[d@DCC] Graphic case of city absurdity

From: Russell McOrmond <russell _-at-_ flora.ca>
To: "Doucet, Clive" <Clive.Doucet (at) ottawa.ca>
Cc: earl.mcrae -_at_- ott.sunpub.com, General Copyright Discussions <discuss -_at_- digital-copyright.ca>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 12:04:09 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Clive Doucet,
Ottawa City councilor for my ward, 


  I am quite offended by an article I read online today in the Ottawa Sun.

Graphic case of city absurdity
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/News/2004/10/26/685107.html

  This describes a case where a local business created an advertisement
that included street signs.  Andre Lamarche, Client Services and Public
Information, sent him a message claiming he was violating the cities
wordmark since the street signs were manufactured with the wordmark on
them.

  Beyond the fact that Andre Lamarche needs to be seriously reprimanded
for wasting our tax money to launch such insane claims, I believe as
citizens of Ottawa we should be demanding far more liberal use of
trademark claims made by the city.  It is insulting to citizens to have
the city acting worse than many for-profit corporations, treating images
in our public city streets as if they were the property of Ottawa
Corporation.  At this moment I feel a little embarrassed to be a citizen
of Ottawa.

  I am part of a worldwide movement to try to publicly license any
publicly funded works.  Examples can be found with the Public Access
initiatives for health information, and the worldwide movement for
governments at all levels to adopt Free/Libre and Open Source Software and
methods.

  We need to protect our intellectual public spaces as much as we do our
other environmental public spaces.  Municipalities should support public
licensing of publicly funded works for some of the same public policy
reasons why we need to support public transportation and the protection of
greenspaces.

  I hope that the City of Ottawa will join the modern world and not take
such a backward attitude and promote the privatization of intellectual
public spaces.


Open Access
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/taxonomy/page/or/349

Free/Libre and Open Source Software
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/taxonomy/view/or/343

Limux -- the composition of the words Linux and Munich -- is the official
name for the open source project of the municipality of the German city
Munich.
http://europa.eu.int/ida/en/document/3223/470

-- 
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
 Telling my story: The Life of one Hacker
 Early draft, looking for comments and corrections of my memory.
 http://www.flora.ca/russell/drafts/life-of-hacker.html
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