Election 2008 and Linux (Was: Re: About the Green Party...)

[Russell McOrmond]

On Fri, 3 Oct 2008, Tony Yarusso wrote:

> I don't recall seeing it in their 2008 platform, but I'm reasonably
> certain there was a mention of open source somewhere in the NDP's 2006
> platform or some other communication from them - I'll do some digging
> and see if I can find it.

  Charlie Angus is the NDP's digital issues spokesperson, and the two of us 
have had many conversations on the topic.   He's very aware of the 
benefits of FLOSS, as well as what federal policies would be helpful and 
harmful.

   In the past Reg Alcock of the Liberals was also an ally, but he lost his 
seat in the last election and didn't run.

   Like the issue of Copyright, FLOSS and Linux (This is an Ubuntu forum, 
not a FLOSS or Copyright forum) is really candidate-specific and not 
something where what the central party says really matters.   There are 
some great people and some problem people in each party, and you really 
should talk to the individual candidates.

   And please -- if you do talk to your candidates and get a reply, let me 
know as I'm posting technology related election issues on 
http://digitalcopyright.ca


P.S. If my name is new to anyone, I'm the policy coordinator for CLUE: 
http://cluecan.ca AKA http://linux.ca


P.P.S. I hope that mentioning parties and candidates won't lead to a 
flamewar, as someone suggested.  All parties have good and bad things 
about them with respect to understanding Linux, and it's hard to claim to 
be promoting Ubuntu Linux without being aware of the laws and policy which 
can help and harm us.  Their views on other policy issues that might lead 
to a flamewar are what is off topic for this forum, not their views on 
FLOSS and Linux.

-- 
  Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
  Please help us tell the Canadian Parliament to protect our property
  rights as owners of Information Technology. Sign the petition!
  http://digital-copyright.ca/petition/ict/     http://KillBillC61.ca

  "The government, lobbied by legacy copyright holders and hardware
   manufacturers, can pry control over my camcorder, computer,
   home theatre, or portable media player from my cold dead hands!"