(free soft & soft patents) Address The President of Portugal at the Seminar on The Network Society and the Information Economy

[In Portugal the President is mostly a protocol figure. However we has the power of veto over the laws (that veto can be overturned). He can also call general elections (as he did a few months ago, opening the way to a socialist majority in the Parlment). He is elected by popular vote each five years. He can be reelected only once.

The actual president of Portugal is Dr. Jorge Sampaio, a Socialist, elected for the first time in 1996, reelected in 2001. Previously he has been secretary general of the Socialist Party.]

Address by His Excellency The President of The Portuguese Republic at the Seminar on The Network Society and the Information Economy: Portugal in a Global Perspective, 5-6 March 2005

Lisbon, "Centro Cultural de Belem"

the 6th of March, 2005

(excerpt:)

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The broadening of the access to digital networks, needed to prevent the generation of other forms of exclusion, can be made considering new opportunities associated with open source software, by the follow up of experiments such as those developed in Brazil can be very interesting, namely in a framework of strategic promotion of the Portuguese language in the world. To follow the debate over European Union directives, over software access rules, is a demand we cannot disregard.

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links (in Portuguese):

http://presidenciarepublica.pt/pt/cgi/noticias.pl?ver=discursos&id=1212

http://presidenciarepublica.pt/network/


Originals (in Portuguese)

Intervenção de Sua Excelência o Presidente da República, Dr. Jorge Sampaio, por ocasião do Encerramento do Colóquio: A Sociedade em Rede e a Economia do Conhecimento: Portugal numa Perspectiva Global, 5-6 Março 2005
Lisboa, Centro Cultural de Belém

06 de Março de 2005

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O alargamento do acesso às redes digitais, indispensável para que não se gerem novas formas de exclusão, pode passar pela consideração de oportunidades associadas a open source software, pelo que o acompanhamento de experiências como as que hoje se desenvolvem no Brasil pode revestir-se de grande interesse, designadamente numa perspectiva de promoção estratégica da língua portuguesa no mundo. Acompanhar o debate sobre directivas comunitárias sobre a regulação do acesso ao software é uma exigência indeclinável.

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