Draft bill 175.

Summary.

The draft bill describes the GNU General Public License, or GNU GPL, as a license created by the Free Software Foundation to protect the free distribution, modification and use of software. It explains that the license is intended to preserve those freedoms for users of the software it covers. This description introduces the proposal to promote artistic and digital creation through open source applications.

The text then defines free software by the ability to use, copy, study, modify and redistribute it after obtaining it. It also sets out the Free Software Foundation’s account of the freedom to run software and distribute modified versions. Copyright is described as the body of legal rules and principles governing the moral and economic rights of authors of literary, artistic, scientific or educational works, whether published or unpublished. The draft bill further presents Creative Commons licenses as tools that allow authors to determine how their works circulate on the internet, including conditions for quotation, reproduction, derivative works and public availability, subject to restrictions.

The proposal seeks to provide students at public and private schools throughout the country with teaching, training and knowledge of creative open source applications, specifically within computer studies. It identifies graphic design, audiovisual and television production, audio production, creativity and digital content, and photography as areas of emphasis. Its educational scope centers on teaching and learning these applications in schools, with students in both public and private institutions included in the proposed approach.

For the purposes of the draft bill, accessibility encompasses removing geographic, structural, economic, political, ideological, cultural, ethnic, religious and gender barriers that limit the provision and use of services. It also includes ensuring that facilities and resources are available throughout the Republic. Under the term acceptability, the text states that open source applications may be taught individually or collectively through courses, workshops and talks. It also contemplates computer laboratories for teaching and learning how to use those applications.

Lastly, the text describes how these applications could enable students to produce digital content, audiovisual works, graphic design, audio and 2d and 3d animations without substantial spending on licenses and software. It states that the applications can be installed on midrange computers and that institutions and students could use the same versions and updates without annual payments. It identifies Windows, Apple and Linux as available platforms and describes Linux as the most optimized for these purposes. The proposal could be relevant to schools, their students and teachers, and the fields of computer education and artistic and digital creation.