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  on Dec 26 In Unix / Linux / Ubuntu Category.

  
Question Answered By: Adah Miller   on Dec 26

No, but I'll put it on my list. Is it online?

On that subject, the EU has given the company in question notice that it must
pay its penalty of about $1 billion for failing to pay its fines. The company
has asked the EU to clarify its position, as if they didn't know that they had
been fined for breaking the law, then assessed a penalty on top of that for
thumbing their nose at the courts and refusing to pay its fines. What don't they
get? They are not dumb. They have the best legal minds on their side.

This is just one more way of saying that they don't have to be accountable to
anyone. Perhaps the courts will have to seize assets or arrest the CEO in Europe
before they get the idea that nobody is above the law. I have tried to stay
silent while all of this has been going on in the past week, because it is seen
as inflammatory. We live in fear of the behemoth even here. But the net is abuzz
with the stories which are largely ignored in the mainline media.

What has this to do with open source? Lots. The open source community follows
the law according to GPL licensing and cannot survive without the protection of
the law. Also open source developers cannot work under the continual threats of
the unnamed company to prosecute for alleged intellectual copyright infringement
when the said company refuses to name the things being infringed on and it
openly refuses to obey the law itself. In addition it has openly declared war on
open source through launching a FUD campaign and through its misrepresentation
of the facts about Linux. No small wonder than Torvalds and others would produce
the movie.

A link to the movie would be appreciated. The struggles of open source against
the company are much in the news, but you will have to dig because it is not on
the mainline media. I wonder if they are worried that they could lose
advertising revenue. Things are very bad when the news is passed over because of
the company has grown so large that nobody will even cover their misdemeanors
out of fear. Kudos to Torvalds et al. for taking them on. At least someone is
not afraid.

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