Arrrggg: Open Source Users Are Pirates

US lobby group is trying to get the US government to consider open source as the equivalent to piracy i.e. if you use open source software you are a pirate and that makes you an enemy of the state.



However, US goverment does use FOSS based solutions. The SELinux can be traced to several earlier projects by the U.S. National Security Agency, The drupal powers many US government sites including Obama administration Drupal based website. Hollywood use Linux to create eye catching 3D movies. American companies such as Sun, Redhat, Oracle, IBM, Google, and many others profits handsomely using FOSS. From the guardian blog (via slashdot):

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US government to basically consider open source as the equivalent of piracy – or even worse. What? It turns out that the International Intellectual Property Alliance, an umbrella group for organisations including the MPAA and RIAA, has requested with the US Trade Representative to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and India for its “Special 301 watchlist” because they use open source software. What’s Special 301? It’s a report that examines the “adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights” around the planet – effectively the list of countries that the US government considers enemies of capitalism.

Well, this is shocking! What do you think?