4 ms·

For those that know more about OpenBSD than the EU (and I salute you for it), the EU parliament is a fairly powerless institution. Eurocrats show it little resp

by dash2 12y ago

For those that know more about OpenBSD than the EU (and I salute you for it), the EU parliament is a fairly powerless institution. Eurocrats show it little respect; one described it as "just one big fucking NGO". Update after reading it: this isn't even an official parliament document or recommendation. It's something by the parliament's research service.

makeitsuckless 12y ago
On HN, "the EU" is a fictional European entity which can be anything people want it to be depending on the argument they're trying to make. Excuse the snark, but the wilful ignorance concerning the EU and Europe in favour of ideological posturing makes it near impossible to discuss most relevant topics. Starting with a somewhat misleading headline doesn't help.
higherpurpose 12y ago
I don't know about that. It's the EU Parliament that comes up with most of the new EU-wide directives. It's the EU Parliament that defeated ACTA, while the EU Commission was trying its best to pass it. The Commission is generally much more prone to lobbying influence, and perhaps unsurprisingly it also tends to be less democratic as a consequence. The new Commission might not be as bad as the previous one, but it's still too early to decide.
madez 12y ago
Between the lines of your comment is a lot of disregard against the EU and the EU parliament. How come so?
pXMzR2A 12y ago
Politicians in EU and US call various institutions a "NGO" when they disagree with it and want to ridicule it to intentionally reduce its public reputation. EP is a high reputation organization and has force within the EU structure. Calling an EPRS study "something by the parliament's research service" is not only redundant (EPRS = European Parliament Research Service) but also short-sighted (do you do the same thing to the deliverables by your R&D department?). So, this is an EP study that you can cite in order to support your arguments for switching to free software in your government / school / workplace / home / hobby group.
- dash2 12y ago
  I wasn't dismissing the study's quality, just saying that this is not necessarily going to lead to any change in policy (e.g. all EU computers mandated to run OpenBSD).
  - pXMzR2A 12y ago
    > all EU computers mandated to run OpenBSD That kind of social change would require a change in the econo-political system.
    - dash2 12y ago
      I think mandating all EU computers to run _anything_ would be a very bad idea.
progman 12y ago
> the EU parliament is a fairly powerless institution This is certainly not true. Thanks to the EU parliament the IT freelancers in the EU don't need to suffer software patents. The Eurocrats did everything to invent it some years ago, even with dirty tricks (like pushing it through immediately before summer vacation). We IT freelancers contacted politicians of the EU parliament, told them about our concerns, and they actually supported us. I remember the victory celebration at heise.de (a leading IT newsticker in Germany). Usually there are about some hundred comments per hot thread but in this case it was more than eleven thousands.
toyg 12y ago
> the EU parliament is a fairly powerless institution. Nope. The EU Parliament (elected), the Commission (periodically nominated by national governments) and the Council (meeting of national governments) are the three "heads" of the EU political system, and they are locked in a constant struggle to determine the exact boundaries of their powers. The Parliament is the youngest institution, hence the historical disregard of entrenched interests; at the same time, it's the institution most hungry for power, because it's the only one with a clear democratic mandate. As others mentioned, software patents were a battlefield for such struggle: the Commission repeatedly recommended their introduction (IIRC, at the behest of a certain Microsoft-friendly Irish commissioner), and the Parliament repeatedly sent them packing. You will find several other instances of this happening: the democratic mandate of the EU Parliament in most cases will eventually trump backroom agreements in the Commission, as long as the topic becomes mainstream enough to invoke such mandate. In future, the institution that is destined to become more and more powerless is one between the Council and the Commission, since their scope overlaps now that the Parliament has taken over the "legislative" process earlier left to the Commission.

by dash2 12y ago

makeitsuckless 12y ago

On HN, "the EU" is a fictional European entity which can be anything people want it to be depending on the argument they're trying to make. Excuse the snark, but the wilful ignorance concerning the EU and Europe in favour of ideological posturing makes it near impossible to discuss most relevant topics. Starting with a somewhat misleading headline doesn't help.

higherpurpose 12y ago

I don't know about that. It's the EU Parliament that comes up with most of the new EU-wide directives. It's the EU Parliament that defeated ACTA, while the EU Commission was trying its best to pass it. The Commission is generally much more prone to lobbying influence, and perhaps unsurprisingly it also tends to be less democratic as a consequence. The new Commission might not be as bad as the previous one, but it's still too early to decide.

madez 12y ago

Between the lines of your comment is a lot of disregard against the EU and the EU parliament. How come so?

pXMzR2A 12y ago

Politicians in EU and US call various institutions a "NGO" when they disagree with it and want to ridicule it to intentionally reduce its public reputation. EP is a high reputation organization and has force within the EU structure. Calling an EPRS study "something by the parliament's research service" is not only redundant (EPRS = European Parliament Research Service) but also short-sighted (do you do the same thing to the deliverables by your R&D department?). So, this is an EP study that you can cite in order to support your arguments for switching to free software in your government / school / workplace / home / hobby group.

dash2 12y ago
I wasn't dismissing the study's quality, just saying that this is not necessarily going to lead to any change in policy (e.g. all EU computers mandated to run OpenBSD).
- pXMzR2A 12y ago
  > all EU computers mandated to run OpenBSD That kind of social change would require a change in the econo-political system.
  - dash2 12y ago
    I think mandating all EU computers to run _anything_ would be a very bad idea.

progman 12y ago

> the EU parliament is a fairly powerless institution This is certainly not true. Thanks to the EU parliament the IT freelancers in the EU don't need to suffer software patents. The Eurocrats did everything to invent it some years ago, even with dirty tricks (like pushing it through immediately before summer vacation). We IT freelancers contacted politicians of the EU parliament, told them about our concerns, and they actually supported us. I remember the victory celebration at heise.de (a leading IT newsticker in Germany). Usually there are about some hundred comments per hot thread but in this case it was more than eleven thousands.

toyg 12y ago

> the EU parliament is a fairly powerless institution. Nope. The EU Parliament (elected), the Commission (periodically nominated by national governments) and the Council (meeting of national governments) are the three "heads" of the EU political system, and they are locked in a constant struggle to determine the exact boundaries of their powers. The Parliament is the youngest institution, hence the historical disregard of entrenched interests; at the same time, it's the institution most hungry for power, because it's the only one with a clear democratic mandate. As others mentioned, software patents were a battlefield for such struggle: the Commission repeatedly recommended their introduction (IIRC, at the behest of a certain Microsoft-friendly Irish commissioner), and the Parliament repeatedly sent them packing. You will find several other instances of this happening: the democratic mandate of the EU Parliament in most cases will eventually trump backroom agreements in the Commission, as long as the topic becomes mainstream enough to invoke such mandate. In future, the institution that is destined to become more and more powerless is one between the Council and the Commission, since their scope overlaps now that the Parliament has taken over the "legislative" process earlier left to the Commission.