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Hall: Protect open source from 'looters' (ZDNet)
ZDNet covers Jon
"maddog" Hall's keynote speech at the Linux User and Developer Expo 2003.
"Hall compared the ongoing legal battle between The SCO Group and the
open-source community to the looting of Iraq's national treasures following
the recent war in the Gulf."
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Analogy oops Posted Jun 24, 2003 20:32 UTC (Tue) by rjamestaylor (guest, #339) [Link] Unfortunately, there was no actual looting of Iraqi treasures, beyond perhaps 50 items. Yet, the initial shock of the reports of mass looting is burned into our collective pysche, so the analogy may still be apt even if unfactual.
Analogy oops Posted Jun 25, 2003 1:18 UTC (Wed) by karim (subscriber, #114) [Link] Well, what we see on TV or hear in the news is often wrong to some degree. For what it's worth, however, you may be interested by these accounts from someone who was in Bagdad before, during, and "after" the conflict, and who directly witnessed the result of the looting and the burning of Iraq's national library and archives: http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles227.htm http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles231.htm http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles232.htm Clearly there has been severe damage and looting to the country's cultural heritage. Who should be blamed is, however, a different matter altogether.
Hall: Protect open source from 'looters' (ZDNet) Posted Jun 24, 2003 21:45 UTC (Tue) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link] Sorry, you're wrong, although you are echoing a line put out by pundits like Andrew Sullivan. Latest estimates are that 6000 artifacts were looted. See, for example this link.
Unhelpful comparison Posted Jun 24, 2003 23:01 UTC (Tue) by proski (subscriber, #104) [Link] I think it's rather unhelpful to make such comparisons. It is possible to take copyrighted code and sneak it into the Linux kernel. It is also possible to open the code in violation of contracts. Even people who are strongly against software copyrights would agree that signing an agreement to keep the code closes and then quietly breaking it is immoral and probably illegal. If you cannot keep the code closed for whatever reasons, don't sign the agreement!Explaining that Linux is good and that it belongs to the human civilization is not going to make a contract breach a good thing. A better argument would be to explain that the clains made by SCO in this particular case are either groundless or don't affect Linux.
Unhelpful comparison Posted Jun 25, 2003 1:54 UTC (Wed) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link] Better watch what you say about the sanctity of contracts.I live in the United States. One of our favorite derogatory remarks here is: "You didn't read the fine print." Another: "The large-print givers, the small-print takers-away" (Tom Waite, I believe.) We are living in a place where corporations, which were supposed to be state-chartered organizations for serving specific purposes, have somehow become "people." You'd be amazed how many families have been ruined, people betrayed, property stolen, lives wasted, because of some "contract." Were the contract signers "gullible" in those cases? If you think so, remember this: it's never your fault if you're the victim of a crime. Even a "legal" one. Face facts: There are people who make their living writing misleading statements, murky contracts, and all manner of trickery. I respect contract law. But I don't sanctify it. On the other hand, I *do* hold volunteer work in very high esteem; I am writing this on a largely-volunteer operating system. A lot of people have contributed. If someone deliberately stole source-code and put it in Linux, bad for them, but NOT FOR THE REST OF US. That is the way it will be, one way or the other.
Unhelpful comparison Posted Jun 25, 2003 2:54 UTC (Wed) by wweber (guest, #11678) [Link] We are living in a place where corporations, which were supposed to be state-chartered organizations for serving specific purposes, have somehow become "people." Best of it is, there are history teachers instructing our armed forces that Corporate Personhood made America the leader in Economic Development. Prosperity for some at the expense of freedom for all others - that's what they're fighting for!
Unhelpful comparison Posted Jun 25, 2003 8:05 UTC (Wed) by ronaldcole (guest, #1462) [Link] Just a few points to clarify:* in the US, corporations are "legal" persons created by a State with respect to (statutory) law. * in the US, terms of contracts are supposed to be equal (meaning that a contract where A gives B nothing in return for B giving A a valuable consideration is not enforcable) and construed against the person who created it. That said, I don't think the looting comparison is apt, either. It's a bad analogy. I'd have to say the SCO/IBM suit is more like National Lampoon's magazine cover where a dog has a gun pointed at it's head with the caption "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this dog". <http://www.marksverylarge.com/issues/7301.html>
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