Jon ‘maddog’ Hall responds to Alan Cox’s resignation letter

“Your decision to boycott the ALS event is certainly yours to make, and I
deeply regret the situation that caused you to make it.

However, to chose ALS as the focus of your first message on this I feel is
a little unfair, particularly with the recent steps that USENIX has taken to
working with the EFF to defend the rights of University professors to publish
their research works around DCMA.”

Your very public message
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 14:43:12 -0400
From: "Jon 'maddog' Hall, Executive Director, Linux International" 
To: alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk
Cc: "Bryan C. Andregg" ,  maddog@linux.local,  ellie@usenix.org,  editor@lwn.net,  editors@newsforge.com,  gnu@eff.org


Alan,

Your decision to boycott the ALS event is certainly yours to make, and I
deeply regret the situation that caused you to make it.

However, to chose ALS as the focus of your first message on this I feel is
a little unfair, particularly with the recent steps that USENIX has taken to
working with the EFF to defend the rights of University professors to publish
their research works around DCMA.  These professors were threatened with suit
by various large companies, and through the efforts of EFF and USENIX, these
companies are now backing down from their suits.

Your wording around USENIX "choosing a US location" ignores the fact that
ALS has always been in the US, the same way that Linux TAG has always been
in Germany, and the Linux Kongress has (almost) always been in Germany, with
occasional visits to the Netherlands.  USENIX has co-sponsored in the past
and continues to co-sponsor non-US events.

Also I do object to your statements that the US Government "hates" eastern
european states.  I seem to remember much pressure from the US to
lower the Berlin wall, and to allow more freedoms for eastern european people.

I believe this to be a case where someone broke a US law from afar over
this global thing called the "Internet" and then tried to take advantage of a
US-based conference.  If this is the case, then it may be a mis-directed
legal system, but I doubt that it was fueled by "hate."  Your inference that
"hate" fueled this incident is distasteful.

As I said, your right to leave the ALS program committee, or even to urge
others to boycott US events is yours to make, and I support your right to make
it.  Your points about other developers (foreign or otherwise) who have
violated US laws in their coding is probably more than valid.

I do, however, ask that you direct your venom to those who deserve it.

Warmest regards and greatest respect,

maddog
-- 
=============================================================================
Jon "maddog" Hall
Executive Director           Linux(R) International
email: maddog@li.org         80 Amherst St. 
Voice: +1.603.672.4557       Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A.
WWW: http://www.li.org

Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association

(R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries.


-- 
=============================================================================
Jon "maddog" Hall
Executive Director           Linux(R) International
email: maddog@li.org         80 Amherst St. 
Voice: +1.603.672.4557       Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A.
WWW: http://www.li.org

Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association

(R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries.