For UK users: Will gnucash get ready for Making Tax, Digital ?

[Adonay Felipe Nogueira]

I see what you mean now... this seems similar to the copyright
related laws in China (which unfortunatelly make GPL'd software in a state
similar to public domain), there was a debate about this in
libreplanet-discuss
([[https://lists.gnu.org/archive/cgi-bin/namazu.cgi?query=%2Bsubject%3A%7Bsuggestion%2Fhelp.+GPL+enforcement.%7D&submit=Search%21&idxname=libreplanet-discuss&max=20&result=normal&sort=date%3Alate]]),
and so far, it's considered that, in the case of China, an *inside*
change is needed, although it doesn't turn the software as non-free, it
does pose a problem for GPL enforcement in China.

I guess the same *inside* intervention is needed in the case of those
affected by Making Tax Digital.

I guess the proccess of MTD could be simplified if the signature check
would be made against the accountant's signature (the person responsible
for things like: registering the transactions, checking if the
transactions registered by third-parties are correct, closing the
periodic book, and so on). The files produced by such accountant could
be signed using techniques like GnuPG.

However, I would like to note that it's important to avoid signing
techniques such as CAdES, XAdES and PAdES, because:

- I don't know if there is free/libre firmware that works with signing
  tokens.

- I don't know if there is free/libre module/driver that is able to
  interact with the token's firmware.

- I don't know if there is free/libre software that is able to
  understand how to understand, define and call basic operations
  concerning these standards.

This was indeed a recent debate during FLISoL 2017 Balneário Camboriú
([[https://flisol.info/FLISOL2017/Brasil/BalnearioCamboriu]]), a free
software event that happened in the city of Balneário Camboriú, Santa
Catarina, Brazil, Latin America. In that event, those involved noticed
the lack of knowledge of the existance of free/libre software to deal
with these standards.

Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com> writes:

> As far as I am aware, there shouldn't be any licensing issues on the FOSS
> side about including a government-granted key in the distribution. There are
> severe technical issues, which may impact licensing, in keeping the
> government-granted key a secret. Since the last bit is the important part, as
> far as the government key-granter is concerned, it becomes a problem. The
> nature of FOSS doesn't prevent people from making derivatives of the software
> and use the same key, which is also a problem as far as the government
> key-granter is concerned.
>
> There are also philosophical issues with creating FOSS software you can't
> change without breaking functionality, which the government-granted
> key-branding of authorized software would do. From the government
> key-grantor's perspective, changing the software invalidates the key, even if
> there isn't any way for them to tell. If it's illegal to use an invalid key
> (or a key from a different software package), then merely doing what FOSS is
> intended to allow you to do is breaking the law. If there's no way to modify
> a piece of FOSS software legally, is it really FOSS? I think not.
>
> On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 12:40 PM Adonay Felipe Nogueira
> <adfeno at openmailbox.org> wrote:
>
>  Just to make usre that I'm clear: My last message about keeping *my*
>  mouth closed was a way to tell that *I* won't comment on that for now
>  because I'd still have to study and gather proof. That is: That message
>  was not meant to be harsh towards someone.
>
>  I hope this helps. :)
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