[Wikipedia-l] [Fwd: Software Patents: Help Us Win in the Europarl!]

Thu Aug 21 20:37:41 UTC 2003

Jimmy Wales wrote:

> While I'm sympathetic to the cause, I'm not really comfortable with
> Wikipedia per se taking part in a political act just because I (and
> presumably a majority of wikipedians) happen to agree with it.  

Of course not. Wikipedia should take part because software patents could 
have direct effects on the project. They threaten free software (like 
MediaWiki) in general, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone claimed to 
have a patent on "websites which are editable by visitors" (of course 
formulated much more eloquently).

> Taking sides is something that
> all of us have a moral responsibility to do as individuals, but
> Wikipedia the encyclopedia is outside politics.

Sorry, but that sounds a bit naive to me.

Kurt