On 08/02/16 12:19, Mirko Boehm wrote:
Hello,
On 08 Feb 2016, at 11:28, Daniel Pocock daniel@pocock.pro wrote:
We constantly reach out to political parties, attend their meetings, give workshops, talk with staffers, etc.
How does this group appear in relation to others?
The main thing that caught my eye is that they are unified by an emphasis on democracy, despite the fact that many of the people involved have significant differences in other policy areas. Democracy is also something that is now heavily connected with digital freedom. In Richard Stallman's talk the other day, he was emphasizing software freedom should be considered as fundamental as the right to public assembly or the right to vote.
I agree with your argument that groups aiming at improving democracy are better served with free software. I would be rather careful with connecting Richard’s statements with the demand for democracy in the EU. Mandatory software freedom as he demands and democracy are not inherently connected.
That statement could be written differently: enforced use of non-free technology (in voting machines, in schools, in communication with public bodies) is usually not compatible with a healthy democracy.