"Even if the court rules in their favor, NASA can't declassify the documents. They'd have to sue the department of defense in order to have the documents declassified."
Incorrect, if the court finds that the documents in NASA's possession are not classifiable then NASA will be obligated to release them under FOIA.
FOIA has narrowly defined exemptions and has been ruled to be overriding when faced with other laws that restrict distribution of information (such as confidential business information). Any documents that are in the DoD's possession are up to a different court/lawsuit to decide and have nothing to do with NASA being forced to release information.
"For example in Microsoft's case the government should adopt a pure POSIX requirement in government purchasing."
The problem with this idea is that the judicial branch in the U.S. has no power over the purchasing practices of the other branches of government. That is a legislative matter that no judges would be willing to cross and, even if they did, would be easily overturned as unconstitutional.
Although it seems you did read the article you seem to have forgotten that this was not the only reason that the DOD and John Ashcroft recieved the muzzle award. There's also the patriot act, the immigration/deportation hearings, the refusal to provide congress with information, and the gutting of the freedom of information act.
The covering of the statues is only a minor (albeit pointed) addition to the rest of his actions over the past year(s).
>Why don't the respective governments make a proactive move by mandating that free software be used rather than MS stuff.
IANAL(yet) but as far as I know, it is not within the court's power to mandate what the rest of the branches of government use. That has to be done from the legislative branch. All the court can do is impose penalties on the company and propose remedies that the company has something to do with. The judges couldn't just tell Microsoft that they can keep doing whatever they want but all government agencies are now banned from using their software.
Additionally, I'm not convinced that mandating free/open software is the way to go. I use Linux for everything I do but getting stuck into an open source world isn't neccessarily better than being stuck in a proprietary world.
Brian
Slashdot Mirror
"Even if the court rules in their favor, NASA can't declassify the documents. They'd have to sue the department of defense in order to have the documents declassified."
Incorrect, if the court finds that the documents in NASA's possession are not classifiable then NASA will be obligated to release them under FOIA.
FOIA has narrowly defined exemptions and has been ruled to be overriding when faced with other laws that restrict distribution of information (such as confidential business information). Any documents that are in the DoD's possession are up to a different court/lawsuit to decide and have nothing to do with NASA being forced to release information.
"For example in Microsoft's case the government should adopt a pure POSIX requirement in government purchasing."
The problem with this idea is that the judicial branch in the U.S. has no power over the purchasing practices of the other branches of government. That is a legislative matter that no judges would be willing to cross and, even if they did, would be easily overturned as unconstitutional.
Although it seems you did read the article you seem to have forgotten that this was not the only reason that the DOD and John Ashcroft recieved the muzzle award. There's also the patriot act, the immigration/deportation hearings, the refusal to provide congress with information, and the gutting of the freedom of information act.
The covering of the statues is only a minor (albeit pointed) addition to the rest of his actions over the past year(s).
Brian
IANAL(yet) but as far as I know, it is not within the court's power to mandate what the rest of the branches of government use. That has to be done from the legislative branch. All the court can do is impose penalties on the company and propose remedies that the company has something to do with. The judges couldn't just tell Microsoft that they can keep doing whatever they want but all government agencies are now banned from using their software.
Additionally, I'm not convinced that mandating free/open software is the way to go. I use Linux for everything I do but getting stuck into an open source world isn't neccessarily better than being stuck in a proprietary world. Brian