Definitions can be used, as in the Free Software and Free Culture definitions, to highlight network services that meet a standard of freedom.
Summary of current practices
OSD: Open data (private data only open to the user it's about) and public free software.
FOSD: this is more of a brainstorming/reference page than a definition; the draft definition produced from that process has been mailed to the mailing list and if someone nags me I'll put it on the web somewhere :)
Open issues
- What do you do about Googlejuice?
- What do you do about identity?
- What do you do about global warming? (A: nothing.)
- Are external dependencies permitted?
- Ease-of-install requirements?
- Interoperability requirements?
- Requirement to share aggregate/anonymized user data?
Definition requirements
Some brainstorming requirements for what a free network services definition should be.
- feasible
- it should be technically and legally feasible to create a network service that meets the definition. It would be very nice if it were feasible to create useful, beneficial services that meet the definition. It would be a bonus to have a definition that could be met by services implemented by all kinds of entities, including commercial ones.
- comprehensible
- the language should be in the vernacular, roughly understandable by most people interested in the topic. OSD, FSD, DFSG, etc. are good guidelines for language level. Commonly-understood terms like "software" or "data" don't need to be defined.
- parallel
- the definition should be similar in spirit, level of detail, and comprehension to Free Software and Free Content definitions.
- defensible
- there should be a good rationale for each point.
- general
- it should cover all kinds of network services. In particular, it should not be limited to the Web; to RPC-style services or services with a UI; it should probably not make assumptions about the Internet (versus another network) or particular architectures like client-server or peer-to-peer.
- timeless
- it would be nice if the definition would be useful for people in 10-20 years.
