you should take a look at this document: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=39446 -----Original Message----- From: gcc-help-owner@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gcc-help-owner@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter Rock Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:39 PM To: rms@xxxxxxx Cc: gcc-help@xxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Government Requirements - Proprietary Software On 5/16/06, Richard Stallman <rms@xxxxxxx> wrote: > Statistics Canada is making the claim that the online national census > is now "accessible to the Linux (sic) operating system". However, to > do the census online requires installation of Java Virutal Machine. > > Does it work with GNU Java? > It would be very useful for you to try it. > I do believe I've tried it - unless I'm doing something wrong. GNU Java is installed and Java enabled in my browser (Firefox 1.0.8). But when I click "start" from this page - http://www50.statcan.ca/census2006/ - I get the following message --------------- Your browser does not meet the minimum requirements to access this site This site requires that Java is enabled in your browser. To modify your browser, follow the steps outlined below. 1. To enable Java in your browser, please refer to the instructions on our Java page. 2. If Java is already enabled, you will need to download a recent version of a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) which includes the Java Virtual Machine. You can download a recent version of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), which includes the Java virtual machine, from the Sun Microsystems Inc. Web site. If you do not wish to modify your browser, you can complete your paper questionnaire and return it by mail in the envelope provided. ------------------- Again, at this page - http://www22.statcan.ca/ccr02/ccr02_003_e.htm - is a notice explaining their "justification". They say, "This broadened access to open-source users is available to those who have a valid browser and JVM. These minimum requirements are necessary in order to maintain the same level of data encryption with Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)." I located the mailing list for GNU Java and am CC:ing this to that list. Can anyone confirm that Statistics Canada is requiring proprietary Java in order to complete the national census online? Open source advocates now have more access, but those who value freedom are shut out. This is particularly disturbing considering this is a public service.
