There is an HTML version of this press release at:
http://www.gnu.org/press/2001-09-24-CPI.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Cyberspace Policy Institute
Tony Stanco <Tony(a)FreeDevelopers.net>
Phone: +1-202-994-5513
Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)fsf.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen to Speak at GWU's Cyberspace Policy
Institute's Free Software Conference
"Free Software: The Free Market/Free Speech Solution to the Microsoft
Antitrust Problem" on October 10, 2001
Washington, D.C., USA - Monday, September 24, 2001 - Dr. Richard Stallman,
founder and President of the Free Software Foundation, and Eben Moglen,
Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and General Counsel for the FSF,
will speak at George Washington University's Cyberspace Policy Institute
in Washington, D.C., October 10, 2001 at the CPI's Free Software
Conference: "Free Software: the Free Market/Free Speech Solution to the
Microsoft Antitrust Problem."
The Free Software Foundation promotes the development and use of Free
Software - particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux
variants - and Free Documentation for Free Software. GNU/Linux is the
integrated combination of the GNU operating system with the kernel, Linux,
written by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The various versions of GNU/Linux have
an estimated 20 million users worldwide.
"If code is law, then the real question we must face is: who should
control the code?" says Dr. Stallman. "Can it be left to a few companies
to secretly do whatever they please with the code, regardless of the
interests of the public at large?
"Software today can control the way the world lives, communicates and does
business," Dr. Stallman continues. "Proprietary software is typically
secret - you can't change it, or even see what it really does. You can't
tell if it has back doors, or sends your personal information to a server
on the net. You cannot even prevent changes that are detrimental, such as
a future version unable to access the files you are saving today.
"A choice of proprietary programs is just a choice of masters. Should the
code you use be under the control of Microsoft, or any other private
company? Or should you control the software you use?
"Free Software provides a democratic alternative. The GNU General Public
License, or GPL, was specifically designed to make sure the public's right
to the software freedoms we feel are vital in a free society are defended
and upheld for everyone. I use the expression 'free society' deliberately
in this context, so there will be no misunderstanding about the meaning of
the word 'free' in 'Free Software'. It refers to freedom--the freedom to
use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. We are not
opposed to profit or to business, but business must respect the public's
freedom and community if it is to be legitimate."
Dr. Stallman will explain what Free Software means, briefly give its
history, explain how software freedoms are currently being threatened by
software patents, the DMCA, and the Hague Treaty, and show how Microsoft
can use such tools to create a new monopoly, as well as make clear how
government agencies, researchers, schools, nonprofit organizations,
businesses, and all users can benefit by switching from proprietary to
Free Software.
Professor Moglen will speak about copyright and patent law and how
proprietary software restricts the freedoms of software developers and of
users, as well as speaking on the impact of the Free Software Movement.
"Free Software is an ethical movement that establishes the constructive
alternative to corporate globalization," says Professor Moglen. "It is a
technical movement that has changed the software industry and can make
monopolization impossible forever. And it is the centerpiece of the New
Economy. Microsoft and its allies will spend tens of millions of dollars
this year telling lies about Free Software. On October 10, you can learn
the truth about Free Software from the people who made it happen."
Eben Moglen holds a Ph.D. in history and a J.D. from Yale
University. Moglen is currently a professor of law and legal history at
Columbia University Law School and serves as general counsel for the Free
Software Foundation. His homepage is http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/.
Tony Stanco, Esq., Founder of FreeDevelopers.net and Senior Policy Analyst
of the Cyberspace Policy Institute says, "The moral question between Free
and proprietary software ultimately revolves around this issue: Is
software more like law? (Which ought to be Free and open to public
inspection, so that the public can participate in the formation of the
social contract by which they will be governed). Or is it more like
literature? (Which has been traditionally viewed as the creator's private
property). It's increasingly clear that with the Internet, software has
begun to supplement the traditional function of law and that digital
machines are fast becoming a nonhuman, cyberpolice force watching and
directing everything people do.
"The Cyberspace Policy Institute decided to sponsor this conference so
that policymakers in Washington, their staff, the press, students, and all
who are interested in how software can affect them, can be introduced to
Free Software and meet those who began the Free Software Movement.
Tony Stanco will also say a few words on: Why the world's richest company
is attacking the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) by calling it a
"cancer", a "destroyer" of innovation, "anti-American"? Whether this is
true, or whether Microsoft dislikes the GPL because the four freedoms it
establishes for computer users make monopolies hard to sustain? How Free
Software created products, like the GNU/Linux operating system, that
compete with Microsoft's Windows on heavy-duty servers in the back office?
Why the principles of the new Intellectual Age are fundamentally different
from those of the previous Industrial Age? Whether Software Freedom can
restore innovation and creativity to the software industry and provide a
way to solve the Microsoft antitrust question? Whether Microsoft's .Net
initiative will inevitably continue its monopoly? Or will Free Software's
DotGNU project break the Microsoft stranglehold and liberate computer
users to control the software they use?
Tony Stanco said, "We invited Microsoft to send a representative to join
in the conference, because it seemed unfortunate that Craig Mundie, VP of
Microsoft, has not yet had the opportunity to debate on the subject of the
GPL face to face with Dr. Stallman, the man who created it. He has not
accepted our invitation to date, but he is still welcome. It's an open
invitation."
The event will be held Wednesday, October 10, 2001 in the George
Washington University Marvin Center Ballroom (800 21st Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20052), beginning at 12:00 noon and ending at 5:00 PM.
There will be a break at midpoint, with light refreshments served.
For more information and to register for this free event, please go to the
Cyberspace Policy Institute website [http://www.cpi.seas.gwu.edu/].
About GNU:
GNU is a Free Software Unix-like operating system. Development of GNU
began in 1984. The site, at http://www.gnu.org, explains the GNU project
in detail.
GNU/Linux is the integrated combination of the GNU operating system with
the kernel, Linux, written by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The various versions
of GNU/Linux have an estimated 20 million users. Some people call the
GNU/Linux system "Linux", but this misnomer leads to confusion (people
cannot tell whether you mean the whole system, or the kernel, which is one
part), and spreads an inaccurate picture of the system's history and
origin. Making a consistent distinction between GNU/Linux, the whole
operating system, and Linux, the kernel, is the best way to clear up the
confusion.
About the Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of Free (as
in freedom) Software - particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants - and Free Documentation for Free Software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located at
http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.
About Cyberspace Policy Institute:
The Cyberspace Policy Institute is a center at George Washington
University to promote the analysis of policy problems that have a
significant computer systems component. Inside GW, the Institute brings
together researchers with interests in these areas, bridging discipline
barriers, much as the new information age is bridging cultural and
geopolitical barriers. Outside of the University, it works with government
and private organizations to examine important issues in computer and
communications systems policy. The Institute carries out studies and hosts
seminars and conferences that move society towards rational and informed
discussion of these critical changes. CPI's mission is to encourage,
promote, facilitate, and execute interdisciplinary research in areas
related to the nexus of society and the Internet. The site is
http://www.cpi.seas.gwu.edu.
About DotGNU:
DotGNU, a joint FreeDevelopers and GNU Project, will be a complete Free
Software replacement for the Microsoft .NET initiative. Unlike the
centralization of important Internet functions on Microsoft-controlled
servers, DotGNU will use a decentralized paradigm with personal
information and authorization/authentication functions on the user's own
home or corporate machines, or other distributed network of trusted
intermediaries, like existing Internet service providers or financial
institutions. The site is http://www.gnu.org/projects/dotgnu/.
About FreeDevelopers.net:
FreeDevelopers is an international self-regulatory organization of Free
Software developers for the development of Free Software. The purpose of
FreeDevelopers is to create a viable, for profit, business model for Free
Software development. The commercial principles of the new Intellectual
Age are substantially different from those of the Industrial Age, because
intellectual products are most efficiently produced by an inclusionary
paradigm, not the exclusionary one of the previous epoch. FreeDevelopers
was founded by Tony Stanco, Esq., a former Senior Attorney with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, Internet and software group. Tony
Stanco has a LL.M. in securities regulation from the Georgetown
University Law Center. He is also a Senior Policy Analyst with the
Cyberspace Policy Institute at George Washington University. The site is
http://www.FreeDevelopers.net.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)gnu.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
FSF and FSMLabs come to agreement on a GPL-compliant version of
RTLinux Open Patent License
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Tuesday, September 18, 2001 - The Free
Software Foundation and Finite State Machine Labs (FSMLabs) have come to
an agreement on a fully GPL-compliant version of FSMLabs RTLinux Open
Patent License. FSF and FSMLabs are working to finalize the license
language; FSMLabs will be publishing on its website the text of that
license, with a statement by FSF confirming its GPL-compliant status, in
the very near future.
The FSF has already withdrawn its press statement (issued Friday, 14
September 2001) concerning RTLinux license terms. Our differences turned
out to be mostly a result of unfortunate miscommunications and we urge
everyone to put this dispute behind them. FSF and FSMLabs expect to
continue their cooperation to secure availability of FSMLabs patented
technology for use in GNU/Linux systems.
The FSF thanks FSMLabs for its contribution of this patent license to the
free software community, and for its longstanding support and publication
of free software under the GPL.
About GNU/Linux:
GNU is a Free Software Unix-like operating system. GNU/Linux is the
integrated combination of the GNU operating system with the kernel, Linux,
written by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The various versions of GNU/Linux have
an estimated 20 million users.
Some people call the GNU/Linux system "Linux", but this misnomer leads to
confusion (people cannot tell whether you mean the whole system or the
kernel, one part), and spreads an inaccurate picture of how, when and
where the system was developed. Making a consistent distinction between
GNU/Linux, the whole operating system, and Linux, the kernel, is the best
way to clear up the confusion.
About the Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software---particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants---and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located at
http://www.gnu.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.
This press release is also available at:
http://www.gnu.org/press/2001-09-14-RTLinux.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)gnu.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
Violation of The GNU General Public License (GPL) by RTLinux
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - September 14, 2001 - The Free Software
Foundation today issued an official statement on violations of the GNU
General Public License (GPL) by RTLinux. Victor Yodaiken, CEO of FSMLabs
(who distribute RTLinux), has used a patent license to impose restricted
terms on distribution of a GPL-covered program. The FSF opposes software
patents, and in addition believes that Yodaiken's patent license violates
the GPL of the kernel named Linux.
Software patents are a harmful government policy of creating monopolies
that restrict computer users. We oppose this policy, and we think it is a
shame that Victor Yodaiken has chosen to obtain a patent for an idea that
we believe should not be, and is not, patentable. The patent covers
real-time interrupt handling using a software emulation layer for
interrupt masking, so that interrupts can be prioritized. There is
significant prior art for this.
Yodaiken has attempted to use the patent to impose restrictive terms on a
GPL-covered program (Linux, the kernel used in the GNU/Linux operating
system). These terms conflict with the GNU General Public License, and
imposing them is a violation of the GPL. We have told Yodaiken this, and
we have told him what license terms would comply with GPL. He, like
everyone, has the reponsibility to comply with the GPL or cease his
infringing distribution. Anyone else redistributing a modified version of
Linux under the restrictive patent license that Yodaiken uses will also be
violating the GPL.
It is up to the copyright holders of Linux to enforce the GNU GPL for
their code. The FSF is not one of them; we have never been involved in
developing Linux, the kernel. The FSF holds the copyright for a number of
other major components of the GNU/Linux operating system, but those
programs are not involved in this issue. So the FSF is not a party to
this issue in a legal sense.
However, we have told Yodaiken that if he remains in violation of the GPL,
we may well choose to support efforts by other companies to invalidate
Yodaiken's patent in the courts, and we may also support actions taken by
others to uphold the GPL.
About GNU/Linux:
GNU is a Free Software Unix-like operating system. GNU/Linux is the
integrated combination of the GNU operating system with the kernel,
Linux.
Calling the GNU/Linux system just "Linux" leads to confusion. Making
consistent distinctions between GNU/Linux, the operating system, and
Linux, the kernel, clears up the confusion.
About the Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software and free documentation for free software. Their web
site, located at http://www.gnu.org/. They are head quartered in Boston,
MA.