[ILUG] Software patents, Ireland and the EU/Proposition for action

[Bryan O'Donoghue]

Colm Buckley wrote:
> On 1 Mar 2005, at 14:47, Bryan O'Donoghue wrote:
> 
>> To the ifso members, most of whom are members of the list, by the 
>> looks of the membership, what would be the thinking on a petition, 
>> similar to the thankpoland letter, either limted to Irish people or 
>> open to Europe &/or ROW, assuming the ifso was willing to be the 
>> offical source of such a thing ?
> 
> 
> Petitions are largely useless.  Everyone who thinks that this is a bad 
> idea (and personlly, I think that the notion of handing the European 
> software industry to the USA on a plate is a pretty bad idea), should 
> write individually to their MEPs, to the Ministers for Trade (Micheál 
> Martin and Michael Ahern), and to Commissioner McCreevy, explaining why 
> it's a bad idea and why the interests of the wider European software 
> industry should be placed ahead of those of Microsoft.

Not really with you, on why you would think a petition would be useless, 
to be honest.

Would you not think that since people are fundamentally less likely to 
go to the bother of writing individual letters, that a simple email 
reply-to validated list of signatories to a letter, calling for a 
restart to the patent proposal process, would have some effect?

Let me say, I accept that individual letters would be _far_ more 
effective, but, in a theoretical pie in the sky, wouldn't you say a 
letter, with 10,000 confirmed signatories, perhaps specifically 
targetted at Commissioner McCreevy, be exactly the _sort_ of thing that 
would make a politican want to shift position, in that lots of potential 
voters, would be seen to have been made aware of issue(x) and at least 
motivated enough, to allow themselves to be included in said letter ?