Open Letter By Eric S. Raymond To Chris Dodd 410
An anonymous reader writes "ESR, one of the finest engineers behind the open source movement and much of the software we use everyday, writes an open letter to U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. ESR points out the concerns of 'the actual engineers who built the Internet and keep it running, who write the software you rely on every day of your life in the 21st century' about politicians attempts to lock down our Internet or our tools. A portion of the letter reads: 'I can best introduce you to our concerns by quoting another of our philosopher/elders, John Gilmore. He said: “The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”
To understand that, you have to grasp that “the Internet” isn’t just a network of wires and switches, it’s also a sort of reactive social organism composed of the people who keep those wires humming and those switches clicking. John Gilmore is one of them. I’m another. And there are some things we will not stand having done to our network.'"
To Which the Reaction Will Be (Score:4, Insightful)
How dare these self-righteous, misanthropic geeks dare tell us it's their network? Who bought and paid for this network? Why does this network exist in the first place? Because WE built it with our holy dollars. Someone get a muzzle on this dissident! A prime example of why we need control of our network!
ESR - overhyped... (Score:5, Insightful)
That guy hypes himself way too much.
Re:Excellent tactical move. (Score:5, Insightful)
This is an open letter, and its main point is not to convince the opposition but to rally its own supporters. For which purpose chest pounding works very well.
The internet doesn't "route around it" (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact is that there is a serious choke point for the vast majority of users (in the U.S. at least). A handful of big name companies control almost all the broadband ISP's and trunk lines in the U.S. You can't very easily "route around it" if the few providers in your area are censored. In my area, you can choose from 1 cable ISP, 1 DSL ISP, and 3 major cell providers. All five of these are major companies who would bow to the government in an instant if asked. If they were all effectively censored, there would be nowhere to turn save a satellite provider.
There are always ways around censorship for the hardcore techies, of course. But it really wouldn't be that hard to censor the internet for 99% of the population if the government really wanted to.
Re:To Which the Reaction Will Be (Score:5, Insightful)
And how do you suppose you're going to do so? You don't own the backbone, you don't own any of the fiber connecting you to your ISP, you don't own any of the switches and routers, you don't own any of the software (since most of what runs the internet is BSD and is easily forked). So exactly how are you going to "take it back" when all the infrastructure is owned by others?
Oppression, not "lockdown" (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm getting sick of hearing the propaganda terms "lockdown" and "crackdown" used in place of the correct term, oppression. Are we too afraid to say it? Not politically correct enough? Can't admit our own reality to ourselves? Fuck that.
Let's call a spade a spade here. The terms "crackdown" and "lockdown" imply that the victim was doing something wrong or immoral in the first place. THAT is exactly why government and the media use these terms. They are "self-justified". They are deliberately false depictions of reality. It's pure propaganda, but the amazing part is that some victims will actually repeat the terms themselves.
The correct term, oppression, implies that the victim is innocent, not guilty -- and that the oppressors are guilty, not merely "getting around to that crackdown". For christ's sake, use the correct term.
Re:uhhh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:uhhh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Writing the head of the MPAA to try and sway him about the internet (to misquote former MPAA head Jack Valenti speaking of VCRs in the eighties) -- "The internet is to movies what Jack the Ripper was to women."
ESR ir right, but I think he sent his letter to the wrong Senator. It should have gone to the 100 corrupt Senators who actually legislate, rather than former corrupt Senators.
Re:Finest engineer? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Finest engineer? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sure those are all useful, but if they're considered fantastic feats of open source engineering then the open source community is really in trouble.
Now, please tell us all about the amazing stuff you've contributed to the community.
I don't think one needs to have any specific qualification to question the accuracy of "one of the finest engineers behind the open source movement", any more than someone needs to be tall to question a statement that a moderately tall man is one of the tallest in the world.
Re:To Which the Reaction Will Be (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, good luck with that.
Not only is the IT world full of contrarians, who likely won't strike just because other people are, but people like being paid and will continue to accept money to ruin the internet.
No fascist regime is ever short of henchmen, and no government lockdown will ever be short of people to perform it, especially if others have just walked out and they are now seen as valuable and dependable by those with power/money.
Re:uhhh. (Score:4, Insightful)
ESR ir right, but I think he sent his letter to the wrong Senator. It should have gone to the 100 corrupt Senators who actually legislate, rather than former corrupt Senators.
Don't you you mean corrupt format Senators?
Re:uhhh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Epic Quote is Epic (Score:5, Insightful)
"...there are some things we will not stand having done to our network." (emphasis mine)
That is exactly how I feel. As a Network Engineer myself I share their frustration with old, grumpy, white men who sit on capital hill raining down laws that would effect my job and customers without understanding the technology itself, nor the gravity their actions would have on the Internet community at large. I've watched the hours long C-SPAN videos of the hearings with the SINGLE Google representative they invited as an "expert" only to see her get cut-off and publicly flogged and discredited, while old men who had to read basic networking terms such as "internet", "Internet" (they are not interchangeable), "IP Address" and "DNS" off a prepared piece of paper, listed the "merits" of SOPA/PIPA/ACTA. Especially from a security standpoint, the amount of negative repercussions to censoring the internet along the same lines as China could be catastrophic, and that is before even considering its' effect on free speech.
"finest"? (Score:1, Insightful)
ESR, one of the finest engineers behind the open source movement and much of the software we use everyday
Really, this guy is the "finest" we have to offer in terms of open source engineers? The guy who wrote pretty much nothing but "fetchmail" that was of a little significance? The guy who likes to present himself as if he was Linus' real hacker brother despite never having contributed to the kernel? I had really hoped he had FINALLY disappeared...
Nit-pick on the issue of secure OSes (Score:5, Insightful)
From the letter,
His description of "approved" operating systems is too broad. Signing code itself is not a problem, in fact it's a blessing when used properly. The key to proper use is deciding who holds the signing keys. The consumer who owns the device needs to be in charge of that device; he or she must be able to decide whether or not unsigned code is allowed to run. If the user chooses to run only signed code, I think it perfectly fine to let manufacturers implement this as they wish. This could be extended to several layers: the hardware, the boot OS, the user OS, etc. Each of these could be secured, with the user's permission, by the corresponding manufacturer/distributor.
This certainly wouldn't prevent developers from "cutting" any shape they wanted with their code. But they would have to participate in some share system of security. That doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch to me, and fundamentally a good idea, to boot.
Re:The internet doesn't "route around it" (Score:5, Insightful)
Jesus, what has happened to /.?
Doesn't anyone read anymore? See "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by ... wait for it ... Eric Raymond. Available online. Basic routing protocols DO route around damage - how about READING about RIP and BGP?
Anyone who CAN read can find ways to avoid getting coralled by their ISP, government or corporate overloards. The fun of the Internet is that the only thing obstructing your path to freedom is your own ignorance. Fight your own ignorance and you can be free. How do you think political dissidents bypass censorship?
Why do you think content overloards are still fighting their losing battle instead of thinking ways around the problem? If they had half a brain, they would embed the commericial message they are paid to present inside the content, and they would willingly release their product for cheaper (free as in beer?), wider and more long lived distribution. Charge way more to "advertisers" doing product placements to compensate for revenue lost in theatrical release. The advertisers will pony up the cash because they know their message will live forever and not have recurring payments for broadcast. Product placement advertising costs are far cheaper than traditional commercials - but they won't stay that way once Hollywood wakes up.
No one wants to pay to sit in large dark public rooms, smelling other people's offgassing while eating horrid overpriced "snacks" when they can watch great quality content at home in their media rooms. The Hollywood business model failed a long time ago.
People have already figured out the content delivery system championed by the US entertainment industry is broken. And they are routing around it. Since that horse left the barn long ago, the people relying on the revenue from it should get ahead of the problem and fix their business model. Why can't people even see and understand the events happening around them.
Re:Politicians are only experts at getting re-elec (Score:5, Insightful)
ESR is no different in this case as he has his own agenda he is trying to push.
You are more right than you realize. ESR considers himself one of the Open Source greats despite that his largest contribution is that he maintained the termcap db and his is the first I've heard anything from him since Linus Torvalds refused his rewrite of the kernel config system. Not to mention his self proclaimed expertise in lovemaking. [catb.org]
His main function in life is to be what bloggers were before we called them bloggers and really isn't someone we need or want as a spokesman.
Re:Politicians are only experts at getting re-elec (Score:3, Insightful)
ESR, one of the finest engineers behind the open source movement and much of the software we use everyday
ESR is a shameless self publicist, who wrote a book once. If he's one of the finest engineers of the open source movement, then the movement is in serious trouble. As far as I can tell, he has never written any code that people actually use.
Finest marketing guy of open source ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Besides having contributed to many project, you are talking about a guy that branded "open source", went out and sold it succesfully.
Then using your argument perhaps he should be referred to as the finest marketing and sales guy of the open source movement. The "Steve Jobs" of open source, not the "Steve Wozniak" of open source. Jobs did some engineering work in the early days too, however that is not where he stood out. Perhaps you are onto something with this marketing and sales argument.
Re:uhhh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Wasn't James Madison against this, and insisted that senators and presidents should be entitled "Mister", like everybody else, not to create a new nobility that would be against the constitution?
Who cares? Madison's dead and he's just one of the founders.
That's just the way he would have liked to have been referred to posthumously.
Re:To Which the Reaction Will Be (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh sure, a small group could they could disrupt things for a few days, but they'd quickly be replaced afterwards.
A protest could be effected. Permanent change, not so much.
"Dimwits" unlikely to win support (Score:5, Insightful)
I was with you, Eric, right up until you called the media industry execs "stupid" and "dimwits". Your arguments were clear and well stated right up to that point. However, when you call your audience dimwits, they stop listening and discount anything you've said up to that point. This is a great shame, because your letter was incredibly persuasive and non-ranty up to that moment.
Re:uhhh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Which is stupid. Senator, Representative, President, are all job titles. No longer have the job? You don't get the honorific.
Re:uhhh. (Score:2, Insightful)
ESR ir right, but I think he sent his letter to the wrong Senator. It should have gone to the 100 corrupt Senators who actually legislate, rather than former corrupt Senators.
ESR does much more damage when he opens his mouth than he's ever helped by opening it. And I'm really, really tired of the whole tribal meme with regards to the Internet. There WAS an "Internet Culture" when the Internet was new and shiny and very few people were on it. But the Internet has been ubiquitous for years now, and it's just another communications service. Grandma uses it now. It's a technology. That's it. Not a movement, not a clan, and not a religion. Whenever ESR speaks of things like "our elders", I get flashbacks of all those people that saw the first Matrix movie and thought it was the beginning a deep religious movement or something. Unless you're a living parody right of the the Big Bang TV show, most people read this kind of stuff and just roll their eyes.
Just as freedom of the press resides... (Score:4, Insightful)
...with those who one one. Ultimately, control of the internet resides with those who operate it.
Like the internet? Fond of electricity? And phone? And petroleum products? And a functioning natural gas pipelines? High frequency stock trading? Best not to fuck with those who run these things. This extends to any critical, high-tech, specialized activity. Up to this point, politicians have left the operators of these things alone. Should they become sufficiently annoying, it wouldn't surprise me if the technically competent started flexing some muscle.
Re:uhhh. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:uhhh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:uhhh. (Score:5, Insightful)
You may be a user, but that doesn't make you part of the culture that ESR is referring to . He's talking about the culture of the people who actually work on and in the Internet. The people who would of course care about how it is used, as opposed to the people who use it and have no idea of how it works, or how it could be damaged and what the damage may do to the Internet as a whole.
Re:Politicians are only experts at getting re-elec (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, he's with those guys [geekz.co.uk].
OTOH he's entitled to his opinion as much as anyone else, and at least he bothered to write a letter to Dodd, unlike 99% of the people here on Slashdot. I'm not saying he's better than me because he got off his ass, but rather, he's better than me because he lifted a finger. You might say the bar is low, but he's over it.
Re:uhhh. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not a fan of the Senator, however I think that in deference to the position there should be some semblance of decorum when referring to individual members of Congress or the President. There's far too little civility shown to the holders of the latter office for the current and previous occupants. The fault of that rests squarely on the two main political parties, their congressional attack dogs, and various political organizations masquerading as news outlets, charitable groups or think tanks. Not much thinking or charity as far as I can see.
Hence, I will have to disagree with you. Regardless of my feelings for the Senator, that's still his title.
self-righteous twaddle (Score:3, Insightful)
Look, I think the US government - particularly Congress - are a bunch of supercilious idiots, prone to trying to make comprehensive rules about things they totally don't understand and (importantly) don't care that they don't.
Nevertheless, probably the worst possible way to get these people to react in the way you want them to* is not to try to look like an even more supercilious tool than they are. "(John Gilmore)...one of our philosophers/elders..." OK, you're really not going to impress anyone with trying to clothe network design/maintenance with some quasi-religious overtones. Philosophers? Elders? Really? As intelligent as ESR may be, I wouldn't necessarily credit him or John Gilmore with the intellectual chops to debate angels and pins with, say, Voltaire or Kant. They're no more Philosophers than anyone whose long service at a task gives them insight into how it works. Sorry Eric, that doesn't rate you the title "Philosopher". "Elder" might carry a touch more credence as "an elder person with some special dignity or authority in a tribe or community" but still, it still sounds as silly as calling him a rabbi or 'network buddha' which might even be more accurate.
*of course, this assumes you're actually trying to solve the problem, not grandstand to the crowd or stroke your epeen.
"...(the internet is)...also a sort of reactive social organism..." Now we're into some sort of sophomoric psychosocial commentary. If you want to be specific, the internet really is just a bunch of wires and protocols, within which reside a number of different creatures - your 'reactive social organism' (which, sadly, isn't the sort of higher consciousness that you imply; the huge majority is about a sort of hedonistic narcissism that would have made Caligula blush) being one, the Greater Internet Dickwad being another example. I'm part of this network, and I'll tell you that while I agree with most of your logical premises (minus the ego), and I find Chris Dodd a repellent archetype of Congresspeople as a subspecies, I find your note itself so off-putting that it's impossible to support you.
It IS fair to say that the protocols are designed to see any interruption in information flow - ie censorship - as damage. But then to say "...And there are some things we will not stand having done to our network...." - I can PROMISE you that the last way you're going to get cooperative, constructive help from a US government official is to THREATEN them.
In fact "ESR", they're about the only people on this planet who have as inflated a sense of self importance as, well, you seem to.
Re:Politicians are only experts at getting re-elec (Score:5, Insightful)
nobody knows you're a dog.
Facebook knows you're a dog. It also knows what breed, how old you are, your preference in bitches (or other dogs as it may be), your favorite brand of dogfood, and how often you play fetch.