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Microsoft Sues Brazilian Official for Defamation
The Importance of writes "Larry Lessig is reporting that Microsoft is threatening a defamation lawsuit against Sergio Amadeu, President of the National Institute of Information Technology (ITI) of Brazil, for comments he has made about Microsoft's business practices, "accusing the company of a 'drug-dealer practice' for offering the operational system Windows to some governments and city administration for digital inclusion programs. 'This
is a trojan horse, a form of securing critical mass to continue constraining the country'." Additionally, "To Amadeu, this will be a decisive year to win the 'strategy of fear, uncertainty and doubt', as he classifies the business model of Microsoft." Microsoft's complaint claims that this is "an excess in freedom of speech and freedom of thought, by means of the dissemination of information." Read a translation of the complaint [PDF] and the original article, "The Penguin Advances [PDF]." Lessig notes that this may be defamation in Brazil, but would not be considered defamation in the United States."
and saying "Linux is a cancer" is just an objective observation.
I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.
It looks to me as though the only real question MS can expect a favourable ruling on is question 6: 'Is there any logical connection and/or intention from the Defendant in tipifying (sic) the behavior of the Plaintiff as "drug dealer practice" with the subsequent expression made in the interview of "fear strategy"? '
Pretty much all of the other "questions" have fairly easy-to-respond to answers which will reflect badly on MS business practices, ie: the low-cost-of-entry and high-cost-of-maintenance, buy in haste, repent at leisure type. I don't think there's any relationship between this overall strategy and the FUD one though, they're just 2 distinct dodgy business practices that MS use [grin]
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
Strange that they didn't argue it was untrue.
If I say that Microsoft's is akin to those of the Maifa, that there licensing schemes are more like the fifdom taxation scheme of Ole England, and that their very existence threatens innovation and the advancement of technology, would I get sued too? I guess I'd have to say those things in a public forum, and be in the position to influence thebuing decisions on thousands, if not millions of people. Kinda like /. .
Bring it own Bill!
Vern Seward
I yam what I yam, and dats all dat I yam!
However, I don't think MS would have any problem with actually sueing mr. Amadeu if he continues to spread his 'lies'... even if their case looks weak. They might desist though, if such a lawsuit would turn into a publicity nightmare: "We cheerfully crush the ones that oppose us!"
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Drug dealing goes like this:
- give away a product
- build a dependancy
- begin charging for the product
- introduce new "stronger" product
Q) How is that like anything Microsoft has ever done?
A) Microsoft has never cut their product with corn starch (that we know of).
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
In the United States, truth is an absolute defense against charges of slander or libel. This is one of the many immensely logical precepts of our legal system that most of us on Slashdot (including myself, I know) take for granted just as we criticize other aspects of the same system. Let's have a round of applause for the US in this matter, and then go right back to criticism. :)
Cheers,
Kyle
[ home ]
Suing and threatening to sue ARE NOT equal!
Well, opening the PDF document I see:
To the Honorable Judge of Law of Law from the Criminal Court of the District of Barueri, State of Sao Paulo.
blah blah blah...
"drug dealer practice" offends the most crucial foundations of the rules typifying the felony of defamation, provided at article 21 of the Federal Statute 525-/67
blah blah blah...
Plaintiff demands that the Defendant
blah blah blah...
I dunno, looks like they are suing to me. Actually the "felony" part makes it look more like a criminal charges than a lawsuit, but I don't know Brazilian law.
They then go on to a list of questions they are demanding that defendant to answer. To summarize, "Please explain how Microsoft is like a drug dealer!" Oh, the answers are gonna be a real treat! Be sure to tune in tomorrow kids! Same bat-time! Same bat-channel!
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
They are just like the linux guys who threw so much FUD at Microsoft that they've retaliated so hard against us. From the beginning, Linux guys have made their goal the destruction of Microsoft. That attitude is what I think created or exacerbated the problem we have today.
That dislike of Microsoft is a product of putting up with years of Microsoft's abuse of their customers, not because everyone suddenly decided that "OS vendors should not have names beginning with M, and everyone in such a class should be destroyed".
May we never see th
"an excess in freedom of thought"
That doesn't sound any alarms with anyone else? Are they trying to say this is literally a *thought crime*?
Holy crap.
To be fair, the tactics they are using against employees of their customers that judge their product harshly are also unbearable.
As someone else pointed out, Ballmer said that "Linux is a cancer" quite recently -- this is hardly worse than "Microsoft uses the business plans of drug dealers".
May we never see th
Considering that windows comes pre-installed in most PCs, many people believe it to be "free", in the no-pay sense. It's like including a stone of crack in the school enrollment fee.
I think it's just hilarious that Microsoft seems to believe there are limits to the freedom of thought. Especially when it comes to incredibly important matters like their business model.
Someone is wrong on the Internet!
didnt know you could get sued for stating the obvious these days.
/.
or getting sued over pointing out the truth.
wait, yes I did, that's right everyone sues someone else to hush them up or to ruin their life or to a little more cash here and there..
the man in brazil is correct bout m$, they are like a drug dealer, they spread their product, and lock in customers, and stifle all competition and innovation using unfair and illegal methods.
In this case, innovation could be compared to someone cleaning up a community, which would be a hazard for a drug dealer, so the drug dealer gets friends to kill who ever tries to make the area better and make it work for them again, so their business model isnt threatened,such as how manycompanies and linux try to make innovations and bette ralternatives to windows, microsoft goes at the mand makest he market hostile for them and plays unfair because they believe they shouldnt have competition.
Unfair and illegal methods could be compared to dealer killing off anyone who sells another kind of drug, in "their territory" or those who dare offer a way for people to stop using a drug the dealer sells.
(such as them using lies and propagnda, lawsuits, slander, copyrights, etc to attack linux and all opposing forces.)
So the man is correct, and he could so use that in court, too bad he doesnt read
but I imagine him and his attornies already thought of how to back that.
But he is correct, and he pointed out ag ood anology that describes microsoft. and it pisses them off because it's going to threaten their dominance and status among another 3rd world nation that they want to con for all its worth.
Interesting that M$ would use the laws of a country that allows politicos to bring charges to muzzle dissent. A lot of Americans thing Brazil is some sort of paradise. It is a nightmare of despair wrought by American neoconservative-backed strongarm politics. Yeah, you can check out the hot pussy in Rio, but you should see a favela.
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
"Linux" is a trademark held by Linus Torvalds. General-purpose slander may not work, but there *are* specialized slander-of- torts.
The GPL may promote a number of freedoms (at the expense of some others), but freedom-of-speech, in this context (that is, speech <I>about</I> the software, rather than speech <I>containing</I> the software), is pretty much orthoganal to it.