Has anybody thought about doing any publicity about Brexit and free software?
For example:
- does EU membership lead to any restrictions or disadvantages in relation to free software?
- does EU membership lead to any benefits or advantages in relation to free software?
- Brexit "leave" campaigners argue that the EU erodes democracy and compromises national independence. Could it be argued that switching to free software for public institutions would do more for democracy and sovereignty than leaving the EU?
Any of these could be a good opportunity for FSFE to gain publicity, without necessarily giving an opinion on whether people should vote to "remain" or "leave".
Daniel Pocock wrote:
- Brexit "leave" campaigners argue that the EU erodes democracy and
compromises national independence.
They do argue that, but both of those points are rather misleading and shouldn't be repeated without clarification: the UK government is less democratic than the EU because while the European Commission is indeed appointed by recent national governments, UK governments often contain people who are descendents of someone appointed by a government centuries ago, such as Earl Howe, currently Minister of State for Defence; and national independence will remain compromised by membership of things like NATO and the UN - for good reason.
That democracy argument is like someone saying a pork chop has too much fat on its edge, so we should eat a pork pie instead!
Could it be argued that switching to free software for public institutions would do more for democracy and sovereignty than leaving the EU?
Yes! I suggest that it would make it easier for us to monitor the internal workings of government and reduce the hold of private corporations over our government's data. Has someone prepared a good explanation of this already?
Thanks,
On Thursday 9. June 2016 14.35.45 MJ Ray wrote:
Daniel Pocock wrote:
- Brexit "leave" campaigners argue that the EU erodes democracy and
compromises national independence.
They do argue that, but both of those points are rather misleading and shouldn't be repeated without clarification: the UK government is less democratic than the EU because while the European Commission is indeed appointed by recent national governments, UK governments often contain people who are descendents of someone appointed by a government centuries ago, such as Earl Howe, currently Minister of State for Defence; and national independence will remain compromised by membership of things like NATO and the UN - for good reason.
Indeed, the UK has its own collection of democratic deficit issues which you will rarely hear about in mainstream political discourse because it just doesn't suit the government of the day to have them discussed. Now, those of us who remember the big software patent battles of ten or so years ago and had our introduction to EU law-making at that time also recognise the democratic deficits in the EU. But, in any case, the Brexit "debate" has largely been about mud-slinging and people making stuff up to suit their particular position.
That democracy argument is like someone saying a pork chop has too much fat on its edge, so we should eat a pork pie instead!
It certainly is a struggle to resist the temptation to take the pork analogies further. What one can say without compromising the decency of this message, however, is that the Brexit "debate" has been rather like watching pigs squabbling in the mud. I recommend not trying to make too much political capital out of it by joining them.
Could it be argued that switching to free software for public institutions would do more for democracy and sovereignty than leaving the EU?
Yes! I suggest that it would make it easier for us to monitor the internal workings of government and reduce the hold of private corporations over our government's data. Has someone prepared a good explanation of this already?
Free Software encourages things like fairness, interoperability, sustainable infrastructure and, hopefully, transparency. We should be encouraging its use and those desirable outcomes regardless of what or who our government is.
It might be said that if such outcomes were prioritised seriously at the European political executive level, people might be more satisfied with things like the EU, mostly because the general culture of government might need to be different in order to that to occur. And indeed, the same might be said about the UK government with regard to its record on things like surveillance and certain aspects of its transparency.
I guess you could say that Brexit makes no difference if whoever it is that governs you doesn't care about things like digital rights, fair competition, open standards, sustainability, transparency and genuine democracy. But any arguments really don't want to be making anything out of the Brexit circus itself, in my opinion.
Paul