This does sound like it could be important, and like it would be worth doing
something about. But I don't know what the Common Criteria are (never heard
of them, in fact), nor do I understand what is meant by user policy. Linux
and *nix are certainly very widely used in the UK academic sector, so it
would seem odd if there has been nothing done on compliance with standards.
Can you give us a bit more background to work with before we start reacting?
Best
Fergus
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stefano Papini"
Hello, I apologize for the priority but I think that this is a big issue, indeed.
I recently learned that italian PA (Public Administration) is defining a law (or sort of) about the informative systems which can be adopted for its purpouse, by asking the systems the compliance with some level (I think EAL2) of Common Criteria (CC), or European equipollents (ITSEC, or BS (British Standards)).
I was told that it was recently stated on the web that Linux solutions wouldn't be compliant to such criteria, above all for what addresses the user "policy" (or something like that).
Can somebody point me to some useful direction towards this issue? Do anybody know whether a Linux system can or has been certified versus CC?
I think that this lack of certification is given by the lack of interest, or absence of motivation, by the Linux community rather than by technical limits.
I think, of course, that the compliance to these international certification criteria should be considered as an essential feature in order not to limit the diffusion of Linux systems and "free software" (in the sense of freedom, of course) also in PA which is a "strategic" area of users.
Of course the same PA, and the State, should be the first instituion sponsoring Free Software, just to guarantee the accessibility to all citizens to the services proivided (first of all about the documentation).
Please if you have any information, let's cohordinate a project aimed to "raise" the problem towards the international community, asking for support of EU, Free Software Foundation, ...
Thanks a lot, Ste
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