Torvalds And Cox Write EU Parliament On Patents

replicant_deckard writes "Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox have sent an open letter to the members of the European Parliament. They ask for strict limitations to software patents, argue for open standards and ask the members of the parliament to follow FFII's voting recommendations. Vote on the controversial software patents directive will be on Wednesday and it is expected to be a very close one. Well, do you believe these guys have any impact in Brussels?"

Comments

I wish I could say it'll make a difference...

[kcbrown]

...but it almost certainly won't. Even so, the effort should be made (any chance of winning is better than no chance).

I think it should be pretty clear by now (given the passage of the EU version of the DMCA, among other things) that the EU parliament and other European governments are very much in the pockets of corporations just like the U.S. government is. It's more a matter of degree than anything else.

That's why I don't think we who value our basic liberties have much time left. Others might ask why I haven't moved (I live in the U.S.), without realizing that there really isn't any place on the globe worth moving to. As far as I know, there isn't a single government on the planet that cherishes liberty and works towards maximizing that for its people. And even if there were, chances are most people wouldn't be able to go there anyway because of strict immigration laws.

Re:Well

[Sanity]

I don't know - how big a check are they including with their letter?

+5 Funny aside, that kind of cynicism really hurts us (not the fact that you expressed it, but the fact that some people use that attitude as an excuse to do nothing). We can and have made a difference in this debate because people but their cynicism aside and really tried to engage in the political process.

I have helped to persuade my MEP to not-only agree with me, but to actively support the anti-swpat movement - and this is someone that previously didn't deal with tech issues at all (MEP Avril Doyle if anyone cares).

As in most things - the only way to guarantee that you lose a political debate is not to participate in the first place.

Re:It's been said before

[Killall -9 Bash]

Anyone who doesn't understand technology (or anything else for that matter) gets defensive about it as their first reaction when someone dissagrees with them.
Being steadfastly wrong has more PR value for politicians than being corrected by authorities on the subject, because the general public doesn't understand technology much better than the politicians, so how do they know who's right? Much better to shout about how right you are than to defer to another.

Anyway, im not sure i really understand the issue here. IANAL, so i don't really get why something that's copyrighted would also need to be patened, except as amunition for more IP wars.

Agreed

[Sanity]

This is the most significant problem with this email, they assume that the average MEP will know who Linus is or why he is important.

The second most significant problem is that they give them a hyperlink to indicate what they can do to address these issues. They need to SPELL OUT what an MEP can do to help the anti-swpat cause. This means saying "this URL contains a list of amendments which are essential if this proposal is to protect competition and innovation in the European software industry".

Every additional second it takes for an MEP to figure out a) Why they should agree with you? or b) Given that they agree with you, what do they do? costs us votes.