Mark Gray wrote:

George Toft writes:

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Mark Gray wrote:

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"John F. Eldredge" writes:

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root@cups.cupserv.org [mailto:root@cups.cupserv.org]On Behalf Of Fred A. Miller wrote:

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The National Security Agency has contracted for a secure Linux operating system. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/web-nsalinux-01-17-00.asp

I suspect that this WON'T be open source software. :)

Which brings up an interesting point about the GPL copyright -- if they modify the kernel, they are required to make all the source code available to their customers and they are required to put the derived program under the GPL copyright. (They cannot put _any_ additional restrictions on the distribution of the entire source code package.)

How do you define customer? The NSA is a government entity. If they install Linux on NSA Government computers, it would seem there are no customers and no redistribution has taken place.

If they kept it for internal use, the users would be the customers, and they would not be able to restrict them. But I really suspect they want to distribute their improvements to make the Internet a more secure environment.

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Then there's Bud's comment: "Bwaahaahaahaahaaaaaa!" You would expect moral behavior from an organization that has been working with Microsoft for almost 10 years on the ability to tap and trace any e-mail message sent from the Windows platform (I hope they don't kill me for saying that). Do we understand now why the Windows API is proprietary, and why the Chinese and French are on the verge of outlawing closed-source operating systems for their respective governments?

Well, we _were_ at war for fifty years -- U.S. against the world with _no_ ally _totally_ trustworthy for the entire span.

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And in fact they may well want to release their modifications, since it has become widely accepted that open scrutiny is the best way to (eventually) assure the quality of software security, and a secure and privacy protecting Internet has increasingly become a prime national concern. (They could, however produce binary only kernel modules -- but the type of security they are after would not be achievable without improvements to the core features of the kernel.)

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From a cloak and dagger standpoint (I've known a few spooks), this would not happen. They are more paranoid than I am, and any improvement they make they would keep to themselves as a strategic advantage over anyone else using the same platform (ie, the Chinese). Anyone who thinks the Chinese and the Russians are the NSA's friends is sadly mistaken. The cold war is not over - it has moved underground.

The thing is, the NSA has always worn more than one hat. The one that gets everyone upset is monitoring foreign communication (it is illegal for them to operate within the U.S.) -- another equally important one has been protecting U.S. communication from foreign hands. If they had not meant their improvements to be applied to the Internet, they would certainly not have made a press release.

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Nationalism is alive and well throughout the world. I am not a nationalist, nor a bigot, but having spent the last 20 years doing things that would get me imprisoned or killed (if caught) has given me a differnt perspective compared to those who believe CNN or the newspapers.

I have always looked at the U.S. as a "Pragmatic Anarchy" -- the government exists only to prevent other governments from taking over. (Government is organized crime :-)

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Anyone wonder why I'm changing careers? -- George Toft http://www.georgetoft.com

Is everyone assuming that if the NSA posts its modifications of the kernel to the internet that those who analyze the modifications and find security holes would report them back to the NSA and the Linux community? Would the Chinese? The Bosnians? France? England? The FBI? Doubtful, at best. JLK -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/