[Gllug] EU patents

Alain Williams addw at phcomp.co.uk
Mon Jun 30 22:48:27 UTC 2003


On Mon, Jun 30, 2003 at 11:42:56PM +0100, Daniel Ahrens wrote:
> Geez, what a dim view of 'the Real World [TM]'. The silent majority is doing
> no-one any favours. Only by engaging can you make a difference. In my
> experience, people who love to hackle from the sidelines are afraid to lead
> from the front because of the existence of people like themselves. It's so
> easy to criticise, to tear down, to annihilate and destroy, but so hard to
> create, to be positive, to contribute and to be ready to make a difference.
> M$ is only a company with roughly 5000 programmers and an army of sales
> staff and managers (approx 50 000). The 'free' and open software movement
> numbers in the millions. Yet, ur still shit scared of M$? That's pathetic.
> We're only going to get a EU version of DMCA if you / us / we / me allow it
> to happen. If we don't get involved at this stage, we don't have the moral
> right to criticise anyone or anything after the fact. But even if we will
> get a EU version of the DMCA because of our present collective inertia
> (while we're busy congratulating ourselves on having managed to install the
> latest kernel patch, which is a lot more difficult than writing a number of
> emails to your local MP, to your EU representative, to No 10 Downing Street
> in order to register your voice, your protest, your opinion in a matter
> which is of general concern to humanity as a whole), it will even then still
> be possible to change whatever has been set as law. But if you don't believe
> this to be even remotely possible, I agree that you might just as well
> continue using M$ software and forget about OS. Doesn't the fact that you
> are on this list signify that you DO believe that change is possible? :)

Quite.

Can we have a volunteer (or a small group) to be a 'lead' on this ?
Rather than all of us working out the arguments, finding the nice examples,
seeking out who we should talk to, draft individual letters to MPs/...,
we need a small committee to coordinate.

The rest of us can then follow: devote whatever time we feel we can afford ...

Volunteers ?

-- 
Alain Williams

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FATHERS-4-JUSTICE - Campaigning for equal rights for parents and the
best interests of our children. See http://www.fathers-4-justice.org

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