Stuxnet/Flame/Duqu Uses GPL Code

David Gerard writes "It seems the authors of Stuxnet/Duqu/Flame used the LZO library, which is straight-up GPL. And so, someone has asked the U.S. government to release the code under the GPL. (Other code uses various permissive licenses. As works of the U.S. federal government, the rest is of course public domain.) Perhaps the author could enlist the SFLC to send a copyright notice to the U.S. government..."

Comments

Implications

[tmosley]

That would imply that the government is ruled by law rather than the arbitrary decisions of a few "top men".

It doesn't take long for such attitudes to spread throughout society.

But hey, Obama said he would have, like, the totally most open presidency ever. Surely the new boss will prove himself different from the old boss in SOME way. Surely!

Re:Implications

[tnk1]

Clearly we should take our cue to start a bloody revolution from music lyrics written by people 50 years ago.

Speaking as someone who does actually read history, I know what happens to people while they are in the midst of their glorious revolutions. That is to say, privation, disorder and mass slaughter. That wonderful period is then most of the time followed by dictatorship or other forms of tyranny. The good times come decades later when someone has managed to restore order.

You'll excuse me if I hope that no one gets around to it for another 50 years or so.

Re:Implications

[networkBoy]

And yet somewhere in the middle lies the answer.
It is of use to note that we celebrate a war every year. On the 4th of July we light off fireworks to celebrate going to war with the British and winning (technically we celebrate our declaration to be independent, but we all know damn well that had we lost or had there been no contest, there likely wouldn't be fireworks every year).

Our country does need a revolution. It needs a real tea party, a mass of people who simply refuse to follow governments orders.

The challenge, of course is critical mass. I would wager that in 1776 well over 50% of the population of the nascent United States of America was willing to outright defy the ruling government, while somewhere north of 90% of the remainder at least supported said dissidents. With the combination of the Democrats buying votes from the poor/uneducated/minority/grafters/etc with entitlement programs and the Republicans selling government support to corporations, I believe a civil revolution is impossible.

thk1 is right, an armed revolution is bad, but I'm not sure no revolution is better...

Re:Implications

[number11]

It is of use to note that we celebrate a war every year. On the 4th of July we light off fireworks to celebrate going to war with the British and winning (technically we celebrate our declaration to be independent, but we all know damn well that had we lost or had there been no contest, there likely wouldn't be fireworks every year).

Oh, I dunno. It probably wouldn't be on 4 July. But the Brits have fireworks on Guy Fawkes day (remember, remember, the fifth of November) to celebrate the capture and execution of terrorist plotters in 1605. There would probably be another annual celebration to commemorate the capture and execution of the colonial terrorists (or is that "militants"? it's so hard to remember the correct terminology) of 1776. So there would be fireworks twice a year.

Re:Implications

[Anonymous Coward]

The government, while it makes the laws, is subject to the rule of law. The government can be replaced and the laws changed. But by agreeing on a set of laws that apply to everyone is how we keep our noses out of the aforementioned violent chaos.

Revolution is not the answer. Civic engagement is. If we take notice, if we talk about and we insist on accountability and seek to elect politicians that act in our interest. A mature and educated electorate is the required cultural change and I'm optimistic we're heading in that direction. The current shenanigans are not irreperable and are serving a purpose in getting people to take notice.

Re:Implications

[jythie]

The thing is, the American Revolution worked because the local elites were driving it, not average people. That tends to be what determines if a revolution goes well or not. When you have two ruling classes struggling for power, the winner usually has the resources to restore order and most of their power structure already in place. When you have ruling class vs general population, it always ends badly regardless of who wins.

Re:Implications

[Entropius]

The information was leaked because the malware got out. Nobody "leaked" Stuxnet, other than Stuxnet itself.

Re:Implications

[s73v3r]

That's not the fault of the judicial system. That's largely the fault of the legislative branch, who enacts laws mandating certain levels of sentencing. And that blame can largely be brought back to the people who voted for those representatives, who demanded that people be "tough on crime."

Re:Implications

[davester666]

Well, if 'hiding something' is a significant concern for you, perhaps you should discuss this with your congressman/senator. For example, your own gov't refuses to disclose it's own interpretation of the Patriot act.

Who gets to request code?

[Anonymous Coward]

Under the GPL, only people that the executable was distributed to are allowed to request the code - and since it's a weapon, the US government isn't alliowed to send it to Iran.

Problem solved.

Re:Not gonna happen

[DickBreath]

Why would you bother to acknowledge copyright? Because the people who have bought and own the US government want copyright and patents to touch every part of our lives. Buy a cell phone? You should be paying an ever increasing slice to every patent troll that crawls out of the woodwork. Buy blank media, or a blank SD card? You should be paying copyright owners a "tax" on that blank media you dirty filthy pirate! Why else, other than piracy, could you possibly be buying blank media?

/ end rant

Re:Not gonna happen

[ZeroSumHappiness]

Obviously copyright is the most important issue of our time. Look at how much went into ACTA/SOPA/PIPA/CISPA and how little is going into fixing our education, healthcare, research and poverty issues.

Ask away

[DaveV1.0]

The thing is, no one knows who wrote it. Sure, there is speculation that the U.S. and/or Israel did, but no one knows for sure. The simplest thing for the government to do is say "We can't because we didn't write it." Then, it falls on the asker to prove they did.