11.21.09
European Commission Keeps Getting Filled with Microsoft Cronies
Siim Kallas met Bush, Ballmer
Summary: Opposition to Free software inside the European Commission comes from familiar directions; Latest example is Siim Kallas, who is close to Microsoft
WHEN Microsoft senses that a regulatory department is responsive to Microsoft’s tricks and crimes, then one solution is compliance and another is deformation of the regulatory department. The motto must be like: If you cannot influence the people, replace them.
Microsoft’s influence in the United States government is indicative of Microsoft’s identity as a “political movement”, with notable examples such as its subversion of the US DOJ [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].
A reader of ours has just brought to our attention the following new article which says: “The vice president of the European Commission has warned that any progress in using open source and open standards in the region will have to be tempered against the possibility that the software could have downsides in terms of security. [...] Although slightly faltering, Kallas’ comments appear to reflect the view – championed by proprietary software makers – that open approaches to software development are somehow more insecure than closed-source techniques and as a result more exposed to hacking or other attacks.”
“The motto must be like: If you cannot influence the people, replace them.”Well, the US Department of Defense says that Free software is even more secure. That was earlier this month (or last month when the White House moved to Free software). Our reader then adds: “I wonder, is there a connection between this VP and Microsoft? Donations?”
We did some research and found clear links. There are even more Microsoft cronies inside the European Commission, some of whom we covered before (many more references and examples in there, including names). Someone from Red Hat is aware of more examples that we’ve missed, but he did not name them. That’s understandable because there are only borderline cases.
The latest FUD which comes from this vice president of the European Commission was worth investigating because Siim Kallas gave a keynote speech for Microsoft, a company that the European Commission considers to be violating many laws. The page from Microsoft.com says: “The Honourable Siim Kallas, Commissioner & Vice President, Administrative Affairs, Audit, and Anti-Fraud, European Commission giving keynote speech at Microsoft Government Leaders Forum Europe 2006″
There is even a nice photo in there and that’s just one example. Microsoft is lobbying heavily in Europe and it turns out that Kallas was against compulsory registration for lobbyists. What is he trying to hide?
A voluntary registration system for lobbyists has been backed by the European Commission in its Green Paper on transparency released on 3 May. This ‘more credible’ approach was chosen despite “very strong pressure” from NGOs for it to be made compulsory, according to Siim Kallas, Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud
According to a video from europa.eu, “Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, met Siim Kallas, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud.” █
