Linux users march on city hall (my title: Che Guevara to be raised from the dead)

Linux users march on city hall

A small but enthusiastic crowd of Linux lovers hit the streets of San Francisco on Thursday, hoping to trumpet the virtues of open source to lawmakers and voters.

Led by Michael Tiemann, chief technology officer of Linux seller Red Hat, the group marched the mile-long stretch from the LinuxWorld conference to San Francisco City Hall. There Tiemann unveiled the Digital Software Security Act, a proposal that would prohibit the state from buying software that doesn't open its code. Tiemann, wearing a red fedora and clutching a map so he could find his destination, said he also wanted to point out the hypocrisy of the state, which is one of the holdouts in the antitrust battle against Microsoft even as it runs the company's software in government offices.

"While they're spending money suing the monopolist, they're also feeding the monopolist with the other hand," Tiemann told the crowd.

The march attracted the zealous, the fearful and the merely curious.

One marcher, a hotshot Linux programmer who goes by the name of Tack, said it's important that government types listen to open-source advocates before passing laws dealing with technology. He said he's already suffering from federal laws that outlaw certain types of programming that could crack copy protections. "Instead of being able to focus on developing a new technology for my client, I have to think like a lawyer, said Tack, who described himself as a "freelance tech guy." "I don't want to land in jail."

Another marcher, Tim Sullivan, said the event is a chance for programmers to actively protect their right to code.

"I think this is a good chance to stand up for our freedoms," said Sullivan, 22, a computer science student at Oregon State University. "I'm not really a policy person, but it's pretty evident that it's ridiculous to stop people from writing software."

Forming a band of two dozen bobbing red hats, the group snaked through downtown San Francisco, stopping periodically to hear Tiemann cite rights eroded. He spoke of foreign programmers afraid to travel to the United States, content companies with too much power in Washington, and governments financially strangled by their reliance on proprietary software.

Hoping to reach regular folks, marchers wound up Market Street and past rows of outdoor chess players and department store bag-laden tourists. They stopped briefly at the Metreon shopping center, at a cable car turnaround, and finally, on the steps of city hall. Occasionally they chanted "Balance the budget. Switch to Linux." Few outsiders looked up from their activities to acknowledge the crowd.

At one point, marchers came across a historical plaque that was sponsored by Microsoft. They groaned and quickly papered over the software giant's name with a bumper sticker poking fun at proprietary software that doesn't allow programmers to tinker. "Why would you buy a car with the hood welded shut?" it read.

Turnout was on the low end of the 20 to 100 people Tiemann expected. Some programmers complained of the early 10:30 a.m. start time. One said he had to drag his friend out of bed. Others cited the fast clip of the gangly Tiemann, who took off promptly from the conference hall and rushed up the street, forcing some programmers to jog breathlessly behind him.

But open-source guru Bruce Perens, who marched alongside Tiemann, lamented that most technologists simply aren't paying attention. "It's obvious only a tiny bit of people from (LinuxWorld) turned out, and that presents a problem," he said. "Either they don't understand the issues or they have a business partnership that doesn't allow them to talk about it."

City officials did not greet the marchers when they arrived at city hall. Tiemann said he picked the city hall destination--despite the fact he's pushing his proposal at the state level--because it was the closest major government landmark to the LinuxWorld show. No state legislators have expressed official support for the bill, but Tiemann said he has some meetings planned with lawmakers in the next few days. State Assemblyman Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, has met with proposal author Walt Pennington but took no position one way or the other, spokesman George Balgos said.

The move comes as several government entities across the globe are considering legislation that would require considering open-source alternatives to proprietary software such as Microsoft's.

Not surprisingly, proponents of proprietary software are acting swiftly to quash such endeavors. The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a computer industry lobbying group that along with Microsoft has campaigned against open source, said a mandate to pick open software could drive IT companies out of business, endanger 200,000 technology jobs in the state, and restrict choice.

"Such purchase decisions should be made on the basis of objective criteria without a presumption that proprietary, hybrid or open-source software would be the best solution in every case stated," Grant Mydland, CompTIA's director of state government relations and grassroots programs, said in a statement Thursday.

By your definition, it ain't my property.

Does your area even have schools? I simply do not comprehend how your reading comprehension can be so abysmal. I know people who grew up with virtually no formal education who have better reading comprehension than you do. What part of Property is held for life or until you relinquish control of it do you not understand? Selling is a way of relinquishing control.

The DMCA is a law. Violating it results in jail time and/or civil penalties. Deal with it.

The USA PATRIOT Act is a law. If you get and your Congressman get into a barfight over politics and you hit him/her you're now a terrorist since you used coercion "in an attempt to influence the opinion of the government." Deal with it.

I have argued that it is legal to

Observe in detail the workings of a cab and cab service
To take the ideal of a cab and open up a cab service (similar, not exactly the same)
Discuss observations of a cab and how it can be improved

If the DCMA was applied to cabs, all the above would be illegal. I am talking about IP laws that regulate what one can and cannot do with IP, you are arguing about quality of service enforcements. If you want to argue for arguements sake, go ahead, don't let me stand in the way.

And remember, keep your mitts off my bits!

If I have ever purchased your bits, I will do with them whatever I legally can whether you like it or not

I never threatened you.

You posted this to dheretic

It'll be a lot more interesting to see how good you are at backpedaling when/if the Secret Service pays you a visit over your "firing squad" braggadocio. Or maybe it'll be the BATF over your stated contemp for interstate gun laws? In any event, please report back after the dust settles, it will really brighten our day!

a reference that he should be expecting the SS or BAFT in the immediate future.

Such a sensitive topic, is it because TIPs promises anonymity and you threw it away?

I never threatened you.
You posted this to dheretic
It'll be a lot more interesting to see how good you are at backpedaling when/if the Secret Service pays you a visit over your "firing squad" braggadocio. Or maybe it'll be the BATF over your stated contemp for interstate gun laws? In any event, please report back after the dust settles, it will really brighten our day!
a reference that he should be expecting the SS or BAFT in the immediate future.
Such a sensitive topic, is it because TIPs promises anonymity and you threw it away?

Get a grip.

He made precisely the sort of statements that have indeed resulted in people getting "up close and personal" visits from the Secret Service and the ATF.

Now along comes you, shooting the messenger.

Oh, nice cheap shot at me by accusing me of being a "TIPS" operative. I take it you're accusing me of being a long haul truck driver, or one of the other finite number of occupations that are accepted into the program?

Grow a brain. Public fora have been monitored for years (decades, in fact, starting with BBS systems), and fools have always found out the hard way that when they say stupid things, sooner or later, the pay the piper.

So hey, forget I said anything. Go ahead, you, your pal dheritic, and/or anyone else; make more threats, and see what it gets you.

He made precisely the sort of statements that have indeed resulted in people getting "up close and personal" visits from the Secret Service and the ATF.

Rubbish. They don't waste their time on people who call for such things based on the US Constitution and criminal law. I did not say that Clinton should have been hog tied and lynched by a posse from Arkansas, I said that US Government should have executed him for numerous felonies and assorted capital crimes including, but not limited to, murder, conspiracy to committ murder, war crimes against the people of the United States, war crimes against several nations (Serbia and Somalia come to mind), perjury, violation of campaign finance laws and treason. If I were to ever get harassed for such statements the perp would be some wet-behind-the-ears rookie, not an experienced field agent.

So hey, forget I said anything. Go ahead, you, your pal dheritic, and/or anyone else; make more threats, and see what it gets you.

Calling for the government to take action is hardly a threat. You must be one paranoid f#$% to think that it is. No cop would waste their time on people that call for such a thing. In fact, most federal law enforcement agents would probably inside approve of such action. Clinton's corruption was very much out in the open within the bureacracy.

If you don't like the license agreement, don't use the product! It's as simple as that. Nobody is forcing you to use them.

Gee, you mean it's like, if I don't want to buy a Chevrolet, I can buy a Ford, right?

Funny, I don't see any corporate shills from Chevrolet here calling Ford drivers "communists" and worse.

I do see you and your sidekick, Don Joe, calling anyone who does not bow down to the almighty m$ colossus and "communists" and every other kind of name. Has it ever occurred to you, B2k, that your obnoxious 'tude does more to convince your readers to hate m$ than anything your boss has ever done?

I guess what you mean to say is, "If you don't like m$ products, don't use them. Of course, if you don't use them and you do have the temerity to think you ought to use a computer anyway, you are a communist, a moldy skunk turd, and your mother puts out for Osama bin Laden. Oh, and have a nice day!"

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.