Difference between revisions of "Euro Elections 2009"
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* [http://www.freesoftwarepact.eu/post/UK-citizens-and-MEPs-support-Europe-wide-Free-Software-Pact UK PressRelease] | * [http://www.freesoftwarepact.eu/post/UK-citizens-and-MEPs-support-Europe-wide-Free-Software-Pact UK PressRelease] | ||
Revision as of 10:16, 22 May 2009
The Free Software Pact Initiative
Resources
- UK PressRelease
- list of MEP candidate contact details
- 2004 Euro letter to candidates on software patents
- anti-swpat resources
- Free Software Pact
Press and Blog Coverage
Take Action in the UK
- The election in the UK occurs on Thursday June 4, 2009. We want to have every candidate contacted by email, phone or fax before May 31, 2009. Take these steps:
- Prepare your text using the ideas below or your own original text. Please feel free to add your suggested text below for others to use.
- Use this list of candidates to find contact info.
- If there is no contact info listed there for a particular candidate and you are able to track down that info. Please add that contact info to this page Candidate_Info
Letter
Dear <candidate name>,
We are writing to you on behalf of free software users in the <region> Euro region. Free software is a growing movement with over twenty years of history, and refers not to price, but to freedom - it is software which allows its users to see how it works, make changes and share those changes with others. Examples of popular free software include the Firefox web browser, the OpenOffice suite, and the GNU/Linux operating system.
Free software has clear social benefits - it is developed by communities of businesses and individuals choosing to share their talents, and enables communities to enhance software in ways which would be unprofitable for software developed solely for profit. For example, blind users might adapt software to work better with screen readers, or speakers of less common languages like Welsh might translate software into their native tongue.
Free software also has economic benefits. Because users can examine and modify it, it becomes impossible for a vendor to control markets. This encourages co-operation and a truly free market between businesses. As a result, free software has lower costs associated with it - both up front and in maintenance. Government, educational and business organisations are increasingly turning to free software for its economic as well as social benefits.
However, free software is under threat from the European Union.
[Free Software pledge, software patents]
[More links inc. Stephen Fry]
Yours,
Manchester Free Software [other organisations?]
