The Parliament, having a say in the matter, protests vehemently. What more can they do? This is a problem at the level of Member States, not EU institutions.
Sorry, but have to hold you there. Having politicians nominated by other politicians you voted for does not make the commission in any way democratic, despite what their apologists claim. We all know that national elections are fought on the basis of whatever immediate national concerns are prevalent at that point - not about what commissioner is going to be chosen.
Well, on the other hand the Commission can be sacked by the Parliament at any time. So in this regard the situation is exactly the same as the one in most member states: the Commission needs the approval of the democratically elected Parliament to stand. (I fail to see how this is any less democratic than the situation in, say, Belgium where the unelected King appoints the Premier.)
By the way, my point was to say that the commissioners are politicians, not bureaucrats, as some people insist.
Mmmm, I see. What kind of situation would suit you?
Maybe if the European Parliament had veto power on legislation you would say the EU is democratic? Maybe if the said Parliament was elected by the people you would find it OK?
Let's go further: imagine the Commission (that you describe as unelected bureaucrats) was in fact composed of politicians chosen by the member states and confirmed by the Parliament and the Parliament could dismiss it anytime: would that be OK for you?
Well, this IS the current situation. How more democratic could it be? Is it any less democratic than any country in Europe or elsewhere?
You're right, the French do adore standards - but if and only if they get to set them.
Well, what is happening is that as the US is so against any standard (as they supposedly restrain freedom), that europeans are the main force behind current standardization. People in Asia are well aware of the need for standards, and the european commission is willing to draft them. The US refuses to take parts in the talks.
Eventually, everybody will use european standards (bigger market than that of the US, plus using those standards don't prevent products to be sold in the US).
You may well mock french willingness to define standards, but the truth is that we are somewhat successful in that particular game. (metric system, Code Civil used in many countries, and so on).
Well, one more likely explanation is that there are 300 millions americans. And you see, winning the Tour is about being a biological wonder, capable of gathering lots of oxygen fast.
As a matter of fact, it is true that we french people had a problem with Armstrong. He was seen as arrogant and unfriendly. (Actually, he thought the same of french people and didn't conceal it.) But as far as I can see, people like Landis very much. So you see, it's not antiamericanism.
Actually, they are admiting a violation of articles 81 and 82 of the European Communitiy Treaty (princing in order to affect others on the market, not make profits). I'm not sure this is really a good idea.
It looks like you're right. What I believe is happening, though, is that it legalize file sharing in principle as an instance of "droit de copie privée" (e.g. the right to own a private copy of works you paid for). If you own a copy of a song, you are entitled to download it...
Anyway, as somebody already said, these amendments will most probably be cancelled either in the Sénat or latter in the Assemblée nationale. And if it remains in the final law, the European Court of Justice will probably declare them illegal (not faithfully enforcing the directive).
This could set precedent to undermine copyright as a whole.
Not so. The amendments just say that sharing file is not in itself a copyright infringment. There can be many legitimate use, in particular downloading songs you already own rights for (e.g. you bought the CD, and then it broke). This is called private copy under french law: you can have a copy of any work you paid for, in case you lose the original version.
> The Commission is the executive branch of the European Union (EU)
The council of the EU is the executive branch. Some executive power is transfered under the control of the council to the commission, i.a. in the field of concurrence.
Did it ever occured to you that the current state of MS Office had been though about hard? Mod me down, but MS Office is rather near perfection. So it's a good idea for openoffice.org to copy good ideas in MS Office. I know it's fashionable to say the contrary on slashdot, nevertheless MS make real good products, sometimes.
Well, there is a difference between a business and a government. Government is not about working right for most people. It's about insuring all citizens are given equal access and equal rights. As a citizen, I cannot let the government force me to buy Microsoft Windows to be able to use public services.
Here in France, you can pay your tax online using firefox or konqueror.
I have always wondered what the world would be like if Neanderthal would have survived. What kind of status whould they be given? What about anti-Neanderthal racism?
What would happen if we managed to recreate some of them? I think that would force us to define what we are more precisely.
Well, don't forget that the European Popular Party (center right) voted FOR the proposition to abandon the bill, lest amendments AGAINST patentability would gather a majority.
So you see, this is not a majority against patents.
Well, I didn't follow the whole story, but the score is rather something like 9-8 for the good guys.
And the match is not over. The bad guys are patients, and they'll come back. This is what is strange about those reforms in Europe: they have a hard time getting accepted, but once accepted, you're locked forever...
This is a great idea! It's going to help technical application like RKWard (http://rkward.sourceforge.net/, a GUI for the R statistical language: http://r-project.org/), integrate informations from wikipedia. In the field of statistics, help is a big issue. It's quite difficult for F/OSS to compete with SAS or SPSS.
KDE/Wikipedia is certainly the way to go to fill the gap.
Slashdot Mirror
The Parliament, having a say in the matter, protests vehemently. What more can they do? This is a problem at the level of Member States, not EU institutions.
Picketing the EU Parliament won't work because most representatives don't show up anyway
Most actually means around 10% in this case: http://www.votewatch.eu/cx_epg_attendance.php Attendance rate in the EP is pretty high, sorry to ruin your stereotype.
Sorry, but have to hold you there. Having politicians nominated by other politicians you voted for does not make the commission in any way democratic, despite what their apologists claim. We all know that national elections are fought on the basis of whatever immediate national concerns are prevalent at that point - not about what commissioner is going to be chosen.
Well, on the other hand the Commission can be sacked by the Parliament at any time. So in this regard the situation is exactly the same as the one in most member states: the Commission needs the approval of the democratically elected Parliament to stand. (I fail to see how this is any less democratic than the situation in, say, Belgium where the unelected King appoints the Premier.)
By the way, my point was to say that the commissioners are politicians, not bureaucrats, as some people insist.
Mmmm, I see. What kind of situation would suit you? Maybe if the European Parliament had veto power on legislation you would say the EU is democratic? Maybe if the said Parliament was elected by the people you would find it OK? Let's go further: imagine the Commission (that you describe as unelected bureaucrats) was in fact composed of politicians chosen by the member states and confirmed by the Parliament and the Parliament could dismiss it anytime: would that be OK for you? Well, this IS the current situation. How more democratic could it be? Is it any less democratic than any country in Europe or elsewhere?
all bugs are shallow."
C sif%5C(%5B%5E)%5D*%5C)%3B+license%3Agpl+lang%3Ac%2 B%2B&btnG=Search
Well, it looks like that's not really the case: http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&lr=&q=++%5
I hope this service will help improve code quality...
Well, what is happening is that as the US is so against any standard (as they supposedly restrain freedom), that europeans are the main force behind current standardization. People in Asia are well aware of the need for standards, and the european commission is willing to draft them. The US refuses to take parts in the talks.
Eventually, everybody will use european standards (bigger market than that of the US, plus using those standards don't prevent products to be sold in the US).
You may well mock french willingness to define standards, but the truth is that we are somewhat successful in that particular game. (metric system, Code Civil used in many countries, and so on).
Well, there is no bias: only 3 americans won the more than 100 years old Tour.
Well, one more likely explanation is that there are 300 millions americans. And you see, winning the Tour is about being a biological wonder, capable of gathering lots of oxygen fast.
As a matter of fact, it is true that we french people had a problem with Armstrong. He was seen as arrogant and unfriendly. (Actually, he thought the same of french people and didn't conceal it.) But as far as I can see, people like Landis very much. So you see, it's not antiamericanism.
like any head of state
Actually, our head of state is the President. (BTW, I don't know of any country in which the PM would be the head of state...)
Actually, they are admiting a violation of articles 81 and 82 of the European Communitiy Treaty (princing in order to affect others on the market, not make profits). I'm not sure this is really a good idea.
It looks like you're right. What I believe is happening, though, is that it legalize file sharing in principle as an instance of "droit de copie privée" (e.g. the right to own a private copy of works you paid for). If you own a copy of a song, you are entitled to download it...
Anyway, as somebody already said, these amendments will most probably be cancelled either in the Sénat or latter in the Assemblée nationale. And if it remains in the final law, the European Court of Justice will probably declare them illegal (not faithfully enforcing the directive).
This could set precedent to undermine copyright as a whole.
Not so. The amendments just say that sharing file is not in itself a copyright infringment. There can be many legitimate use, in particular downloading songs you already own rights for (e.g. you bought the CD, and then it broke). This is called private copy under french law: you can have a copy of any work you paid for, in case you lose the original version.
(I'm a frogg, excuse my English)
> The Commission is the executive branch of the European Union (EU)
The council of the EU is the executive branch. Some executive power is transfered under the control of the council to the commission, i.a. in the field of concurrence.
Did it ever occured to you that the current state of MS Office had been though about hard? Mod me down, but MS Office is rather near perfection. So it's a good idea for openoffice.org to copy good ideas in MS Office. I know it's fashionable to say the contrary on slashdot, nevertheless MS make real good products, sometimes.
Well, there is a difference between a business and a government. Government is not about working right for most people. It's about insuring all citizens are given equal access and equal rights. As a citizen, I cannot let the government force me to buy Microsoft Windows to be able to use public services.
Here in France, you can pay your tax online using firefox or konqueror.
...at least corruption was organized. I'm afraid nowadays Russia is just a big mess. You can't expect anything else.
Anyway, I guess that these days you better have nothing to hide.
I have always wondered what the world would be like if Neanderthal would have survived. What kind of status whould they be given? What about anti-Neanderthal racism?
What would happen if we managed to recreate some of them? I think that would force us to define what we are more precisely.
That's a pretty big majority.
Well, don't forget that the European Popular Party (center right) voted FOR the proposition to abandon the bill, lest amendments AGAINST patentability would gather a majority. So you see, this is not a majority against patents.
Well, I didn't follow the whole story, but the score is rather something like 9-8 for the good guys.
And the match is not over. The bad guys are patients, and they'll come back. This is what is strange about those reforms in Europe: they have a hard time getting accepted, but once accepted, you're locked forever...
This is a great idea! It's going to help technical application like RKWard (http://rkward.sourceforge.net/, a GUI for the R statistical language: http://r-project.org/), integrate informations from wikipedia. In the field of statistics, help is a big issue. It's quite difficult for F/OSS to compete with SAS or SPSS. KDE/Wikipedia is certainly the way to go to fill the gap.