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Use Open Source? Then You're a Pirate!
superapecommando writes "There's a fantastic little story in the Guardian today that says a US lobby group is trying to get the US government to consider open source as the equivalent to piracy. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), an umbrella group for American publishing, software, film, television and music associations, has asked the US Trade Representative (USTR) to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil, and India for its 'Special 301 watchlist' because they encourage the use of open source software. A Special 301, according to Guardian's Bobbie Johnson is: 'a report that examines the "adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights" around the planet — effectively the list of countries that the US government considers enemies of capitalism. It often gets wheeled out as a form of trading pressure — often around pharmaceuticals and counterfeited goods — to try and force governments to change their behaviors.'"
Like Health Insurance, which the in the US Congress want to make required with major fines if you don't have it? Unless, of course, you're an illegal alien and so effectively beyond the law's ability to punish.
As this could effect MANY big players in unexpected ways.
Company's like Amazon will be effected due to the Kindle reader uses open source software ( http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10266319-16.html )
Apple would be pretty much killed on sight since all there products run on either OSX or a modified version which is programmed from UNIX ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osx ) (which is open sourced) and the open source Mach Kernel from BSD ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_kernel ).
While it is not in the US, the London Stock Exchange runs on the open source program MillenniumIT system ( http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/10/06/1742203/London-Stock-Exchange-Rejects-NET-For-Open-Source )
Last I knew, Linksys routers run on Linux ( http://wifinetnews.com/archives/2005/12/the_l_in_linksys_wrt54gl_stands_for_linux.html )
Microsoft could also be effected due to their new deal with Amazon with issues towards the patents involved in said deal ( http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/02/23/1231255/Microsoft-Amazon-Ink-Kindle-and-Linux-Patent-Deal )
Then there is every Android phone since Android is made from Linux ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system) ).
At thats pretty much the tip of the iceberg. Many company's and products run on different versions of OSS, which all would be effected with this. And as you can see, this list of company's effected aren't just a small group of no names, but the big players like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Verizon, Linksys...
Attention... all grammer nazi"s! Is they're anything; wrong with: my post,
This activity smells highly of Microsoft's tactics. Do we really want Microsoft's business goals affecting our foreign policy?
Software consumers have been *winning* by having to pay less, at the expense of software creators *losing* by earning less, even if their product is superior to the OSS version. There is no free ride, someone has to pay. Creators earn less every time consumers pay less. Don't worry, at some point economics will catch up, and you'll be paying less, as well as earning less. So, in the long run (decades), you may end up losing. Because, with OSS type schemes, there will be fewer rich people in the world. That in turn will lower the average income of workers/businesses.
OSS is creating a form of slavery where individuals work only for the benefit of society, not themselves. The society then shares a few scraps of food equally among all people, so that high-output producers earn the same as stupid, lazy bums -- communism!. It's a govt conspiracy again, trying to push communism all around the world.
You see, in a capitalistic society, the middle class and the upper-middle class own a large amount of wealth. And the govt hates anyone but itself consuming a lot of the planet's resources. So by promoting OSS, and destroying copyrights and patents, it destroys and steals the wealth of these upper-middle class and middle class producers. I'm justified in calling it stealing, because OSS has yet to produce truly original products. They simply copy (steal) ideas from the paid products and give it away for free.