114 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
114 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
% NEW New Hampshire software freedom bill hearing on 21 February 2023 needs your support!
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% Leah Rowe
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% 20 February 2023
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Introduction
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============
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You may recall last year's article: [New Hampshire (USA) may soon enshrine
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Software Freedom into law](usa-libre.md) - a proposed bill, if it passed,
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would have provided official legal protections in favour of libre software in
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the state of New Hampshire, in the United States.
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Last year's bill didn't pass, so Eric Gallager, the person behind it, started
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splitting it into smaller bills that are more likely to pass; this recently
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cultimated first in [house bill 617-FN](usa-libre-part2.md) for which there was
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a hearing.
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Now, there is another upcoming bill hearing: house bill 556-FN:\
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<https://gencourt.state.nh.us/lsr_search/billText.aspx?id=193&type=4>
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It is critical that as many people show up as possible, to defend the bill
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and advance the cause of *[software freedom](https://writefreesoftware.org/)*.
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*New Hampshire residents: In addition to showing up on the day, you can also
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contact your house representative, and ask them to support this bill! This
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web page can let you find who your representative is:\
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<https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/>*
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Can't attend?
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-------------
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That's OK! You can still help. Please tell as many people about this as
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possible, and spread the news on as many websites/blogs as possible. Post it
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on your social media account, if you have one. Write to the media!
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When and where?
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===============
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**This bill's hearing is on 21 February 2023 at 9AM in the Legislative Office
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Building, 33 N. State Ct., Concord, New Hampshire:**\
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_Legislative_Office_Building>
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Please, please if you can, show up to the hearing! New Hampshire needs *you*.
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If this and similar bills pass, in New Hampshire, it will spread like wildfire
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to many other states, and countries, bringing us many steps closer to a world
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where *everyone* has the ability to use libre software *exclusively* - such is
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the goal of the movement, and that of the Libreboot project which is a part of
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said movement.
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Who to contact
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==============
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Eric Gallager is the representative in charge of the proposed bill, and you can
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contact him in the following ways:
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Email address: \
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[Eric.Gallager@leg.state.nh.us](mailto:Eric.Gallager@leg.state.nh.us)
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Mastodon page: \
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<https://social.treehouse.systems/@egallager>
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Twitter page (use of Twitter is ill advised, due
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to its proprietary nature - use Mastodon or email if you can): \
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<https://twitter.com/cooljeanius>
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What does house bill 556-FN say?
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================================
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The actual text of the bill is provided here:\
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<https://gencourt.state.nh.us/lsr_search/billText.aspx?id=193&type=4>
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If passed, the New Hampshire Information Technology Council would then be
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required, by law, to promote software freedom to the Department of Information
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Technology Commissioner. This would include analysis of practical issues such
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as cost, and deployment strategies for libre systems to replace current
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proprietary systems; more importantly, it would require them to study ways of
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reducing (or eliminating) the need for citizens to use proprietary software
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for interactions with the state. The bill also promotes the principle
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of *copyleft* licensing, such as the GPL; regardless of how you feel about
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copyleft versus permissive (BSD-style) licensing, the advancement of *any*
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libre software on such massive scale will help the entire movement.
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Live streams
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============
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Although not mentioned in previous articles on this agenda, the New Hampshire
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court building provides live streams of hearings.
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Link to New Hampshire courthouse youtube channel:
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<https://www.youtube.com/@NHHouseofRepresentatives>
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The last few software freedom bills were streamed on this one:
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*House Executive Departments and Administration*
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Per the text of HB-556, the stream for *that* bill will be on:
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*Science, Technology and Energy*
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The links change, for each stream, so you should check them on the day.
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Use invidious!
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--------------
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The Youtube.com link is provided, above, for the sake of completion. However,
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you should use an Invidious instance. Invidious acts as a proxy for Youtube,
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preventing Google from sniffing your habits or collecting data, and it also
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bypasses the need for running proprietary JavaScript code.
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Here's a link to the New Hampshire court channel, on an *excellent* Invidious
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instance (excellent in terms of uptime, and speed):
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<https://piped.kavin.rocks/channel/UCxqjz56akoWRL_5vyaQDtvQ>
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