Re: [Fsfe-uk] Arlene McCarty on software patents

[Alex Hudson]

On Thu, Jun 12, 2003 at 09:25:34PM +0100, Nick Hill wrote:
> This gives some insight to the workings of Arlene McCarthy. I will 
> compose a response. Any input about elements to include, and references, 
> are welcome.

Indeed. I found it particularly galling that she appears to be playing the
man rather than the ball - while some of her arguments are clearly straw
men, she's even arguing about points you didn't raise (thinking particularly
about the damage to open source software, her point 4 - I didn't even
bother to search the original article to see whether rms or yourself had
mentioned open source, even in passing ;)

Her main problem is that she presents the choice as 'harmonise laws (pro
software patents)' or 'keep the current mess'. Now, of course, it's fairly
easy to accept the current mess isn't great. But, that doesn't mean the only
other choice is pro-software-patent one - I would prefer 'harmonise laws,
without software patents'. 

BTW, I'm glad to see she labelled you two as 'computer rights campaigners' -
I have long thought computers are a much subjugated minority, it's about time
someone took an interest in them ;)

Cheers,

Alex.