microsoft products and not have the oppor
tunity to actually learn the operation of new technologies . b) Address Digital:
three controversies this point generates clear. The first warns us of impending
joint creation of an access to all relevant information of the state apparatus,
establishing a de facto standard that would use forced mandatory for users of M
icrosoft software to interact with the authorities and public administration bod
ies. The second is on the real relationship that any company can use to give the
information with which to work. To generate the e-mail accounts and other tools
, you must enter information that should not be given by the State. We are not r
eferring exclusively to SRCeI confidential information that is protected by law
of the Republic, but any other information that may seem less relevant but has n
ot been consulted on who generated: every Chilean. Not to mention how dangerous
that those accounts created without the consent of users, are stolen by hackers.
It follows the third point, the Microsoft Windows platforms, are nonstop in the
eye of the hurricane by the continued emergence of vulnerabilities that lead to
virus outbreaks, which affect only systems designed by Microsoft. While this is
sue provides for a lengthy discussion, there are hundreds of independent studies
which revealed low meet safety standards, compared to other systems, the Micros
oft. c) Digital City: We are concerned about the same dangers as above. The Econ
omy Ministry is committed to actions to hire consulting for customization of sit
es. This mean they could choose only certified companies specializing in Microso
ft tools. Diminishing the chances of creating a local software market.
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d) School innovation in Chile: USD 1,000,000 for the incorporation of Microsoft
technology to support educational innovation. Since the Ministry of Economy and
undertakes to complement this contribution. If the contribution of the company a
re licensing of products, is like selling a preferential price today. How many p
roduct licenses will have to pay later for the use and overcrowding of this proj
ect? A market price, of course.€What are the benefits that Microsoft will once
schoolchildren in Chile, are only trained on Microsoft tools? It forces companie
s to invest only in products of this company and its workers only know how to us
e their tools. e) Connected Schools: Contribution of a technological solution an
d a model for maximizing the life of the connections in schools. Unclear, it set
s out how it aims to help schools in Chile and there is connectivity in schools,
what is needed is a group of scholars prepared to take advantage of the tools o
ffered that connection. f) Innovative Teachers: The teacher training in the use
of Microsoft tools, does not help. If they are trained exclusively for use Micro
soft products, digital will continue educating disabled will not know to take ad
vantage of new technologies if it is against a Microsoft product, also generate
a potential customer for each student. g) Small business in the XXI century: Mic
rosoft designed a product offering covering, at its discretion, the needs of our
MiPymes. The products mentioned in the agreement does not cover the basic needs
to operate effectively and efficiently, as they are internationally genéricasa
solutions and not designed for each particular Chilean industry in the long run
it makes them expensive solutions that require continuous updating and / or cus
tomization which obviously must be paid to Microsoft or its partners. h) The Pro
curement Division will coordinate the dissemination of this offering, creating a
unique channel of choice and to provide inadequate and costly technological sol
utions to MSMEs, with the approval of the State. The discount in the prices of t
he licenses offered by Microsoft is valued at about USD 5,000,000. i) Technology
Access for Low Income Sectors: For those enrolled in the INJUV, Microsoft will
offer a free media, we believe, probably runs only on Windows XP or Vista. There
is no mention of the cost. Of course, we would prefer to use Wikipedia, which i
s free and whose information is as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica. The
discount in the prices of the licenses offered by Microsoft is valued at about U
SD 6,000,000. j) Collaboration in the Promotion of Internet Safety: Donation of
software to combat exploitation of children. Excellent. "Microsoft commits hirin
g a law firm, which permits the scope and effectiveness of current legislation o
n cybercrime and its comparison with the standards set by the European Conventio
n, in order to assist the Government in developing
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and relevant legislative suggestions. "Is this legal study on strengthening anti
-piracy? This seems lobby. k) Collaboration with the Government's Security. Dona
tion to support the U. of Chile in the management of security risks. It says the
amount and form of the donation, which makes this point very transparent. l) In
novation and Entrepreneurship Center Microsoft. The figure would amount to $ 300
,000 for R & D in Chile. Correspond to 0.0003% of the overall budget for R & D f
or Microsoft, which is estimated at USD 8 billion. Any research and / or progres
s made under the umbrella of Microsoft, making it clear finish, which limited th
e country when trying to make a more efficient research. m) Initiative for Innov
ation for Competitiveness: Microsoft will conduct a study in three sectors of th
e economy, which is available through the ministry. Already there is a UNDP stud
y on the benefits of Free Software in the economy, http://www.pnud.cl/publicacio
nes/05-07-2007-Informe_Pyme.pdf, which could be released by the Government with
the same quickly. This deal clearly benefits to Microsoft, which is setting up a
model for software business at the expense of an open business model, competiti
ve local as well as restrict the freedom of users when integrated into a technol
ogical society, influencing in education, in the way of doing business and how e
ach person must engage with the government. We ask the government to take the in
itiative to ensure free access to state information, such as have the government
s of Japan, France, Brazil and many others, avoid favoring a particular company.
Considering that this is a company that has been convicted of monopolistic prac
tices in the United States and the European Union.
We are available to expose these issues in depth.
Yours Digital Liberation www.liberaciondigital.org All information contained her
ein may be analyzed in depth on our website. www.liberaciondigital.org
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