Re: Wasting our Freedom

[J.C. Roberts]

On Thursday 13 September 2007, Jason Dixon wrote:
> It boggles my mind that we can lie around complacently, arguing about
>   installer menus and taking the bait from trolls, while our freedoms
> are quickly eroding away.  The rights and recognition of one of our
> own developers (reyk@) have been molested, and all we've done as a
> community is to participate in useless flames and blog postings. Theo
> has thrown himself, once again, against the spears of the Linux
> community and their legal vultures in order to protect our software
> freedoms.  How many of us can say we've done our part to defend truly
> Free Software?
>
> You don't have to be a lawyer or OpenBSD developer to make a  
> difference.  Email the SFLC and FSF and remind them that Free  
> Software consists of more than the almighty penguin.  OpenBSD is  
> arguably the most Free and Open operating system available anywhere.
>   The SFLC and FSF need to remember that they were created to protect
> victims, not thieves.
>
> Your donations are important for keeping the servers running, but  
> your voice is necessary for keeping our freedom alive.
>
>
> Contacts:
>
> Eben Moglen - moglen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Lawrence Lessig - lessig_from_web@xxxxxxxxx
> Bradley M. Kuhn - bkuhn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Matt Norwood - norwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>         

Hi Jason,

I admire your intentions but there are a few things which you need to 
understand a bit better. First off, I do not know Lawrence Lessig or 
his involvement, so I do not understand how he made your list.

On the other hand, Eben Moglen is arrogant and unscrupulous. His stated 
goal is to steal as much software as possible and put it under the GPL 
even when doing so is illegal. If you give him a valid and sound 
argument why the "legal advice" he has given is obviously illegal, the 
very most you will get from him is a facetious reply asking where you 
are licensed to practice law. -I know this from experience because it 
is the exact reply I got from him after emailing him this:
http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=118901954525700&w=2

Whether they realize it or not, the other two clowns on your list, 
Bradley M. Kuhn and Matt Norwood (as well as Richard Fontana and Karen 
Sandler who also signed off on it) are really nothing than expendable 
cannon fodder for the FSF war against reality. Eben being crafty and 
cowardly, he decided not to put his name on the list of FSF lawyers 
signing off on the code theft. Since anyone could easily complain to 
the Bar Association about lawyers giving out bogus legal advice, and 
possibly cause them to be disbarred, cowardly Eben is letting others 
take the fall.

http://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=118857712529898&w=2
Signed-Off-By: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-Off-By: Matt Norwood <norwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-Off-By: Richard Fontana <fontana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-Off-By: Karen Sandler <karen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Most of us are also aware of the instance where OpenBSD took some GPL 
code and replaced the license with BSD. What OpenBSD did in that cases 
was just as illegal, just as immoral and just as wrong but it was 
corrected when it was discovered in one of the dev branches of cvs.

In the case of Ryek's code, the reverse is true but instead of admitting 
the mistake and making the needed corrections, FSF has pulled out their 
lawyers in hopes of getting away with the theft. All of this is being 
done *intentionally* in hopes that no one will put up a fight.

Would Linus put up a fight if someone took his source tree and 
relicensed the whole thing as GPLv3 without his permission? Yep, you 
betcha he'd fight and he has already had to put up with a lot of strong 
arm nonsense from the GPLv3/FSF zealots.

The main thing you need to grasp Jason is the people behind the illegal 
license replacements are doing it *intentionally* so voicing your 
concerns to them will fall on deaf ears. I'm cc'ing all of them not 
merely for the antagonistic pleasure but because I want them to know 
that people do see past their shifty, illegal and immoral ways. Their 
modus operandi is very simple; keep stealing code until they get 
busted, go to court, and then go back to stealing as much code as 
possible.

All of their nonsense marketing about freedom and fairness is nothing 
more than a lie to cover their real intentions;  enforcing the 
insane "share or be punished" manifesto of their delusional and 
deranged leader Richard Stallman. 

    "If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative
     programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they
     restrict the use of these programs."

The "GNU Manifesto" by Richard Stallman can be found here:
http://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/GNU/info/GNUGNU

If Stallman actually believed a word of what he wrote above, he would 
still be dedicating all of his works to the public domain since it 
would have no restrictions. In short, Stallman is a liar. Stallman may 
be intelligent, persuasive and deceptive but he is neither rational nor 
wise. A rational man knows deceiving or forcing people to share will 
only causes resentment, and a wise man knows that the true value of 
sharing is best taught by example and is corrupted when taught by force 
or deception.

I wish it was otherwise but they insist on pushing their forced-sharing 
agenda in every manner possible until someone fights back. As sad is it 
might seem, the only "reason" they will listen to is what they know and 
teach, namely force; a court decision awarding punitive damages for 
criminal infringement and getting all of their incompetent and 
unscrupulous lawyers disbarred.

Jason, if they really insist on having a brawl, then it's time to take 
the gloves off, kick their ass in German court where copyright 
infringement is a criminal offense, and then break their legal fangs so 
they never try it again. It will be a very sad loss for everyone.

Yes, I can reasonably expect to get plenty of vitriolic hate mail from 
all the "true believers" on the linux kernel mailing list an elsewhere 
who think the above is a troll worthy of it's own bridge. None the less 
I'm tired of watching Stallman, Moglen and other charismatic, deceptive 
nutjobs hand you little cups of koolaid as "practice runs" in the form 
of new versions of the GPL and each time you drink it down without a 
second thought... -I hope you learn to think twice about it, and 
reading a bit of history about cult figures will do you some good:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown#Mass_murder-and-suicide


kind regards,
JCR
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