[art] Saving The Net

dahamsta

I posted this in Privacy / Civil Liberties and then kicked myself, because it was the last few paragraphs that really intrigued me. In essence, they highlight the case of one presidential candidate who has found himself mostly funded with small campaign contributions from netizens. The full article is worth a read though, it provides an interesting insight into views on copyright, ownership and relevant events like Eldred...

Who Owns What?

That's the fundamental question, and it's going to get more fundamental as we roll toward the next presidential election here in the US. Much is at stake, including Linux and its natural habitat: the Net. Both have been extraordinarily good for business. Its perceived "threat" to Microsoft and the dot-com crash are both red herrings. Take away Linux and the Net, and both technology and the economy would be a whole lot worse.

Both the Net and Linux were created, grew and flourished almost entirely outside the regulatory sphere. They are, in a literal sense, what free markets have done with their freedoms.

Yet, there are some who do not care. Unfortunately, they're driving the conversation right now. Hollywood has lawmakers and news organizations convinced that file sharing is "piracy" and "theft". Apple, Intel and Microsoft are quietly doing their deals with the Hollywood devil, crippling (or contemplating the crippling of) PC functionalities, to protect the intellectual property of "content producers".

As I write this, SCO claims to own whatever remains of AT&T's original UNIX. They're suing IBM and spreading FUD by the trainload all over Linux, which they claim is derivative. I'm getting e-mails from technologists at big companies telling me that Linux use is now a Big Issue for their corporate legal departments. I also heard recently from a former Novell employee who says Novell intentionally held onto their UNIX patents (acquired from AT&T) so SCO wouldn't have full claims to "owning" whatever it was that Novell sold them (after buying UNIX, renamed UnixWare, from AT&T).

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...for those of you that read to the end, I wonder why this isn't happening in Ireland yet? (Or if it is, where?) Is is possible or feasible to collect campaign contributions on the Internet in Ireland? (Ignore technical limitations, they're invariably imagined.) Do you think politicians will view the concept with interest or skepticism? Will they fight it because it could dilute their power, or embrace it because, well, money is money?

adam

Boston

while i know very little about linux, i thought it was orginaly designed by one bloke. Whats this about UNIX being developed by at&t

Victor

Originally posted by dahamsta
...for those of you that read to the end, I wonder why this isn't happening in Ireland yet? (Or if it is, where?) Is is possible or feasible to collect campaign contributions on the Internet in Ireland? (Ignore technical limitations, they're invariably imagined.) Do you think politicians will view the concept with interest or skepticism? Will they fight it because it could dilute their power, or embrace it because, well, money is money?

Sounds vaguely complicated. :rolleyes: The main issue would be reconciling internet anonimity with funding legislation.

Sparks

while i know very little about linux, i thought it was orginaly designed by one bloke. Whats this about UNIX being developed by at&t

Both are true - unix and linux are different things.

I wonder why this isn't happening in Ireland yet?

Because no-one believes that any of the TDs out there are honest enough?

Boston

this thread is very confusing, and i'm going to step out before i make a fool out of myself