Treefinder Revokes Software License For Users In Immigrant-Friendly Nations

dotancohen writes: The author of bioinformatics software Treefinder is revoking the license to his software for researchers working in eight European countries because he says those countries allow too many immigrants to cross their borders, effective 1 October. The author states, "Immigration to my country harms me, it harms my family, it harms my people. Whoever invites or welcomes immigrants to Europe and Germany is my enemy."

Comments

What a dork

[Anonymous Coward]

What a dork

What an ass!

[Anonymous Coward]

Enough said!

Who cares

[war4peace]

From TFA it looks like Jobb is a racist asshole and his Treefinder software is outdated and has plenty alternatives.
Looks like a drama queen thing.

Re:Who cares

[JaredOfEuropa]

He might be an asshole, but I'm not surprised to see reactions like these to the immigrant crisis. I see them more and more often around me as well (I am from Europe). And it might get a lot worse, already we're seeing arson and threats of violence against refugee centers.

The reason is simple: the fears and objections of Europe's citizens have been completely ignored. If a refugee center opens up in your neighborhood, you will experience an increase in crime and nuisance. The people in a village with 500 inhabitants fear the influence that a nearby center for 6000 refugees will have on their community. And a sizable portion aren't refugees or even from Syria; they left their own save homes to find a better life, and look for countries with generous welfare packages. In the Netherlands, the refugees already have had a serious impact on housing. Municipalities are obliged to give priority to people with an asylum status, which means they jump to the front of the queue for social housing. The waiting time for a regular family without priority is now 7-8 years I believe, with some larger cities having a waiting list of 14 years.

Some of the fears are unfounded and the objections unreasonable, and the harsh reality may be that we will have no choice but to put these migrants up somehow, somewhere. But the problem is that in the political climate it is impossible to even begin that discussion To ask what the cost of this immigration is, what the impact is, to question the motives of some of the immigrants, to demand that we finally get some sensible and well organized way of dealing with the immigrants instead of pancking at the last minute and putting them up in tents, or to demand that along with a generous welcome for the true refugees comes a program to actively screen and evict people who have no business here and to deter them from coming in the first place. Those questions get you branded as an unfeeling nazi, a racist, or worse. This discussion is carefully avoided by politicians and the media alike. Instead, we hear only the good news: these immigrants bring important skills, they bring wealth instead of costs, they will not alter our society for the worse, they are not terrorists, and they will generate jobs for us too. Meanwhile the actual problems are unacknowledged and thus not addressed.

An increasing number of people are starting to feel the pressure from increased immigration firsthand, and they are completely abandonded by their representatives. Immigration in the face of an emergency doesn't have to be a problem for the locals: when the government organize things well, are open and honest about what is going to happen, do what they can to alleviate any nuisances, and take complaints seriously, then you see the locals putting up with any troubles that remain. If however you ignore valid complaints, and brand any naysayer as sub-human white trash, then desperate people will lash out. In increasingly violent ways. And they will lash out against the refugees as well, which is the last thing they need.

That is my main worry. Not the immigration itself, but the unbelievable way that my government and Europe are handling this, or rather: not handling it.

Re:Who cares

[dave420]

The fears and objections have been largely ignored for both those wanting to accept refugees and those not. A refugee centre opened up in my neighbourhood (our city of ~275k has about 6 the last I heard) and nothing happened. Sure, you see a few people walking around, but that's it. No crime wave. No disturbances. You might want to demote your "will" to "might", as clearly it's not a certainty.

Claiming economic migrants just want good benefits is a disgrace, as you are attempting to cast them all as acting in poor faith. Most want to work, just as most people who are born in Europe want to work. Some will want to sponge off and do nothing, just as some Europeans do. Generalising so much about a group of people you clearly don't know much about is pretty much the definition of a xenophobe.

I think it's perfectly suitable to brand someone making horrible, vague statements about foreigners as a xenophobic muppet, as that's what they are.

Re:Who cares

[gay358]

It's not only the housing but costs for providing social security is unsustainable with the current flow of asylum seekers. It doesn't take more just few years and even 100 % taxation wouldn't be enough to provide social security for these asylum seekers. Although some of the asylum seekers may be able to find jobs, the traditional levels of employment have been very low for many of these groups (for example, the biggest asylum seeker groups in Finland are Iraqis and Somalis and even during better economic times, they have had about 15 % employment (not unemployment) rate).

And within surprisingly short time, the local population would become minority, unless the social security system collapses before that and the flood of asylum seekers stops. And if history tells something, it quite often means very bad times for the original population (e.g. Palestinians, Indians, Aboriginals etc).

I am afraid that if it this flood is not stopped in one way or another soon, there will chaos or even wars in large parts of Europe.

Re:Who cares

[kqs]

He might be an asshole, but I'm not surprised to see reactions like these to the immigrant crisis. I see them more and more often around me as well (I am from Europe). And it might get a lot worse, already we're seeing arson and threats of violence against refugee centers.

The reason is simple: the fears and objections of Europe's citizens have been completely ignored.

Because clearly, if you feel the government isn't listening to you, arson and violence is a valid response.

I'm a big fan of civil disobedience when you feel your rights are being trampled, but in that case you should protest against the government, preferably by voting but if that fails then protests, work stoppages, etc seem a valid thing. Violence against immigrants don't show patriotism, it shows small-minded fear and hatred.

Here in the US we also have a "yooge" anti-immigrant movement. As far as I can tell, most people wish the US had closed its borders the day after *their* immigrant ancestors arrived here.

Re:Who cares

[meta-monkey]

He's not defending arsonists and violent people, he's stating the fact that people will do it when they're not heard.

You know this is true. This is how people explain riots in Baltimore. A group of people feels powerless, and eventually something boils over and they lash out. Whether this group of people is not heard about their objection to millions of unasked for new neighbors or police brutality, the result is the same.

The answer is not to suppress or ignore these people, but to address their fears and concerns. But just scorn them as racists or xenophobes and dismiss them, and eventually, yes, the more incensed and morally questionable members of that camp will do bad things.

The edge of reality

[AndyKron]

Somebody has fallen off the edge of reality.

Now we see what copyright run amok hath wrought!

[mrchaotica]

Granted, chances are the guy doesn't actually have the right to cancel people's purchases like this. However, the fact that it's halfway-reasonable for him to think he has that right is yet another illustration of how ridiculously overreaching copyright has become.

Again and again, we're seeing a thing that is (a) a government-granted monopoly, not a right, (b) only supposed to be temporary, and (c) not designed for the benefit of the author, but rather for the benefit of society, perverted to the point where people think it trumps actual property rights!

This guy's attitude is fucking sick and disgusting, and that's before I even take the bigotry into account!

Re:Who gives a shit?

[Anonymous Coward]

If the West had not destabilized the whole regionfor political ends, we would not be in this mess.

Re:Mainstream media is covering up the crisis

[Anonymous Coward]

Four out of five migrants are not from Syria:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3240010/Number-refugees-arriving-Europe-soars-85-year-just-one-five-war-torn-Syria.html

Europeans have a right to be upset at their governments for what is going on.

Re: Oh, that's ironic

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody is being punished except for the taxpayers who have to support your feel good bullshit.

Re:Good

[The Rizz]

The truth of Islam, is that it is never happy being the little church down the road, it must be the church, the state, and the law.

So, basically the same same as Christianity, then?

Re:Mainstream media is covering up the crisis

[Anonymous Coward]

The part about Sweden is a theoretical possibility, in that somebody managed to dig up an old law, and not even about homes.

The German one is about a woman who rented an apartment in a building, and the land lord has decided to stop renting out apartments, and sell the whole building. She has been given over half a years notice, apparently more than German law requires.

The headline is just right wing extremist propaganda.

The guy is desparate - mainstream media are biased

[Anonymous Coward]

The guy is simply desperate to get some attention.

I live in the EU and the mainstream media are totally biased pro-immigrant. Comments on the immigrant issues are usually turned offed, polls are not published, articles are 100% immigrant-friendly.

If you do not follow this pattern - you are racist , xenophob etc.

However if you talk to people - people are 80% anti-immigrant.

We do believe we should help the poor people but the help should go to camps in LIban, Turkey, Jordania, to women and children who are there, not to young fit guys coming here. We should also increase military help to stabilize situation in Syria.

The number of immigrants coming is way over the assimilation ability of Germany and other popular countries.

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[ultranova]

75% of these so-called refugees are military age men.

Thus giving them a particularly pressing reason to escape before one warlord or another drafts them. Or do you perhaps think ISIS/Boko Haram/whatever are staffed entirely with volunteers?

You go dude

[BlueCoder]

Immigration is an important economic issue. It's lowers wages. It's a way to balance economic forces but if unchecked it gives businesses an unfair pool of low wages employees. If you don't respect parts of your country for it's economic impact on your then I don't see anything wrong with what your doing as a "statement of protest". You have the unalienable right to express your dissatisfaction. But being realistic it just won't have an economic impact.

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[rickb928]

Sending them back to their nation of origin would work fine, and requires no killing.

Of course, they are leaving their nations of origin largely because of killing there, But that is the problem that should have been solved.

Re:Who gives a shit?

[NostalgiaForInfinity]

But of course! Before the West got involved in the Middle East, it was a peaceful paradise, where unicorns grazed under rainbows, and peoples of all different religions lived together in blissful harmony! It's not like these people ever occupied large parts of Europe, oppressed non-Muslims, or abducted millions of Europeans into slavery, oh no, nothing like that ever happened!

How racism?

[SuperKendall]

Nationalism, yes.

But wanting to stop the flow if illegal immigrants is not racism, because you don't care what color they are - just that people should immigrate legally, so that they can come in at a rate that they can mesh well with existing society.

That is merely realizing that a national identity has value, and is worth protecting...

Mind you, I disagree with how they are trying to protect against immigration - what if some of the people they have blocked are supporters of their cause? Perhaps instead they should demand public statements on websites of the companies denouncing illegal immigration.

Re:How racism?

[dave420]

He didn't mention anything about them being legal or illegal, just that "migrants are bad" for Germany, even though every single study on the issue shows quite the opposite. So yeah, he's a nationalist, xenophobic, ignorant muppet who would rather put hundreds of thousands of people in dangerous circumstances before looking past his own nose.

Re:How racism?

[Falconhell]

National identity is the kind of thing that stuffs the world up.
I can't understand those that feel proud of a geographical area they happen to live in, especially when they simultaneously destroy the environment that makes any place great to be.
The concept of patriotism is in my opinion, absurd.

Re:How racism?

[SuperKendall]

I can't understand those that feel proud of a geographical area they happen to live in

Really? That's quite sad you grew up in some kind of dictatorship shithole; but that's not true of everyone.

I'm pretty proud of free speech, the ability for women to drive and vote (or even voting in general), and that people can marry whoever they like.

All of those things are going to go away with a large enough migration from a people who support none of them.

The future belongs to the people who show up, the future doesn't care who that it but you might even if you don't realize it yet.

Re:Hmmm ...

[gstoddart]

Why not try to analyze whether his statements have some merit, rather than just fuel the culture of outrage?

Because I don't give a fuck about some guy who wrote a piece of software, and his personal manifesto. I don't need to validate his position, or evaluate it for merit -- that's not my problem.

See, I'm not committing a logical fallacy, since I'm not refuting his points ... I am dismissing him out of hand as an irrelevant, whiny little twat who wants to take his ball and go home. He's more than welcome to do that. He can do it for any stupid reason he chooses.

And the rest of the world is free to dismiss him as a crackpot and not give a damn about his crazy rantings.

The reality is, he isn't withholding anything nobody can't live without, and while he's free to do as he chooses with his software ... everyone else is free to not give a fuck.

We certainly don't need to acknowledge, validate, or give credibility to his temper tantrum. That's his damned problem.

If someone said tomorrow I can't use a piece of software because I'm not a Christian, I'm also going to conclude that person is a moron and an asshole, and be equally dismissive of them. But I'm not going to coddle or validate his feelings because he needs to act like a moron and an asshole.

Re:Who gives a shit?

[Applehu Akbar]

"But Christianity had a 500 year head start on Islam'

Yes, Christianity was this bad once. Today we call that time the Dark Ages.

But it is legal

[tepples]

just that people should immigrate legally, so that they can come in at a rate that they can mesh well with existing society.

Say the body responsible for setting a nation's immigration policy has decided to admit refugees on the basis that emergency evacuation from a war zone outweighs the difficulty of "mesh[ing] well with existing society". In that case, they are immigrating legally.

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[PopeRatzo]

75% of these so-called refugees are military age men.

I'll bet about 75% of Slashdot readers are military age men.

Makes you think.

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[PopeRatzo]

If it turns out that gene research shows that some types of people are more intelligent or more creative than others, so what?

So what is that we don't really have a very good or complete way to measure intelligence. And without that, "gene research" isn't going to be able to tell us anything like one race being more intelligent than another. There isn't a single way to measure intelligence that hasn't been used by racists to do or promote terrible things.

Anyway...

http://hauntedskeptic.com/wp-c...

vs

http://trailblazersblog.dallas...

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[allcoolnameswheretak]

Sources, you racist idiot?

There will be crimes and misconduct among refugees for sure. That is a statistical certainty when you have hundreds of thousands of people. But considering the hardships and unimaginable emotional stress that refugees have had to endure, I would say the vast majority of them are remarkably peaceful and calm.

Almost haf of Syrian refugees have high school or university education. Also the vast majority of them are not interested at all in fundamentalist Islam, but are progressive and simply want to lead a free life of opportunity, like the rest of us. That's why they are coming to Europe. If they agreed with fanatics like ISIS they would join them and not walk over to the "enemy".

The problem of morons like you is that for you every muslim is a fanatic, because all you hear in the news are associations of terrorism with Islam. In reality, the majority of muslims are normal people like you and me that want to live and let live. The Islamists are a much bigger threat and pain in the ass to them than they are for us, because they are the ones being killed and driven from their homes.

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[sunderland56]

Only a complete fucking moron would think that this mass immigration is anything but a future crime and terrorist attack in the making.

Yep, mass immigration - that's what America is founded on. And look how it turned out.

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[Cederic]

Sources, you racist idiot?

I'm curious, what did the AC say that's racist or that suggests that they are?

Stop throwing around emotionally loaded terms to try and avoid debating real issues.

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[Anonymous Coward]

So it looks like there are more single men than family with children who cross (a part of) the mediterranean sea, travel 1500 to 2000 km across Europe, using different transportation means. I wonder why... Oh, maybe because it's much more easier for them than for someone who has to carry a child with him?

Re:Oh, that's ironic

[mi]

Well, I can't speak for the motives of those speaking in defence of refugees

Well, I can — and did. They are picking out "poster children" and lying to the rest of us by implying, the sample they picked is representative. It is not.

the motivation for the large number of young men running away [...] either enlist or kill every single military-age man just because

Those same assholes, who'd impress into service or kill men, would also rape women and/or sell them into slavery (pre-pubescent once included) — so that motivation does not explain the lopsided statistics... If these crowds really feared persecution, they would've contained entire families. Since they do not, the young men must be motivated by economic prospects, not danger.

But I don't blame the people wanting to move to a better-run country in the slightest. I am an immigrant myself.

Yet, I do not believe, the countries they chose have any obligation — neither legal nor even moral — to take them. And for those, who are so accepted — out of kind compassion (even if based on the above-discussed lie) — to seek changes to their new country (in particular to demand women be dressed a certain way on pain of rape) is an outrage. Maybe, their children will be entitled to vote for changes, but their own responsibility is to be appreciative and supportive of their new countries just as they found them.

It is this outrage, that is the motivation of the man in TFA, and I understand him very well.