Tech spec experts seek allies to tear down ISO standards paywall because it inhibits education and innovation

Many of the almost 24,000 technical standards maintained by the International Standards Organization (ISO) are subject to copyright restrictions and are not freely available.

Two weeks ago, Jon Sneyers, senior image researcher at Cloudinary and co-chair of the JPEG XL (ISO/IEC 18181) adhoc group, invited fellow technical experts to collaborate on an open letter urging the ISO to set its standards free.

In an email to The Register, Sneyers explained that paywalled, copyrighted standards inhibit education and innovation.

These are standards that also reduce the cost of doing business, and which allow for various systems to interconnect with each other, for safety, and much more. It is actually crazy that they are not freely available for use. Even various ISO standards for free and open software protocols are hidden behind this paywall.

See Tech spec experts seek allies to tear down ISO standards paywall

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Open letter drafted against what's seen as unjustified profiteering

source https://gadgeteer.co.za/tech-spec-experts-seek-allies-tear-down-iso-standards-paywall-because-it-inhibits-education-and