--- Matt Johnson wrote: > The article I read (Headlined "Linux under threat?")

claims,

"the very core of the Linux operating system could be illegal."

Hmm. Okay. Bit of a shame really.

The article lists the big supporters of this action to be (among others) AOL and Mircosoft.

I too read that article and was shocked. But then it is hardly a big surprise that Microsoft would be in league with backing the statement that "the core of the Linux OS could be illegial"............. Personally, I think it is a load of rubbish. Open Source (thanks to Richard Stallman) has grown to immeasureable proportions, and I for one would like to see it remain that way. Afterall, this is our only way bouycoting proprietry (ahem) OSes.... Regards, Thomas Adam ===== Thomas Adam "The Linux Weekend Mechanic" -- www.linuxgazette.com ________________________________________________________________ Nokia 5510 looks weird sounds great. Go to http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/nokia/ discover and win it! The competition ends 16 th of December 2001.

Looking at the current government's track record over here, the 'if the US think it's good then it must be good' mindset means that if it gets through over there, something similar will get through over here.

Problem is that in practice no-one (on the legislature) may even be competant to render an opinion. IIRC the US DMCA was passed without the people concerned understanding (or mostly even having read) it.

And don't kid yourself into thinking that laws that daft won't get through over here. Basically the a large part of the SSSCA is just the same as our disasterous RIP bill, except that they've taken it a bit further and they want to be able to spy on you electronically. Under the SSSCA the makers of OS's etc need to build in back doors so that the law enforcement services (read NSA, CIA, FBI) can secretly get into your PC.

Or more likely read any "script kiddie"... In other words we have something supposedly mandating security the most likely effect of which would be to mandate zero security. -- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763

If only it was so easy... Much as I might like the idea of being burned at the stake for using Linux, that won't help people in schools to use the best software when they don't have permission because it's illegal. OK - it probably won't come to that, but the attempts to use the law against open source are worrying. On Tue, 11 Dec 2001, Phillip Deackes wrote:

On Thu, 6 Dec 2001 09:37:02 +0000 Gary Stainburn wrote:

...

And don't kid yourself into thinking that laws that daft won't get through over here. Basically the a large part of the SSSCA is just the same as our disasterous RIP bill, except that they've taken it a bit further and they want to be able to spy on you electronically. Under the SSSCA the makers of OS's etc need to build in back doors so that the law enforcement services (read NSA, CIA, FBI) can secretly get into your PC.

Don't know why you all worry. If the law is an ass, ignore it. The law of the land exists as a manifestation of the public will, not as a whim of MS and the government. I have no problem doing what I think is right, law or no law. As long as the moral stance is broadly in line with the established norms of our society, go for it. There are plenty of cases where the law follows the citizens of a country rather than vice versa.

Mass public protest - I *like* that!

-- ------------------- Roger Whittaker SuSE Linux Ltd The Kinetic Centre Theobald Street Borehamwood Herts WD6 4PJ ------------------ 020 8387 1482 ------------------ roger@suse.co.uk ------------------

On Tue, Dec 11, 2001 at 07:00:32PM +0000, Phillip Deackes wrote:

On Thu, 6 Dec 2001 09:37:02 +0000 Gary Stainburn wrote:

...

And don't kid yourself into thinking that laws that daft won't get through over here. Basically the a large part of the SSSCA is just the same as our disasterous RIP bill, except that they've taken it a bit further and they want to be able to spy on you electronically. Under the SSSCA the makers of OS's etc need to build in back doors so that the law enforcement services (read NSA, CIA, FBI) can secretly get into your PC.

Don't know why you all worry. If the law is an ass, ignore it. The law of the land exists as a manifestation of the public will, not as a whim of MS and the government. I have no problem doing what I think is right, law or no law. As long as the moral stance is broadly in line with the established norms of our society, go for it. There are plenty of cases where the law follows the citizens of a country rather than vice versa.

The law has historically been imposed as a means to protect property and of course the more property you've got the more influence you have in shaping what becomes law. Ordinary people have little say in what becomes law, it's largely always been the rich/powerful and that still remains overwhelmingly the case. Now it seems that the intelligence services have made a grab for more law, not because they're interested in paedophiles, terrorists are drug smugglers, but because they're interested in grabbing intellectual property and more `jobs for the boys'. Public compliance is guaranteed by wittering on about the danger of paedophiles etc. Essentially pushing the point that if you don't support the law then you support perverts, terrorists .... There's a really interesting article about this nonsense by Dr Ross Anderson & how they're using the WTC attacks as a fig-leaf: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/wtc.html

Mass public protest - I *like* that!

Yay! The penguinistas should march on Menwith Hill, MI6 Vauxhall and parliament in no particular order and kick the lot out - our taxes would halve over night ;-) Sorry to stray OT a bit but I guess it's important to know what the real agenda & motives behind all this legislation are. -- Frank *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Boroughbridge. Tel: 01423 323019 --------- PGP keyID: 0xC0B341A3 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* http://www.esperance-linux.co.uk/ "If you ever want to get anywhere in politics, my boy, you're going to have to get a toehold in the public eye."