[LINK] SCO does use GPL software

[Rick Welykochy]

On 20 Feb 2004, Tim Lister wrote:

> On Fri, 2004-02-20 at 11:16, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> > As previously indicated, SCO is lobbying the US Congress
> > to have the GPL declared illegal.
> 
> can they do that?  wouldn't it require a legal challenge in the supreme
> court?
> 
> surely a legislative declaration would create such a gaping
> inconsistency in their legal system that the supreme court would have to
> throw it out!
> 
> but i'm no lawyer, especially a seppo one, so i guess insane illogic can
> be made to happen if somebody wants it bad enough ...

Wht an earlier ridiculous and chilling piece of USA legislation called the CDA
(communications decency act), congress attempted to stifle free speech and
censor the Internet in America, to bring it into line with some narrower view
of what should be publicly available and what should be discussed publicly:
it's called setting the agenda.

The legislation was struck down, state by state, in 1997
<http://www.epic.org/free_speech/CDA/> which rendered CDA ineffective.

So, yeah, the long way around is to enact the legislation, have it challenged
in the courts and then eventually struck off. It is not beyond the realm
of the possible that a strong enough lobby against FOSS or the "copyleft"
could sway legislators into doing something stupid, like outlawing an
entire economic model and more importantly, an economic sector. A feather's
chance in hell is about how I'd rate the ultimate success of such legislation.
But hey, as you say, insane logic can prevail. It has in the past.


cheers
rickw




---------------------------------------------
Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Pty Limited

Innumerable confusions and a feeling of despair invariably emerge in
periods of great technological and cultural transition.
     -- Marshall McLuhan