decent people vs. capitalism

The short-short version: Software patents are evil. Stop them now.

http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/ev50/vote.html

I don't normally do things like this, but this is a question of freedom reaching far beyond the confines of software. These laws will shape the future.

So please, go and vote for Florian, if not for the cause, then because he has the same first name as one of the dudes in Kraftwerk.

The a bit longer version: I quote

"There is now a new and extremely similar opportunity to make a statement
against software patents by taking a minute to fill out a simple Internet
form. The founder of the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign, Florian Mueller,
is currently running in an Internet poll for the "European of the Year"
against such celebrities as U2 frontman Bono and politicians like
Schroeder, Merkel and Blair. For voting recommendations and further
information, please click here:

http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/ev50/vote.html

When I was in Warsaw, I learned from Polish politicians that Florian's
NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign website has had a significant impact among
them. Two Polish politicians have told me personally that they had
printed out information from NoSoftwarePatents.com and used it to inform
other politicians about the issue. Florian, who had come to Warsaw for the
"Thank Poland" ceremony, also played a key role during the press conference
afterwards.

In view of all this, I have no doubt that Florian deserves to win those
"Campaigner of the Year" and "European of the Year" awards. There is a
realistic chance that we can, by voting for him on the Internet, make him
the new "European of the Year", which would demonstrate to politicians, the
press and the public that software patents are highly unpopular. Hence,
every vote for Florian is a strong vote for freedom from software patents.

It is necessary to vote for one candidate in each of the ten categories.
Florian is running in two of them, and there are also other categories in
which we can support those who opposed software patents and vote against
those who wanted to make software legally patentable in Europe.

Best regards,

Norbert Bollow

P.S. Everyone can participate in this Internet poll, including
non-Europeans. On the NoSoftwarePatents.com site, texts (and
banners) are available in more than a dozen languages. You can also
send emails to make friends aware of this Internet referendum.

Today, five celebrities from the world of free and open-source
software (Richard Stallman, Tim O'Reilly, Alan Cox, Rasmus Lerdorf
and Monty Widenius) also called on their supporters to vote for
Florian:
http://www.ag-ip-news.com/GetArticle.asp?Art_ID=2254&lang=en
"



And to put my own spin on it:

Software patents will lead to all evils, it is the first and biggest battle and if we lose this one we'll lose the war. Forget about the recent loss of civil liberties, it's a phase, it'll pass. But if software becomes patentable then there is no end to things that will also become patentable. Life itself. For they will all follow the same logic. It is a battle between capitalism on one side and decent people on the other *and we cannot lose this one*. Look at the copyright, trademark and patent law that we already have; it's bad -and virtually irreversible. So much money is into intellectual property already that they'll fight with everything they got to preserver the status quo if it is challenged. In the future, due to ever falling production costs and ever higher capacity, margins will be tighter. But not in IP, the margins are infinite when there is no physical product to handle. When every cent you make is pure profit. This is where the capitalists wants to go, and it is our job, as decent people, to stop them.

Thank you for your attention

b