Home Messages Index
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index

[News] Legalised Bribery and Politics as Route to Spreading Anti-FOSS Laws

The EU and the US to legalise software patents via an SPLT clone outside of
WIPO?

,----[ Quote ]
| The big industry, gathered inside a club named Trans Antlantic Business 
| Dialogue, is lobbying the European Commission (McCreevy and Verheugen) and 
| the American Department of Commerce (Carlos M. Gutierrez) to sign a bilateral 
| treaty on harmonisation of patent law between the developed countries, which 
| will probably not include the european exclusion of computer programs, thus 
| provide a legal base to overhide the failure of the software patent directive 
| in 2005.      
`----

http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-55767/the-eu-and-the-us-to-legalise-software-patents-via-an-splt-clone-outside-of-wipo


Recent:

Local U.S. immigration laws harm business: report

,----[ Quote ]
| She said software giant Microsoft decided to move one of its units to British 
| Columbia, Canada, after an effort to legalize an estimated 12 million illegal 
| immigrants and create a temporary worker program sought by business groups 
| failed in the U.S. Senate in June.   
`----

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/071207/immigration_business_laws.html?.v=1


Related:

Politics and tech companies: follow the money

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft took first place with $651,100 given out, while
| Hewlett-Packard gave only $185,550, and Gateway gave a paltry
| $2,000. Microsoft's donations certainly illustrate well the true
| size of the company and the extent of its political concerns.
| 
| [...]
| 
| For instance, Microsoft's PAC spent $1.7 million in the 2006 election
| cycle, but only a third of this went to federal candidates. What
| happened to the rest? It went to local campaigns, paid out a few
| thousand dollars at a time to groups like "Boal for Iowa House" in
| Ankeny, IA. It also funded other PACs like the "Associated Republicans
| of Texas" and the "Blue Dog Political Action Committee." No race is
| apparently too small to be funded; even Indiana State Representative
| Terri Austin of Anderson, IN got $500.
| Lobbyists
| 
| But the real money isn't even given to the candidates directly. It
| goes to lobbyists, which can be safer investments since they stand no
| chance of losing at the polls. The complete-year figures from 2005
| show that Microsoft spent $8.7 million on lobbyist expenses. Almost
| a million dollars of that money went to Covington & Burling, a
| lobbying firm that also represents the National Football League and
| the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America. Microsoft's
| total spending on lobbying has risen substantially from the $4
| million it spent in 1998.
| 
| [...]
| 
| Where does it come from?
| 
| Although some of this money comes from large employee donations,
| most of it does not. Take Microsoft, for instance; the Center for
| Responsive Politics says that the company received only $302,599
| from individual donors who gave more than $200 in this election
| cycle, only a small fraction of the $1.7 million actually spent.
| As is typical, much of this money came from the company's top
| brass, while the rest was made up of small contributions.
| 
| The maximum individual contribution to a PAC is $5,000 a year.
| Melinda, whose occupation is listed in Federal Election Commission
| records as "homemaker," regularly contributes this amount, as does
| Bill. Steve Ballmer coughed up, too. Microsoft can use general
| company funds to support the PAC and its operations, but cannot 
| give directly to candidates.
`----

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061110-8194.html

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index