Comments

• Carl-Christian Buhr

  2010-06-30 10:37:29

  I think it would be useful if you could explain precisely what of the explanations on pages 6-7 of that PDF you link to you think is wrong, unclear or otherwise problematic instead of just insinuating it was proof for some sort of scandal.
  
  As explained there, the documents you ask for are not European Commission documents. Therefore the Commission ist not in a position to provide them to you. You are free to ask the concerned third parties to provide the documents. (Just to recall: These third parties cooperated with one another to provide input to the European Commission following a suggestion by Commissioner Reding that there may be a need for measures regarding the software industry (in this speech http://ec.europa.eu/archives/commission_2004-2009/reding/docs/speeches/brussels_20071119.pdf). The Commission often asks stakeholders to provide input and it is not surprising that stakeholders go through several versions of the documents they end up submitting. Moreover, if groups/companies with different views work together, as in this case, it is clear that such versions will sometimes express differing views.)
  
  Carl-Christian Buhr European Commission

• Dr. Roy Schestowitz

  2010-06-30 11:02:42

  I think it would be useful if you could explain precisely what of the explanations on pages 6-7 of that PDF you link to you think is wrong, unclear or otherwise problematic instead of just insinuating it was proof for some sort of scandal.

  
  
  It is not about pages 6-7 of that PDF. What's omitted from the PDF is correspondence that carried on, wherein I asked Lars to provide the contributions of ACT, the firm which you may know from the "letters from dead people" campaign (starting about a decade ago). Currently, it is promoting Microsoft's agenda while pretending to represent small businesses. It was not just ACT, either.
  
  What was done in this panel is the equivalent or asking Blackwater to sit on a peacekeeping panel -- or worse -- invitation of Blackwater lobbyists who pretend to be a pacifists' movement. The European Commission ought to disengage and distance itself from output of ACT. It just looks bad and I am not the only one saying it (search the Web for example). People who are on the panels are too shy/afraid to say it, so documents are leaked and journalists are approached.
  
  If you develop an Open Source strategy and seek consultation, it is better seek advice from European companies and not US lobbyists who are hired to change EU law and bring software patents to the EU, for example (to harm the economy). A cursory background check would make this easy to verify.