Siddhesh Poyarekar wrote:
On 6/11/07, Rony ronbillypop@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
Doesn't this show that some people don't want the public to be empowered with knowledge?
Yes, but there are prerequisites to it. We first need a rational society. That is difficult, in fact bordering on impossible in India because of the size of the population. With such a large population, herd mentality rules rather than rational thought.
We are in the second phase of our democracy and it coincides with the information boom that has spread all over the world. This is a major cause of heartburn for many politicians in India and abroad. Although we have not seen any punishment, at least we are seeing more politicians being exposed for their corruption and scams. People and the media are now asking questions. This has also given rise to new experiments in governance to grab unquestionable and absolute power through time tested fascism. By the grace of god, we have fairly free elections and we have the power to replace Governments. Therefore it is not only important to vote but vote effectively. With or without your vote, the bad elements will come to power through their confirmed group of voters. However you can make a difference by adding every vote for the lesser evil alternative.
Software and knowledge freedom will make a big difference, but do not expect it to change the way our country is. Again, it will affect only a reasonably small section of our population (given the very size of our population, that's quite a feat). For smaller democracies, FOSS has potential to leave a bigger impact.
The topic of discussion was about control of knowledge in the hands of some corporate entities.