About the Green Party...

[Evan Leibovitch]

Denver Gingerich wrote:

> > http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-mp-three-strikes-law-is-idiotic-080706/

> Was that article meant to back up your point?  If so, it doesn't seem
> to accomplish that.  The word "software" does not appear in that
> article at all (nor does it appear in the linked press release [1]).

OK, so it was indirect, I didn't think that I needed to hit people over
the head with the point. DMCA and similar legislation directly hurts
FOSS because of a number of reasons, not the least of which is the
criminalization of reverse engineering.

Opposing DMCA-type legislation has a definite benefit for FOSS
developers whether or not he says so. More importantly, Angus's stance
indicates that he 'gets' issues related to digital IP that many in
Parliament simply don't grasp (and as such are prone to co-opting by
Hollywood North's appeals to "protect culture").

> Angus talks about the DMCA and how a similar bill would hurt Canada,
> but does not appear to be addressing free software at all.

Put another way, he is in favour of reducing barriers to FOSS adoption.
The FOSS community doesn't necessary need government to encourage or
even mandate open source, a level playing field may be all we need.
Those who seek to eliminate obstacles to FOSS use are our friends even
if they don't explicitly mention it.

While I agree that an direct statement -- such as the Greens have
provided -- is preferred, it's still worth nothing that Angus is helping
our cause. And he gets it.

Of course, said cluefullness does not necessarily extend to the NDP
party or other candidates. I'm certainly eager, as are others, to
understand its position.

- Evan