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

[Erik Moeller]

Kurt-
> 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).

The MediaWiki developer team can take a position against software patents  
(on the software page at SourceForge, for example), but I think Wikipedia/ 
Wikimedia should try to maintain neutrality on all controversial issues in  
the interest of credibility.

Regards,

Erik