In message <[log in to unmask]>
[log in to unmask] writes:
> <[log in to unmask]>
> I don't know if other JAC members were aware of this ISO proposal?
>
> --Glenn
1. Thanks for your useful forwarding, Glenn: I hadn't seen this W3C
position paper, but I've seen some similar ones.
2. I'd be grateful for replied from JAC members on points 6 and 7
below.
3. At the ISO/TC37/SC2/WG1 meeting this was also raised, and it was
stated that the ISO/TC37/SC2 would send a strongly worded resolution
against it. I wasn't at the ISO/TC37/SC2 meeting, only the
ISO/TC37/SC2/WG1 meeting, and haven't yet seen the minutes of either
but I assume this was done.
4. Even before that, NCITS in the US made strong comments against it.
5. The Unicode Consortium has a similar official position to W3C.
6. It's vital that ISO/TC46 or ISO/TC46/SC4 also put in a similar
position. Does anybody know if that has been done?
7. It's vital that national member bodies also put in a similar
position. Does anybody know if that has been done by their own
national member body?
John
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Bratt [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 3:30 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Announcement: W3C Recommendation to ISO regarding Commercial
> Licensing of ISO Codes
>
>
>
> Dear Advisory Committee Representative:
>
> I would like to draw your attention to a matter requiring your urgent
> attention.
>
> As some of you may know, ISO is considering a proposal to charge licensing
> fees for the commercial use of several ISO codes. In fact, ANSI is
> apparently already doing so. The codes under consideration and the
> possible impacts of this proposal on W3C specifications and the Web are
> summarized in the text below.
>
> The Hypertext Coordination Group (representing the W3C's HTML, CSS, MMI,
> DOM, I18N, and Voice Browser Activities), along with W3C Member
> organizations, told us they believe that a swift, firm response from W3C is
> needed. A poll of the Advisory Board over the past 24 hours has also
> produced clear support for such action. The Advisory Board further
> recommended that the full W3C Membership be alerted to the situation and of
> the possibility to respond to your national ISO member organization.
>
> There is an urgency to this matter, as we just found out Tuesday from the
> President of ISO, Dr. Oliver Smoot, that this topic will be on the agenda
> of the ISO Council this coming Saturday, 20 September.
>
> Below is the text of an email that we are sending today to Dr. Smoot. If
> you wish to contact your national ISO member organization to register your
> opinion on the ISO proposal, here is the contact information for each of
> the ISO members:
> http://www.iso.org/iso/en/aboutiso/isomembers/MemberList.MemberSummary?MEMBE
> RCODE=10
>
> If you have any questions or comments, please let me know and/or post your
> mail to
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Steve Bratt
> Chief Operating Officer
>
>
> =========================================================
>
> Text of message to Oliver Smoot
>
> =========================================================
>
> To: Dr. Oliver Smoot, President, International Organization for
> Standardization
>
> Dear Dr. Smoot,
>
> The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) wishes to express its deep concerns
> over a recent proposal by the ISO Commercial Policies Steering Group (CPSG)
> to charge fees for the commercial use of ISO codes such as ISO 639
> (language codes), ISO 3166 (country codes), and ISO 4127 (currency codes).
>
> These and similar codes are widely used on the Web. In particular the
> language and country codes are of direct interest to W3C and the users
> of W3C Recommendations in the context of HTTP, HTML and XML and various
> other technologies. Language and country codes currently provide a single,
> standard way of identifying languages (and locales) throughout the Web.
> Multilingual Web sites and Web pages, as well as internationalization and
> localization features, would be particularly affected.
>
> Any charges for the use of these standards are going to lead to
> fragmentation, delay in deployment, and in effect a lack of
> standardization. In particular, those users who depend upon multi-lingual
> or non-English language services will suffer.
>
> In their considerations, the CPSG notes "the necessity for a number
> of ISO standards to be published as databases". Web technology today
> allows publication and reuse of data at a small fraction of the
> costs a few years ago. If it is the case that the costs of maintaining
> these databases is beyond ISO's capacity to cover, we would suggest that
> ISO open a discussion with the larger user community about how these
> services might be hosted in a manner that covers these costs.
>
> Given that this policy would have profound impact not only on ISO,
> but also on industry and users of the Web at large, we urge ISO to
> further consider this policy and its broader implications and
> consequences, and to reassure the community as quickly as possible
> that there will be no charges for the use of these standards.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director
> Steven R. Bratt, W3C Chief Operating Officer
>
>
>
> --
> Steven R Bratt, Chief Operating Officer mailto:[log in to unmask]
> World Wide Web Consortium http://www.w3.org
> MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
> 200 Technology Square, Room NE43-352
> Cambridge, MA 02139, USA / Voice: +1.617.253.7697 / Fax: +1.617.258.5999
--
John Clews,
Keytempo Limited (Information Management),
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