[DMCA-Activists] Rep. Blasted for Open-Source Attack

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 14:08:43 -0400
From: Vin <address@hidden>


Anybody who knows where to look, I would appreciate info on
which House members signed which letter, or how I could find
that out.  I'll be adding the letter signings to the web
site compilation of voting records on DMCA, P2P hacking
bill, other drm bills, other anti-tech, anti-consumer,
anti-fair use voting records of Senators and Congressmen.  

Thanks.
Vin.

> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=528&ncid=528&e=1&u=/ap/20021024/ap_on_go_co/congress_microsoft

By D. IAN HOPPER, AP Technology Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - A congressman from Microsoft Corp.'s home
state has been criticized by the chairman of a House
technology committee for an attack on the free software
movement. 

A bipartisan group of lawmakers had written a letter this
week urging White  House computer security adviser Richard
Clarke to find sales opportunities  for government-funded
software projects. The letter had no mention of the  issue
of free software, also known as open-source or General
Public License  (GPL) software. 

But when Rep. Adam Smith (news, bio, voting record),
D-Wash., whose biggest  political contributor is Microsoft,
began circulating the letter to his  fellow Democrats asking
for their signatures, he added his own correspondence 
saying the free software philosophy is "problematic and
threaten(s) to  undermine innovation and security." 

The open-source movement advocates that software, such as
the Linux (news -  web sites) operating system, should be
distributed free and open to  modification by others rather
than be treated as copyright-protected,  for-profit
property. 

Smith's attack on open-source drew an angry response from
one of the  original authors of the letter, Rep. Tom Davis,
R-Va., chairman of the House  Government Reform subcommittee
on technology and procurement policy. 

"We had no knowledge about that letter that twisted this
position into a  debate over the open source GPL issues,"
said Melissa Wojciak, staff director  of the subcommittee.
Wojciak added that Davis supports government funding of 
open-source projects. 

Smith spokeswoman Katharine Lister said he has "definitely
spoken with  (Microsoft) about this issue," but that there
wasn't a direct relationship  between those discussions and
his decision to write his letter to fellow  Democrats. 

Sixty-seven representatives signed the letter to Clarke;
almost two-thirds  were Democrats. "I'm going to hope that
the people who signed on to the  letter did their homework,"
Lister said. 

Microsoft, whose Windows operating system competes with
Linux, says  open-source hurts a company's right to protect
its intellectual property. 

Microsoft is Smith's top source of donations. According to
the Center for  Responsive Politics, Microsoft employees and
its political action committee  have given $22,900 to
Smith's re-election campaign. 

The original letter was fashioned by Davis and Jim Turner,
D-Texas. They  wanted the White House's national
cybersecurity plan, which is set to be  finished next month,
to ensure that companies that develop software using 
federal funds are free to use the resulting products for
commercial gain. 

Clarke and his top spokeswoman were traveling and did not
return a message  seeking comment. 

The debate over open source in government has raged over the
past year.  Supporters say open source software is more
secure, cheaper to buy and  maintain and easier to
customize. Several federal agencies use the Linux  operating
system to some degree, and the National Security Agency
briefly  developed a more secure version of Linux that it
released under the GPL. 

A study completed this summer for the Pentagon (news - web
sites) by Mitre  Corp. recommended further use of computing
systems using Linux on the grounds  that they are less
vulnerable to computer attacks and far cheaper. 

Many companies do make money from open-source software,
including Sun  Microsystems and IBM Corp. Red Hat, a company
that distributes Linux, sells  proprietary software in
addition to the open-source Linux and charges for  service
and support. 

Microsoft Corp., however, has lobbied the government to
reject GPL software.  Last year, Microsoft chief executive
Steve Ballmer called Linux a "cancer"  that destroys
intellectual property rights. 

An open-source supporter said the issue shouldn't be swayed
by lobbying. 

"Before congressmen start signing letters, there should be
more debate on the  subject," said Tony Stanco of George
Washington University's Cyber Security  Policy and Research
Institute. "The weight of people who are really in the  know
go against this kind of stance." 

___ 

On the Net: 

General Public License: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html 

Rep. Adam Smith: http://www.house.gov/adamsmith/