Transcript OSDF Presentation (version 2)

Open Source Defense Fund
Presented by
Kent Radek
&
David Tascione
Heimdall Linux, Inc.
Overview of Talk
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OSDF?
Need for OSDF
Goals for OSDF
Plans
Resources
What are we proposing?
¥ What is the Open Source Defense Fund (OSDF)
– OSDF should be a community voice dedicated
to preserving the right to create, distribute and
use free and open source software
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Ultimately would be a non-profit organization
Need for OSDF?
What issues affect free and open source software?
¥ UCITA
¥ DeCSS
¥ DMCA
¥ Software Patents
¥ Hijacking Open Standards
UCITA
¥ Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act
makes every shrink wrap license totally enforceable
¥ Problems with UCITA
¥ What is the Status of UCITA?
Problems with UCITA
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Vendors Change Licenses
Licenses will be able to restrict free speech
Vendors can Control Software Use
Reverse Engineering
Product Liability
Vendors Change Licenses
¥ Microsoft changed the license of Microsoft SQL
server to eliminate unlimited use in an intranet
environment.
¥ This change created a scramble to try and locate the
versions of the package with the older license.
¥ OSDF's mailing lists will help bring these changes
to light.
Licenses Can Restrict Free Speech
¥ Under a UCITA license you may be prevented from
disclosing security bugs
¥ UCITA can also be used to prevent users from
sharing information/opinions on software
Vendors Can Control Software Use
¥ Microsoft in Visual C++ 6.0's MFC library included
a clause preventing the use of the software to
develop programs for a non-Microsoft OS. This
restricted what a user could use this system for in a
totally artificial way.
¥ Under UCITA these become legally enforceable.
¥ Microsoft fortunately changed this license in a
subsequent Service Pack Release (SP3)
Reverse Engineering
¥ UCITA can be used to prevent Reverse Engineering
¥ E.g. Many printer drivers for Linux have been
reverse engineered. UCITA can be used to prevent
this from happening.
Product Liability
¥ UCITA has provisions that allow developers and
software distributors to be held liable for defects in
their code. UCITA does have a provision that
allows the developers (and the company) to escape
liability via the software license. Unfortunately,
open source developers could still be liable for code
that was released prior to UCITA and that continues
to be distributed.
Status of UCITA
¥ Where has it been passed
– Maryland and Virginia
¥ Upcoming states
– Washington, D.C.
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New Jersey
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Louisiana
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Oklahoma
DeCSS Case
¥ What is the DeCSS Case?
¥ Why is this important?
What are the DeCSS cases
¥ Status of DeCSS Case?
– There are actually three cases.
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N.Y. Federal case under 17 U.S.C 1201 (DMCA)
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Decision was handed down in favor of the plaintiffs
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C.T. Federal case again under 17 U.S.C 1201
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California state case: Revealing trade secrets
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Still pending after a preliminary injunction
Background on the DeCSS Cases
¥ Content Scrambling System (CSS) is used to
encrypt DVD movies
¥ No player existed for the Linux platform
¥ A player was reverse engineered from information
in the public domain
¥ MPAA has challenged the right of DeCSS to exist
¥ In addition the MPAA has challenged the right to
link to sites containing the code
Why is this important?
¥ The DeCSS case sets a dangerous precedent for
freedom of speech in our future wired world.
¥ You are prevented not only from posting the source
code, you can not even point to a site with the code.
Status of DeCSS case?
¥ Currently the case is on appeal. The initial decision
was in favor of the MPAA.
¥ Regardless of the outcome of the case several of the
decisions made by the courts (issuing injunctions
against linking) will stand as precedent for future
cases.
DMCA
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Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
The DMCA was passed as 17 U.S.C. 1201
What is DMCA?
Problems with DMCA?
Why do we have DMCA?
What is DMCA?
¥ Even in cases normally covered by fair use, the
DMCA prevents bypassing protection or
examination of data in digital formats.
¥ DMCA can restrict your use of items you own.
Problems with DMCA?
¥ Real Jukebox example
– Real was sending personal information to
servers at their site. This was discovered by
people examining the data sent to Real's site.
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Under DMCA, Real could have prevented this
information from being found out
¥ DeCSS case
– DMCA is being used in the DeCSS case
Why do we have DMCA?
¥ DMCA is the result of World Intellectual Properties
Organization
¥ DMCA is also the result of intense lobbying by
organizations who know their formats will be
reverse engineered
– It restricts what you can do with items YOU
own
Software Patents
¥ Windows Media Format
¥ Y2K Patent
¥ Open Source and Patents
Windows Media Format
¥ Microsoft has patented elements of their new media
format. This has effectively made it illegal to
create interoperable solutions
¥ Microsoft has stopped several companies from
implementing their own players for this format
Y2K Patent
¥ Bruce Dickens filed for a patent on a Y2K
windowing technique. Essentially it said if the year
is less than 30, add 100.
¥ The patent was applied for Oct. 3, 1996 and was
issued as patent #5,806,063 in Sept. 8, 1998.
¥ Linux had a similar fix in 1991, constituting prior
art.
Open Source and Patents
¥ Open Source can provide a form of prior art
preventing trivial patents from being granted.
¥ But patents can also create potential problems for
Open Source software developers' desires for
interoperability with other software.
Hijacking Open Standards
¥ Microsoft implemented Kerberos authentication in
Windows 2000.
¥ Microsoft used a field that was defined as unused in
the specification
¥ This effectively prevents non-Microsoft machines
from using Kerberos authentication with Windows
2000 systems
¥ Microsoft threatened to sue Slashdot
http://www.slashdot.org, when they released details
of Microsoft's implementation
Goals of OSDF
¥ Education
¥ Media Friendly
¥ Political Awareness
Education
¥ The decisions being made in the courts and
congress will impact the developer community for a
long time to come
¥ Some people do not understand their rights, an
obligations, or the consequences of the decisions
being made today
Media Friendly
¥ Make information available to the media on the
issues that affect OSDF
– Press releases with non-technical explanations of
the topics that affect OSDF
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Provide people to answer the media's questions
on these topics
Political Awareness
¥ With the existence of the internet there is no reason
why people should not be aware of who their
congress people are.
¥ People should also be able to find out how their
congresspeople are voting on issues that will effect
them.
What OSDF plans to Offer
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Mailing lists
Portal
Event Calendar
Congressional Locator
Mailing Lists
¥ General
– Discussion of topics that affect OSDF. Help
determine what services to offer
¥ Announce
– Announcements that affect the community
¥ Future lists
– Patents, DMCA, UCITA, Legal
Portal
¥ http://osdf.sourceforge.net And http://www.osdf.org
will become a portal with news and pointers where
people can learn more about OSDF and what it
stands for.
Event Calendar
¥ The Event Calendar will list events that people who
are concerned about Open Source should consider
attending.
¥ E.g. Shortly after the initial case against DeCSS,
gatherings were held in cities nationwide to raise
awareness about the case.
Congressional Locator
¥ Helps you find out who your Congressional
representatives are and shows you their voting
records.
¥ Hopefully, will be expanded to include State
representatives and their voting records as
available.
Contacting Us
¥ OSDF home page
– http://osdf.sourceforge.net
¥ E-mail addresses
– [email protected]
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[email protected]
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[email protected]
References
¥ EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
– http://www.eff.org
¥ Privacy Foundation
– http://www.privacyfoundation.org
¥ American Civil Liberties Union
– http://www.aclu.org
Call for Help
¥ Please join us in setting the future direction of
OSDF
¥ To do so please join SourceForge and the OSDF
project at SourceForge
Q&A
¥ Questions?