Re: [ox-en] Fwd: WSIS prep com, U.S. forces drop of support for Open Support
- From: MJ Ray <markj cloaked.freeserve.co.uk>
- Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 09:11:58 GMT
Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de> forwarded:
folks, people paid using our tax money -- demanded the removal of the
clause for support of Open Source software. Apparently, the US
government is OFFICIALLY AGAINST Free Software, and intends to block
international efforts to support its use."
This sort of thing is happening in Europe too. For example, my home state,
the UK, has a patent office which seems to be basically channeling forwards
the work of the proprietary Business Software Alliance. This government
agency is funded with our taxes, yet is working against us. That's a little
unjust, yet it's a big effort to get an agency (ie something not run by
elected representatives) to change policy.
All citizens supporting Free Software must get involved with their local
supporting groups (you can probably find them via http://www.fsfeurope.org/
http://www.eurorights.org/ or
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft/index.shtml ) and make their
views known to the people paid to represent us when making laws and policy.
I can't stress how important I feel this is. I think it's like a big
jigsaw: other things are important too, but if we lose this piece of the
puzzle, the picture can never be made complete.
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