German Linux Community Boycotting LinuxTag

em8chel writes "LinuxTag, Germany's major fair for Linux and Free Software, is facing a massive boycott from open source enthusiasts in the country this year. Although the event doesn't open for a week, the community is voicing their anger and disappointment on various forums about this year's LinuxTag running under the auspices of Wolfgang Schaeuble, the conservative Minister of Interior, whose positions on issues of interest to the community are controversial to say the very least. Due to online protests and calls for a boycott, the organizer of LinuxTag has released a statement (German version, serviceable Google translation), holding that the politician's policies and political views have nothing to do with supporting free software, adding that if the community boycotts LinuxTag, it's the open source software that will be hit the hardest, and that Schaeuble probably won't even notice."

Comments

Political albatross

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering Schäuble supported the invasion of Iraq by the United States, I can understand why many would not want to be associated with him. Then last month Schäuble said guilty until proven innocent is the way criminal jurisprudence should work. Sounds like this guy is kooky.

Re:Political albatross

[saibot834]

Many civil rights activists in Germany are alarmed because of his proposals to stop the assumption of innocence when there is a chance to prevent acts of terrorism [1]. Civil rights activist see him as an enemy of the German constitution, as he is a strong supporter of telecommunications data retention and overall surveillance.
His views on invasion of Iraq was quite "normal"; his party, the CDU was supporting it.

Re:Political albatross

[getha]

"Die Unschuldsvermutung heißt im Kern, dass wir lieber zehn Schuldige nicht bestrafen, als einen Unschuldigen bestrafen. Der Grundsatz kann nicht für die Gefahrenabwehr gelten. Wäre es richtig zu sagen: Lieber lasse ich zehn Anschläge passieren, als dass ich jemanden, der vielleicht keinen Anschlag begehen will, daran zu hindern versuche? Nach meiner Auffassung wäre das falsch."

What he says is basically this:

The innocence principle means that we would rather let 10 guilty men free than punish 1 innocent man. However, this cannot be applied to terrorist activity.

Can you also say: rather 10 terrorist attacks unstopped, than stopping someone who perhaps doesn't want to commit a terrorist act? My belief is that this is false.

Well, I see where he's coming from with that quote. But the question is in how far are you willing to go to stop terrorist acts. In my personal opinion in most countries we have already gone too far, and have started venturing into 1984-esque territories.

And on-topic to the main post: if the boycot is broad enough I'll bet he does notice. But when in recent times have boycotts worked to get attention?

Seems Silly.

[Erris]

I might as well boycot Debian because it's under the auspices of GWB. Is this Wolfgang Schaeuble guy trying to taking credit for or promote free software? I'd be so very happy with GWB for the same that I might forgive him for the invasion of Iraq. Back in reality, one has nothing to do with the other.

The best way to defeat your enemies is to make them into friends.

Re:Seems Silly.

[Opportunist]

There are some people I don't want as friends.

I can understand where this security-craze he's in comes from. Maybe I'd react similar if I was nearly shot. He's terrified. He sees terrorists and assassins everywhere, and he wants to protect himself and his country from them. It makes sense. And actually I do even feel pity for him.

Usually, though, such people seek professional help, not a political career. When you look at his recent decisions and law suggestions, it doesn't border anymore on paranoia, it's way beyond that border.

Re:Seems Silly.

[headkase]

And boycotts are for withholding your money from companies that care about the bottom line. Linux is free and based on mutual benefit through cooperation so by not using every opportunity to refine the community in-general - such as the LinuxTag event - the boycott actually detracts from the very qualities that make open-source so nice.

Re:Seems Silly.

[that this is not und]

Heck. We already have a Just Us League.

Boycott schmoycott

[Anonymous Coward]

Those with a stake in open source software will attend, the rest doesn't matter. Schaeuble won't even be there, so there is no chance for a confrontation, which is probably a good thing, because Wolfgang Schaeuble is a red rag to many technology-minded people in Germany. He's the one pushing for the storing of all connection metadata, putting fingerprints in RFID passports and lots more which limits freedom just by making people feel watched all the time. How they didn't consider that when they made him patron of the LinuxTag is beyond me, but a boycott is just not going to happen.

To give you an idea who this is

[Opportunist]

Wolfgang Schäuble had the "bright" idea to have the law enforcement in Germany develop a trojan and infect the computer of suspects (and he's pushing strongly to make the requirements to use it rather lenient), and is also one of the main pushers behind the recent law that connections via phone or internet have to be recorded (not the content, "only" the location of the participant (in case of cellphones), endpoints and so on, to identify who talked with whom, when and from where).

I can well understand why people wouldn't want to be in the same convention with him. Actually, I can't figure out why anyone would want to have him near, unless following the old saying "keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer".

Re:To give you an idea who this is

[PopeRatzo]

Sometimes, despicable people will try to gain credibility by associating themselves with an honorable institution. We see it with radical Right Wingers in the US associating themselves with Jesus Christ even though old JC would probably have put his size 9 sandal up the crack of their asses.

Take this Falwell monster who just croaked. He had no problem rubbing bellies with death squads and dictators in Central and South America and apartheid leaders, and then turning around and acting holy at a prayer breakfast with Presidents who were too scared of his well-fed, smug and judgmental ass to throw him the fuck out like they should have. Did you see all the Republican presidential candidates falling over themselves trying to compare him to Ghandi and Martin Luther King?

I'm just guessing, but I've got a feeling that about 10 seconds after he died, he got the shock of his life when instead of seeing St. Peter, he met the dude with hooves. I'm hoping it was the South Park version of Satan, too.

If the Linux community boycotts LinuxTag, it's not going to hurt them one bit. In fact, standing up for what's right could make a lot of people take notice of them, especially with moral courage being in such short supply these days.

Re:To give you an idea who this is

[IgnoramusMaximus]

When Falwell died, and his brain stopped working, his consciousness ended. It ceased to be. If his thoughts were like music on a cassette tape, then the tape ended... and not just to silence, it stopped as if it never existed. No amount of faith in today's religion can change that, haha.

To be fair and to hold to the principles of science we simply cannot say that with certainty. What you just did is the exact same thing all the religious people do, i.e. you made an absolute claim in the absence of conclusive evidence to support it.

We simply do not, at this point, understand the nature of consciousness. We theorize that it has similar properties to that of various computational systems and that the neuronal functions are reducible to programs which can be executed by Turing machines or some other well-defined automata, but we, at this point, cannot demonstrate that it is so.

For example, it is conceivable that some fundamental properties of matter/energy on quantum (or lower) level play a part in the phenomenon of consciousness by influencing (and possibly being influenced by) the electro-chemical processes within neurons. What if that is so? What if Everett's "multiple universe" theory (or some such like thing) combined with murky phenomena in some directly unobservable by physicists dimentions of space combine to play a direct role and we simply are not grasping the implications because we still lack appropriate explanatory models and/or apparatus? Remember that fundamental areas of quantum physics and the properties of space-time continuum are still largely a mistery, despite tremendous progress made so far.

Until more conclusive evidence comes in, i.e. for example we have managed to replicate a complete human brain in some other hardware and its functions and actions can be demonstrated to be precisely as those of a "living" one, you simply lack the empirical and theoretical foundations to make absolute claims of this nature.

That is why I am a "we have insufficient data" sort of an Agnostic. It is in my view the only scientifically honest position.

This of course in no way endorses any of the "mainstream" religions, which consist for the most part of, to put it diplomatically, loads of ridiculous donkey manure, lovingly shaped to entice the weak minded into slavery of one sort or another.

Yep. That makes perfect sense.

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no point being politically active if the target of your activism probably won't even notice. May as well just put up with it and get on with your life.

Wrong.

Anyone with money invested in the event will notice, and I'm sure the backlash from the grass roots users will convince them they should rethink their associations in future. seeing they are the people with the money, they are the only people who can make the Minister notice.

Figures in power are directly unreachable to the common man, but we can impact on them indirectly.

From the linux community to the interior minister:
Nuts!

Re:Yep. That makes perfect sense.

[messner_007]

I don't want to show up on such an event. I am visiting LinuxTag ever year. I always come with my car: 1000 km in one way. But I love it. It used to be first class event.

This year, I wont come. People say, "don't be disturbed by this shithead". Behave as normally. But this wont go for me. When something stinks, then it stinks. You can wear very nice shoes, good trouses and beutifull tie. But when your shirt stinks, you feel miserablly.

And this guy stinks.

TFA: Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, Federal Minister of the Interior, took over the patronage over the LinuxTag 2007. After publication of this message we received many reactions, also among them some, which analyze the positions of the Federal Minister critically about "electronic monitoring" and "citizen rights".We welcome explicitly a critical argument with these topics, do not see these however not in the direct focus of our meeting. The goal of the LinuxTag registered association is it to promote free software. This goal is very important to us and our main objective.

You are joking. "electronic monitoring" and "citizen rights" have nothing to do with open source on LinuxTag ??? I will not show up on this event !

The LinuxTag registered association holds the opinion that by the consistent employment by suitor software in the public administration a large contribution for the transparency of the administrative action could be created. And for this the respective Federal Minister of the Interior is an important partner, without which successes would not have been possible in the past.

Linux tag has been successfull also without the goverment

Oh wait...

[Howitzer86]

I went ahead and read about this guy and his party. My first thought was "hey, he doesn't seem to bad".

My second thought was, "Oh wait, I'm in America, I've been desensitized."

Wrong reaction

[ericferris]

That's just a politician who wants to generate PR by attending an event that contains lots of buzzwords ("this Linux thingy and these computers and technology, that's trendy, let's attend"). But he doesn't own the LinuxTag. By staging a boycott, the German OSS crowd gives him a de facto ownership of the event.

Re:Wrong reaction

[ericferris]

Hey, I'm sympathetic to the protesters. Once, I was manning a stand at a computer show, and I walked out when the mayor of the city showed up among cameras and flashes. I waiting for him to be gone. But notice that I ignored him, I didn't gve him control of the whole show. So I understand the motives, but I do believe that the stategy is misguided. For the boycott to be successful, it will have to be complete. We'll see. If the boycott is not complete, LinuxTag will be Schaeuble's event, And if it fails, nobody among politicos know what Linux is anyway. It's OSS in Germany that will be hurt, not the Minister who couldn't care less. That's what I am afraid of. When LinuxTag opens on May 30th, we'll see if the protester's strategy was successful.

Re:Wrong reaction

[cp.tar]

Actually, you just gave me an idea...

What about making a game out of it?
Avoid the Moron, it should be called.
Post lookouts for him; then, when he arrives, make sure there's nobody within 10 metres from him.
When he approaches a stand, everyone clears; who cannot clear, hides.
Hell, put up "Closed due to moron proximity" signs on stands when he approaches.

And make sure it's all recorded.

I'd still boycott it to set a sign.

[bursch-X]

How would you like it to hear stuff like:

This surveillance camera and its motion detector was brought to you by Linux!
Or BigBrother 2007, it can't be evil, it's all open source!

I don't want this fucker (Schäuble) to be associated with anything FOSS.

Re:I'd still boycott it to set a sign.

[zappepcs]

I don't know if it's just me, but lately there seem to be a lot of people around the world that are making their voices heard either via the Internet or boycotts etc. This is nothing but a good thing, and I hope that the German people are able to send a message loud enough to be heard by all concerned.

Mr Orwell's Big Brother and F/OSS really don't need to be friends...

Re:I'd still boycott it to set a sign.

[kestasjk]

I'd rather not have any software monitor me, but if I was going to have a piece of software monitor me I'd rather I was able to check out its source and see exactly what is being monitored that just have a black box and have to take the word of the authors.

Re:I'd still boycott it to set a sign.

[Opportunist]

That's Digital Consumer Enablement for you. C'mon, do them the favor, I'm pretty sure they had to spend a small fortune for that streamlined, spiffy new name.

You have to anyway

[Opportunist]

Unless a machine is running under your directions, you have to take the word of the person owning or running it. Even if you can see the source, you have no way to determine whether it's the source of the program running. So what difference does it make? They could well show you one source and have a completely different binary running.

Yes, I do not trust our politicians.

It's Not "SchaeubleTag"

[Doc Ruby]

if the community boycotts LinuxTag, it's the open source software that will be hit the hardest, and that Schaeuble probably won't even notice

That sounds like exactly the reason Schaeuble is a bad sponsor for the event. And exactly what people of conscience do, that corporations don't - one of the crucial differences between Linux and other OS'es, like OSX and Windows.

And it sounds like it's LinuxTag which should notice their community rebelling, not their pet Minister who doesn't care at all about either of them.

German Linux Community?

[robot_lords_of_tokyo]

Who is speaking for me again? This is not a boycott from the "German Linux Community", it's a boycott by people that don't agree with his political policies. That's ok, but don't use that label. Schäuble is the minister of the interior, which is exactly the person that should be involved in this (that is, the person holding that position). Sure he's a dick, but he is the minister of the interior. If you don't like his policies, just vote next time.

Re:German Linux Community?

[Daniel Phillips]

Schäuble is the minister of the interior, which is exactly the person that should be involved in this (that is, the person holding that position). Sure he's a dick, but he is the minister of the interior. If you don't like his policies, just vote next time. I would say this is a kind of voting.

Re:German Linux Community?

[cpghost]

If you don't like his policies, just vote next time.

What for? His predecessor from the other side of the political spectrum, Otto Schily, was just as bad as Wolfgang Schaeuble.

In theory, you're right, but in the prevalent climate of fear since 9/11 and the massive shift away from civil rights towards security, monitoring, using confessions extracted through torture by foreign governments, ethnic profiling ("Rasterfahndung")... there ain't much you can do about it anyway. The only party in Germany that's quite skeptical of all this was the FDP (they had a minister who resigned over this when they were still in power; though it was before 9/11), but even they finally caved in to the security doctrine and are just paying dishonest lip service w.r.t. civil rights.

So voting yes, but there's no real political alternative to pick from. Boycotting LinuxTag is the only way for some people to show that they disapprove of all this. It's not LinuxTag's fault however, just an unfortunate mishap and PR fiasco.

Re:German Linux Community?

[A beautiful mind]

Sadly too many people think that all there is to a representative democracy is to vote once every four years and then the government can do whatever it likes without any repecussions.

No restriction on field of use

[jmorris42]

> This surveillance camera and its motion detector was brought to you by Linux!

Either you believe in NO restriction on field of use or you don't. Remember, you can use FOSS to build puppy mulchers. It is if course perfectly fine to object to puppy mulchers, and anyone who actually mulches a puppy but whether the machine runs Linux, BSD or Windows shouldn't matter. Except if it has some neato realtime hacks in the control mech, they use Linux and the manufacturer refuses to give up the patches. But if they participate in the usual way their patches should follow the same path into the kernel as anyone else's. If the fscking Norks start sending in patches they should be given exactly the same peer review as any one else's.

But on the broader issues here, part of civilizived behaviour is being able to agree with someone on one issue and work with them while disagreeing on others. I don't claim to understand the intricate German politics involved in this issue but if the Interior Ministry is putting money into sponsoring a show I just don't see the problem unless they plan to use their money to influence the show for some purpose at odds with the goals of Linux in the commercial settings a trade show normally deals with.

Let me give a few examples. I'm a right leaning anti-idiotarian libertarian, which puts me at odds politically with most of the readership here and a majority of the F/OSS camp. I can still think RMS is a visionary on the issue of Free Software, while also considering him a hopeless 'crazed moonbat with near terminal BDS' politically. But since he doesn't go to Linux events and rant about how evil Bush is I don't have a problem with him, at least on software issues. When RMS speaks with his FSF St. Ignuisus hat on I'll listen and often agree. I suppose he is also active on Kos or DU, but I wouldn't know. Which is the point, he doesn't try to use his considerable influence and moral authority to lend weight to issues is isn't an authority on. On the other hand I stopped donating to the EFF after 9/11 because they DID let their conspiracy theory politics infect their work.

Re:In other news.

[Wolfger]

Where's the tracker for that torrent?

Here a bit of background...

[Anonymous Coward]

The Minister of Interior has traditionally been the "Schirmherr" (a sort of prominent figurehead, it's mostly a symbolic role) of Linuxtag. However, the current Minister of Interior has been furthering some pretty crazy ideas and is considered by many to be a threat to constitutional freedoms. For example, he strongly advocates data retention and what he calls "online search and seizure" which basically amounts to government agents hacking into private computers without noticing the owner to look for material that is illegal per se or planning material for illegal operations. In addition he has mentioned in an interview that "innocent until proven guilty" should not apply in certain situations.

This is why a lot of people think that he shouldn't be in a figurehead position of Linuxtag since his values are opposed to what Linuxtag stands for (or should stand for).

Re:Won't even notice?

[murple]

Assuming the Krauts have TV ads)? We don't even have this newfangled thing you call TV.

Trojan on CD-ROM

[cpghost]

One time they tried to infect a suspects PC with a Trojan on a CD-ROM.

What's wrong with distributing genuine Windows XP install media?

Why shouldn't Wolfgang Schaeuble be the chiefgeek?

[owidder]

See my small cartoon: http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2007/05 /chiefgeek_wolfg.html Bye, Oliver

you can't avoid the politics

[nanosquid]

Well, LinuxTag has a choice: they can continue under the auspices of Schauble, or they can disassociate themselves from him. Either choice makes a political statement.

In general, Schauble seems to be a persona non grata to many people, and the smart thing would have been to avoid the controversy by choosing someone else in the first place.

It might have to do with the language

[Opportunist]

The German translation of casting a vote would be "Stimme abgeben". Which can be retranslated as "giving up your voice".

Why is this Schaeuble guy such a bad choice?

[Crouty]

I suppose almost noone from countries other than Germany know about Wolfgang Schaeuble, his policy and what he stands for. But for German nerds it's bad news and stuff that matters. Among many other law and order topics he is trying to push forward he tries to get a law passed that would allow prosecuters to hack private computers.

That could possibly be acceptable if police hackers would need a proper warrant, the number of infilitrations was very low, the general public would get to know about these numbers and last but not least the observed subject would be informed afterwards. Experience with telephone wiretapping in Germany tells us that none of these democratic requirements are taken seriously.

Additionally, there are reserveations against the software that would be used as it is sure to open security holes for other malware.

This is basically what Wolfgang Schaeuble stands for among the German linux community and I can absolutely understand that many fellow nerds do not want to support a LinuxTag in any way that is somehow associated with Schaeuble. I for one don't welcome our new trojan dropping overlord.