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Date:      Sun, 20 May 2001 13:08:10 +0200
From:      Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>
To:        Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
Cc:        Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>, Don Wilde <Don@Silver-Lynx.com>, Anders Nordby <anders@fix.no>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG, core@daemonnews.org
Subject:   Re: [dn-core] Re: Perens' "Free Software Leaders Stand Together"
Message-ID:  <20010520130810.A52134@lpt.ens.fr>
In-Reply-To: <000001c0e0fe$0fb1cf00$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>; from tedm@toybox.placo.com on Sun, May 20, 2001 at 12:25:35AM -0700
References:  <20010519162038.E9158@lpt.ens.fr> <000001c0e0fe$0fb1cf00$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>

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> He didn't take pains to separate Mach from BSD when it was reported.  I'll
> give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he did indeed tell the
> reporters the complete story.  But, that's not how it was reported,

I didn't try to dig out the complete story, but as I remember, though
the headline suggested he called Mac OS X crap, the story itself never
said it or suggested it.  I have no idea whether he followed up on it.

> Unfortunately, what you have listed here are basically non-issues, or
> they are past the point of "making noise.  For starters, the LZW patent is
> expiring this year,

It's expiring in 2003, and even if it were expiring this year, the
issue has been around for quite a while.

> extortion fee that it's a moot issue.  Secondly, as far as DeCSS goes,
> under the DMCA that our idiotic congress and President passed 2 years
> ago, posting source to DeCSS is illegal on the Internet, although it's
> perfectly legal (due to Freedom of Speech) to publish it in a book.  That's
> one law that's ripe for a court case to get it overturned in the US, but
> that's a battle that isn't going to be fought by anyone bitching about it,
> it's a battle that will be fought with a lot of money paid to lawyers to
> sort it all out.

Which is what the EFF is doing.  But they could use help.  Not just
money, but expert advice.  Aren't there enough experts in the BSD
community?

An "amicus curiae" was filed in support of the EFF's position.
Signatories included RMS (of course), but also Avi Rubin, Brian
Kernighan, Marvin Minsky, and various others, many of them
academic/university researchers.  Was there anyone from the BSD world,
which has always been well connected with academia?
http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/DVD/NY/

Guiding public opinion on these things is important too.  Plenty of
linux people have made well-argued statements in the media.  If any
BSD people have, I missed it.

Anyway, this is quite a big topic... not sure it's appropriate on
this list.

Rahul.



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