[Nettime-bold] Should Open SOurce Developers help the US prepare for War..???!

[". __ ." <mail_box@gmx.net>]

The idea is somehow absurd... but in the end it is open source, which means 
that anybody should be allowed to use it... this is an important regulative 
process for "official" power and helps keep the balance... even if I can 
understand the problems with cryptographic software, like with PGP, as 
pointed out in the article...

But in the end, if we abolish all the rights which are the fundament of 
democracy, especially the privacy laws, then the terrorists would have won 
anyway...

What do you think?!

Cheers,

g



****

http://newsforge.com/newsforge/03/02/25/195228.shtml?tid=4

- By <http://roblimo.com>Robin 'Roblimo' Miller -
This article is based on an IRC interview with Anthony L. Awtrey, vice 
president of <http://idealcorp.com/>I.D.E.A.L. Technology, who has worked 
on some of the (Open Source-based) simulation software used to train 
<http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/uh-60.htm>Blackhawk helicopter 
pilots, along with other projects that help the U.S. military prepare for 
Iraq and <http://www.army.mil/vision/index.html>future combat missions. 
Some Linux and Free/Open Source developers 
<http://www.student.wau.nl/~olivier/antiwar/>may not support current U.S. 
military goals in the Middle East, but Awtrey does -- and for very personal 
reasons, as you'll see from his words, which NewsForge has edited (very 
lightly) only for grammar and clarity, not for content.

Please note that Mr. Awtrey is speaking personally here rather than on 
behalf of I.D.E.A.L. Technologies. For more about what he and others have 
done with Open Source for the U.S. Department of Defense, please see this 
link: <http://linuxworld.idealcorp.com/>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo 
Presentation.

NewsForge: Some Free Software and GPL supporters (and many coders) are 
virulently anti-war, and many are specifically against the U.S. invading 
Iraq. One well-regarded project, <http://bluefish.openoffice.nl>Bluefish, 
has a link on its site to an anti-war page. Could the use of popular GPL 
and Free Software packages in what many people overseas view as the "U.S. 
War Machine" cause strife and dissension among Free Software developers?

Awtrey: I think the debate has caused strife and dissension in groups with 
less cohesion than Free Software / Open Source groups have. The chance of 
us avoiding some level of public debate on the issue seems unavoidable.

The war issue has an amazing ability to polarize opinion. There are people 
with good hearts and good intentions on both sides. My wife was born in 
Iraq and her family moved here to escape Saddam and the Baath party 30 
years ago.

This makes the issue especially touchy around here.

She and her family hate Saddam. They have stories that would curl your toes 
about him and his psychopathic offspring Uday. It is not uncommon for 
people who make a quiet joke at a party on Friday to disappear with all 
their family, including cousins, before the weekend is over. They have no 
due process, they have no court to appeal to, the people are simply gone 
and never come back.

NewsForge: I take it, then, that you and your wife have no problem with the 
U.S. invading Iraq?

Awtrey: When people tell me that civilians will die in a war, I tell them 
that Saddam has already spilled more Iraqi blood than any aggressor. He is 
not a polite, reasonable man. He kills without thought. His son Uday rapes 
little girls and chops off the heads of prostitutes on the street.

War or no war, this man needs killing like a rabid dog. And Iraq needs to 
be free.

My wife, Hala, doesn't like George Bush Sr. or Jr. She remembers a time 
when George Bush Sr. was at the CIA and paid Saddam during the war with 
Iran. That war would be like a war between Florida and Georgia. Most of the 
actual people of the countries are related in some way. Politics aside, if 
there were a button she could push and kill just Saddam, she or any member 
of her family would push it. It's a hard decision when you know "the Iraqi 
people" as cousins, aunts, uncles, and have to risk them to save the 
country in the long term. She doesn't want her family hurt any more by 
anyone. Saddam is a little hurt every day, the war is a larger hurt, but 
likely a shorter period of time. The devil you know? The devil you don't? 
It's a hard choice.

NewsForge:The problem -- to some -- with GPL-licensed software is the fact 
that anyone can use it. How would you feel seeing some of your code used by 
Saddam Hussein's people. Or Osama bin Laden's? Or by the Chinese government 
to help prevent full Internet access?

Awtrey: No clear opinions yet.

I know there have been reports of them using PGP / GPG to encrypt messages. 
That has to give Phil Zimmermann the shivers sometimes. One of the things 
life in America has taught me is that the words spoken by a racist skinhead 
are just as important as the words I speak. It doesn't mean I agree with 
them, it means that the right to speak is important, not what is said. If 
Free Software is about Free Speech, then we have to suck up the fact that 
people will use our code for things we don't agree with. I don't agree with 
drug use, but that doesn't stop drug dealers from using Apache or Mozilla 
or GPG. I can only state what I am for; peace, goodness, truth.

I am with a crowd of people making statements. I hope that the sounds we 
make together are mostly peace, goodness, truth when heard by others, but 
all I can control is my own voice.
w 

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