The major problem in this area so far is not just cluelessness all around, but a tepid position. Lobbyists and big corporations have managed to bully the EU into passing silly laws, and the tireless efforts of the FFII and other professionals in the computer industry have had to put heavy pressure on the EU to stem the tide.

Neelie Kroes isn’t tepid, and I assume she has a healthy sense of skepticism for anything big corporations say. She’s also been confronted with internet and computer related issues in her past job – no doubt the general concept of the web has come up plenty of times whilst confronting microsoft.

Furthermore, The very competent D’66 euro crew seems to want this. Could be self-serving (VVD and D’66 both play for the same team in euro-politics: ALDE), but in other situations VVD and D’66 don’t like each other this much generally. I voted for Sophie in ‘t Veld ~6 years ago because she was clearly against software patents. Her support of Kroes goes a long way to convincing me this is good news.