
Death of M. Rocard, former French PM, hero in the fight against software patents - fermigier
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zdnet.fr%2Factualites%2Fmichel-rocard-heros-victorieux-de-la-lutte-contre-les-brevets-logiciels-39839198.htm&edit-text=&act=url
======
jacquesm
There were quite a few articles on ZDnet like this:

[http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-we-need-software-patents-
an...](http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-we-need-software-patents-and-yes-im-
smarter-than-you/)

Which were pushing software patents for all they were worth (not much), in
recent years.

Keep in mind that this is one of those 'retry until you get it' subjects, that
will be pushed over and over again until the ratchet clicks and then you're
stuck with them forever.

We owe M. Rocard a great debt for keeping Europe free as much as possible of
this nonsense and it's sad to see him go.

------
markvdb
Rocard was into politics to try and make the world a better place. He was one
of our strongest allies in the software patents fight.

I remember standing at the entrance of the Strasbourg parliament with a
megaphone kindly saying to all members of parliament arriving: "Please vote
Buzek-Rocard-Duff. Thank you very much!"

Makes me think of [http://free765.wikidot.com/](http://free765.wikidot.com/) .
I never spoke to him in person like I did with other MEPs, but friends who
were in the parliament while we were canoeing tell me he really really
appreciated that.

Rest in peace, Michel.

------
lolive
Some interviews of Michel Rocard are now available (in french) on various news
sites. One funny detail is that he ALWAYS mentions the fact that politics has
become incredibly difficult to do properly because of the small time available
in medias to explain things in depth to the people. He usually points at the
book "Amusing Ourselves to Death"
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death))
to explain why. That is quite an unusual opinion for a politician. (especially
when you compare with media experts, such as Nicolas Sarkozy).

------
ooOOoo
For French speaking people, original article is
[http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/michel-rocard-heros-
victorieu...](http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/michel-rocard-heros-victorieux-
de-la-lutte-contre-les-brevets-logiciels-39839198.htm)

------
toyg
This is what a democratic Europe looks like: Parliament standing its ground
and rejecting special interests pushing bad legislation coming from the
executive, like it happens in the best democracies. And at a time when the
European Parliament was even less powerful than it is now.

~~~
jacquesm
Note that Rocard's opponent in this issue, McCreevy also tried to get
copyrights extended to 95 years on behalf of the major labels and was one of
the bigger wheels in the EU part of the real estate crisis because of his
incessant pushing to relax the rules governing banking.

~~~
Create
Note, that people who have a clue about why the EU came to be at all are
either dead or have been managed away. BXL became a parking place for second
rate politicians (understatement). Manipulators like Cameron, Farage know this
too: and this is the tragedy.

McCreevy, déçu de voir ses arguments taillés en pièces, ne prenne la parole,
le visage rougeaud, sur un ton énervé:

"Monsieur Rocard, si c'est la guerre que vous voulez, vous allez l'avoir."

Réponse de Rocard, d'un ton posé et ferme: "Monsieur McCreevy, des guerres,
dans ma carrière, j'en ai déjà arrêté deux. Mais ce n'est pas parce que je
suis un homme de paix que je céderai à l'intimidation. Je maintiens donc mes
positions."

~~~
toyg
_> BXL became a parking place for second rate politicians _

This is primarily the fault of national governments, for which BXL is a
convenient scapegoat for their own mistakes, and secondarily of voters who
ignored European elections for too long. Post-Lisbon, MEPs do have significant
powers and ultimately designate the Commission President, so it does matter
who you vote for AND that you vote at all.

For McCreevy in particular, the Irish government should shoulder _a lot_ of
the blame for nominating him, at a time when Commissioners were extremely
powerful. These days a Commissioner so divisive would likely get shut down by
EuroParliament. Also, I might be partisan but the last three Commissions were
mostly a reflection of centre-right parties (EPP etc), which still command a
majority in EuroParliament as well as in the Council. As long as people keep
voting right-wing, we will get right-wing policies.

Like with all democracies, we get the politicians we deserve, not the ones we
need.

~~~
Create
We are talking about the same thing: those managed away from domestic power
get compensated by a bxl holiday if their blackmail powers warrant it.

The Parliament was and still is weaker than the Commission and the Council,
the latter two usually work in tandem anyway. (Actually, the swpat rejection
by the EP wasn't about values, but rather an attempt to demonstrate
capabilities, unseen before or after for that matter, see belgacom).

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/07/nsa-gchq-
surve...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/07/nsa-gchq-surveillance-
european-law-report)

What was the consequence for those behind?

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/06/security-
and-l...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/06/security-and-liberty-
theresa-mays-surveillance-plans)

In a democracy you need to be informed (see NHS campaign). That is
incompatible with W. Lippmann's Society of the Spectacle, privacy and freedom
of thought.

~~~
toyg
The Parliament now has veto powers on almost all directives, as well as a (not
practiced yet) right to send packing the entire Commission.

It does not have executive powers, so it cannot "take action". To be fair, it
does need additional powers to initiate legislative action rather than just
blocking or shaping laws that Commission and Council introduce; but that's
blocked by euroskeptics who think BXL already has too much power and proposals
should be left to national governments.

The reason EP and Commission/Council don't lock horns that often is that, when
you get down to details, pretty much everyone agrees that European Directives
are right in principle (i.e. harmonizing this or that) and it's just about
hammering out details (which are often just guidelines anyway and are left to
national parliaments to sort out) and trade a few horses. Swpat and copyright
extension were among the very few subjects that were simply too controversial
to pass, so MEPs put the hammer down - at a time when their hammer was much
smaller than it is now.

As the EP gets a bigger role, it's on the electorate to send better-prepared
MEPs. After 2009 old practices should be on their way out, as long as we push
for this change to continue.

------
jld89
Translation of the very pertinent first comment of the article:

No one can deny the role of this political giant in this epic battle, but it
would be very improper to speak of victory so far. 25 years later, Maastricht
has not kept its promises, and Rocard still openly confessed it a few months
ago, stating that they had "missed the boat" in Europe. Somewhat paradoxical
given that it is nevertheless his government and his buddies who sold us the
baby ...

Beyond this basic finding it's especially pertinent that TAFTA Treaty is being
negotiated in secret with the US, which is very worrisome. As Mr Asselineau
(UPR) in his youtube videos, our former allies want Europe in their pockets,
to face the other 2 major blocs. This is all the more urgent and decisive for
them to submit and satisfy the European nations, with NATO on the military
side, and Europe for the civilian side, the Chinese are trying to win points
quickly, and everyone already knows that China will concentrate a very large
part of global production in the next 20 years, which will not help at all our
economies, artificially abused ...

Forced sale in stores, mobile, cloud and its derivatives, are only the top of
the iceberg for Washington, Europe MUST become an American colony and
controlled subject in itself. Just observe the successive zeal, and still more
evident of our elites since the 80s!

Between $ ironing ticket which runs idle since the end of the gold parity /
dollard, and an abysmal debt, it increasingly relegates Americans in the
background, the Treaty TAFTA is even more dangerous for us Europeans, it may
lead us to the bottom with our former ally of 39-45. When Mr. Pierre Sprey,
father of the F16 and A10, openly calls the last lighning F35 II "Turkey"
(Turkey), one realizes that even in their own defense, and despite defense
budgets in hundreds of billions of $ (!), the americans are completely off
track!

Finally, when I read the obstacle course that Mr. Mamère's has to simply
follow to access a part of the ongoing negotiations TAFTA (cf.
[https://lesmoutonsenrages.fr/2016/06/26/les-incroyables-
prec...](https://lesmoutonsenrages.fr/2016/06/26/les-incroyables-precautions-
pour-cacher-le-traite-tafta-aux-elus-du-peuple/) for example), and with
reports that are apparently not the same on both sides of the Atlantic, there
are many more battles ahead, and not just in IT. We can certainly recognize Mr
Rocard for having a rare piece of political courage, that became sporadic in
our elites. The fact remains that software patents as the rest will eventually
be back on the table, and there is absolutely no doubt. In politics, there is
never victory: just battles won in their time ...

------
zoobab
While Mr Rocard did a fantastic job trying to understand the consequences of
software patents, he was also a supporter of software patents through the
backdoor of a central patent court.

In fact, the directive was rejected at the call of large companies that did
not want to see a Parliament voting against their interests. Their argument
was to push for a central patent court, which they managed to get only 6
months after the 6 july.

Now we are 10 years later, and their plan is near completion, only the Brexit
has slowed down their plan.

But the goal is still the same, validate software patents Europe-wide.

------
Animats
One result of the anti-patent fanatics is that more important technology is
now a trade secret. We don't know how Tesla's "autopilot" works, even though
it's a shipping product. We don't know much about Google's automatic driving
technology. We don't know what Intel's management processor is really doing.
We don't even know how to maintain a modern John Deere tractor.

The price of weak patents is mysterious, undocumented technology, often made
resistant to reverse engineering.

------
SFJulie
Having grown near the city he was a mayor (Conflans St Honorine) his influence
on french politics has lead to a severe turn of technocracy and denial of
democracy.

His (in)famous disciples are [0] Macron, A. Richard, Valls, Sapin, DSK that
are all famous for priming business accounting based decisions other the
people's choices. A very capitalist/market friendly turn of socialism, that
makes US democrats looks like hardcore communists.

Valls (Val d'Oise federation) and Richard (St Ouen l'Aumonne) were famous for
their interest in politic agenda and despising the people.

I do regret that some google washing has been made on his keyword in google
because right now, all his obituaries are saying how human and nice this man
was, and I can't factualize my memories.

He was also a great artisan of the European Union, I may say in the direction
most europeans maybe a tad mad with: the one where enlightened freaks and
crony technocrats can lead 300 millions people to a destiny they did not
choose.

For the software patents he was like for a lot of things choosing direction
randomly by reading techno-prohecies and as coincidence happens, he happened
to be right on this.

With his death, we remember that my generation scarified to the altar of the
greater good envisioned by the 68' generation may have one day the power to
choose their destiny ... democratically now that these people begin to die.

He did great things still, like helping to solve the post colonialist kanak
situation in new caledonia and was at least a convinced pro-peace and pro-
friendship between people, even at the cost of an heavy jacobinism.

[0] [http://www.slate.fr/story/85937/rocardiens-pouvoir-valls-
mac...](http://www.slate.fr/story/85937/rocardiens-pouvoir-valls-macron-sapin)

~~~
astrobe_
Let's not abuse the fact that most of the readership here know nothing about
French politics, please.

Here is a text written by Rocard on the topic of software patents:

[http://www.sens-
public.org/IMG/pdf/SensPublic_MRocard_Patent...](http://www.sens-
public.org/IMG/pdf/SensPublic_MRocard_PatentsLiberties.pdf)

I'll just let those interested here compare your _slightly biased_ description
of him with his writing.

~~~
SFJulie
He had nice ideas and was a wise men.

It does not mean that all praise should not come with a little of objectivity
on its political bias: his _slightly biased_ opinion of the people in the
process of making political decision.

He was a techocrat -even though he was a gifted one. And technocrats have been
so far strongest heralds of unfair IP laws that is the very first reason of
the existence of free software.

Free software is a walk-around technocratic decisions. Technocracy is much
more a problem to free software than regulations.

Regulations that can be changed by the people matters more than «right»
decisions taken by some sort of deaf aristocracy.

I will agree his essay was on spot. I will still spot his strong will to
undermine democratic process and his distrust of the people.

1 right can be undone by a small wrong that is more important.

------
timwaagh
so...this is probably one of the reasons im being paid zap for this work and
have to skirt regulations to get anywhere. meanwhile the folks in the us earn
over a hundred thousand each year, inventing new software and getting proper
recognition for their work. maybe the hero of open source fanatics (i like
open source. i just mean certain fanatics) and perhaps consumers, but
certainly not my hero. of course its sad that another well intentioned person
passed away.

~~~
markvdb
You can always go work in the US or sell your product there.

Rocard - may he rest in peace- and so many others did make a difference, for
the better.

The software patents battle is one of the reasons we have less patent trolls
in the EU versus the US.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_f...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Eastern_District_of_Texas#Patent_litigation)

What few people seem to know is that the software patent battle was also an
important in tilting the balance of power between the EU commission, the EU
council and the EU parliament towards the democratically elected parliament.

~~~
timwaagh
I'm not sure bout how easy it would be to move to the US, but it's not
surprising many of our best software engineers and innovators choose that
option. Not wanting to belittle the guys achievements, yet the balance between
EU parliament and the commission is still way off, which is one of the only
legitimate reasons people have to dislike the EU. i understand that the patent
system has downsides and of course 'fewer patents' means 'fewer trolls'.
however nothing significant in software (esp. outside of open source) has come
out of the EU for a long time. Our innovation model needs to change.

~~~
bkor
How have software patents helped any of the big growing companies over the
last 10 years?

Maybe explain it using the various startups which are quite a success:
Whatsapp, Instagram, Wechat, Twitter.

Your entire comment reads like a false dichotomy.
[http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?FalseDichotomy](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?FalseDichotomy)

~~~
timwaagh
For one thing those are/were based in America and china, not Europe. If
anything the cases of startups with European founders moving to the USA to
found their companies helps my argument. As for companies which have
benefitted: microsoft gets paid for android. because of stuff they invested in
a long time ago. Motorola getting bought by Google because they invented a lot
of things. oracle is of course a very big company and the only thing that
keeps it alive is their IP. All those big companies rely on the patent system
to make investment decicions. to put someone on a project which takes a long
time before it will yield results. If there are no patents, you will not have
these kinds of R&D based corporations. And that is a big loss for Europe. As
for whether this particular dichotomy is false, it may be so but i doubt it.
history has more or less already spoken.

