[WSIS CS-Plenary] PCT and WGIG

[Milton Mueller]

>>> ca at rits.org.br 1/13/2005 7:57:39 AM >>>
>Dear Dr Mueller, don't be so pessimistic! You are tending to grade our

>report with an F even before we start writing it! ;)  

Not at all! I simply expressed skepticism about its ability to produce
specific policy recommendations. This does not necessarily mean that it
will be a "bad" or useless report. For example, it could come up with a
decent definition of Internet and Internet governance, and identify
which problems under those definitions are most susceptible to global
treatment and need to be solved with greatest urgency.

>Also, you are not really right in saying there are no pro-FOSS
software 
>"expert/advocate" people there -- there might not be "card-carrying" 
>people from the "free software movement" organizations, but there are

>several who are experienced in the field, are strong advocates in
favor 
>of it, and will press for it whenever appropriate. There is strong 
>pro-FOSS life beyond these organizations.

Yes, you are right. I stand corrected. It is actually what I meant to
say in response to Dr. Greve. There are no  FSF people nominated by the
PCT WG, and I still believe that that absence reflects a weakness in the
CS process. But nevertheless I sense a general support for many of the
attitudes and positions they espouse, if not the doctrinaire aspects of
it. 

The problem, as you probably know, is the tendency of the
"card-carrying" FS movement cadre to act like a rigid ideological
faction, reminiscent of some Maoist group from the antiwar movements of
the 1970s. If they are wondering why they weren't put on the WGIG, that
may be part of the explanation. 

>Finally, like FOSS, "intellectual property" issues are listed among
the 
>topics to be addressed by the WGIG, and, again, there are WG members 
>with good qualifications to carry out this discussion, and, above all,

>interact with their communities to seek advice and consensus.

I totally agree. 

--MM