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View Full Version : Bush's man in Europe slammed as Microsoft ally



newbie2
August 9th, 2005, 08:36 AM
Monday 8 August 2005

The European branch of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has criticised President Bush's decision to nominate a long-time ally of Microsoft as the US representative to the European Union.

C Boyden Gray, a lawyer who lobbied on behalf of Microsoft during the US antitrust battle with the Justice Department, was named by Bush late last month as his choice to be the US' next EU ambassador.

Georg Greve, the president of FSF Europe, claimed on Monday this appointment shows the level of political control that Microsoft holds in the US. "[It] is quite an explicit statement of who truly holds the political power," said Greve in an email.

Gray's selection, which must be confirmed by the Senate, comes at a critical time in the EU's antitrust case against Microsoft - the European Commission (EC) is expected to make a decision on whether Microsoft has complied with last year's antitrust ruling later this year.

Greve said until now the EU has shown itself to be less influenced by lobbyists than the US but was concerned this may change. "We can only encourage the European Commission to stay true to its course and not let US company interests rule over those of European consumers and economy," said Greve.

The EC did not respond to requests for comment at the time of writing.

Gray is co-chairman of the group Citizens for a Sound Economy, which advocates free-market positions with a focus on taxes and government regulation. CSE and other similarly-minded groups received cash from Microsoft during its long-running antitrust war with the US Justice Department and state attorneys general.

CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh contributed to this report
http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39151152,00.htm

Lord Illidan
August 9th, 2005, 08:41 AM
When big money is involved, what do you expect?

tom-ubuntu
August 9th, 2005, 08:47 AM
Money means power. Microsoft got lots of it to pay a lot of Microslaves.

drizek
August 9th, 2005, 08:50 AM
When big money is involved, what do you expect?
for bush to somehow be connected.

Lord Illidan
August 9th, 2005, 09:05 AM
Lol..hitting the nail on the head!

newbie2
August 9th, 2005, 09:29 AM
When big money is involved, what do you expect?
yea...under the hood of 'cooperating with the law' M$ can do what it likes -->

"In appreciation of the role of the New York Attorney General, another $1 million of this settlement money will be directed to New York state through Microsoft Unlimited Potential donations, which help community centers to expand computer-related skills training for youths and adults."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050809/sftu086.html?.v=22

newbie2
August 9th, 2005, 11:20 AM
Money means power. Microsoft got lots of it to pay a lot of Microslaves.
"Congress temporarily raised the number to 195,000 during the high-tech boom. In April, Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates, in a rare visit to Washington, lobbied the Bush administration to lift the limit on H1-B visas."
http://indiamonitor.com/news/readNews.jsp?ni=8243

SKLP
August 9th, 2005, 12:12 PM
](*,)