SCO Lobbying Congress Against Open Code

An anonymous reader writes "Along with suing Novell - it was announced today that SCO has been lobbying Congress about the horrifying ways that Linux and the rest of open source software saves users money, allows others to use the software anyway they see fit and 'gasp' causes SCO to not make as much money as they would like. Along with all of the usual FUD. OSAIA has the details (as well as a rebuke)." Darl's words will seem pretty transparent, even funny, to anyone aware of the widespread acceptance and use of Free / Open Source software (by individuals, governments, non-profits, and even companies like SCO) -- but you might have to point this out to your servants in Congress.

Comments

Re:In other words?

[spun]

Not to quibble, but marijuana was effectively criminalized by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Before that point, Cannabis, as it was called in America, was an herbal remedy recognized by doctors and listed in the national pharmacopia. It was sold by many major drug companies, Merck, Eli Lily, Bristol-Mayer, and Johnson & Johnson, to name a few.

The tax act made it illegal to possess hemp without a license, and impossible to get the license without first (illegally) owning hemp! There were two major reasons behind the act. The stated public reason was those Mexican immigrants used 'marijuana' to seduce our daughters. The real reason was that the newly laid off federal prohabition agents needed something to do. Huge federal bureaucracies do not simply dissappear when they have outlived their usefullness.

Hearst's extensive timber holdings (with which hemp competes in the paper pulp market) and Dupont's newly invented synthetic fibers may have had something to do with it. Also, the pharmaceutical companies were developing bunches of new, synthetic patent remedies. Cannabis was a commodity item, with low profit margins, and it competed directly with the higher profit patented drugs.

The war on cannabis began well before the 50s, but by then it was in full swing. In the early 70s, an act of Congress made it a Schedule I (dangerous, addictive, with no redeeming benefits) drug, pending a full investigation. The investigation showed it to be harmless, non physically addictive, with potential beneficial effects, but by then marijuana had become synonomous with drugged up draft dodging anti-American hippies, so the study was ignored and marijuana remained Schedule I.

I know all this because I did some computer consulting work for a medical marijuana club in California. I installed a point of sale system, membership database, data encryption and remote server kill switches for them. They taught me a little about the history of pot. Scary stuff. I'm sure the government has me on a little list somewhere. Well screw them. Screw them right in the ear.