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We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 12:56 PM EDT

The Spin-sters at AdTI are making fools of themselves again. Ripley's Believe It or Not. Now they have put out a press release about an "apparent" attack on their servers. It seems that after they publicly and unkindly and inappropriately and unfairly slandered Linus, they got a lot of traffic to their site.

Go figure.

They claim they got some unpleasant email too. Some people, like journalists and supporters, had trouble reaching their site, they say:

"From May 17 to 19, AdTI President and study author Ken Brown said, the web site www.adti.net was briefly shut down by an apparent denial of service attack, and queries were received from some supporters and journalists noting that site content was unavailable.

"The institution also received several hundred email messages that included physical threats and computer viruses -- many mentioning the release and the forthcoming paper.

"After investigating the attacks and promptly restoring the web site, AdTI said that it does not plan to take legal action unless the efforts resume."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire", is what we used to say when I was a kid. I am a journalist, and I went to the site every single day for a while, including the two days they say they were off the air, because I was covering the story. I never had any difficulty whatsoever. That means that if others did, it was likely the effect of too many people trying to read their nonsense at the same time, the famed Slashdot effect.

Since they know nothing about tech at AdTI, obviously, I'll explain it. The Slashdot effect is when lots of people on one web site, popular ones like Slashdot and Groklaw that have millions of readers, read about somebody saying something idiotic or interesting, and they all click on the link at the same time, not out of malice (because none of them knows what the other is doing), but out of interest. It certainly could be eyes-bugging-out hyperventilating outrage interest, but visiting the site is what you are asking people to do when you put out a press release with your address on it, as AdTI did. If your technical capacity to handle more visitors than you are used to isn't up to the burst of visitors, your server will be unable to handle the load. It's not a denial of service attack however. It's math.

So, a little lesson for the AdTI folks, who by now probably ought to have a clue that they probably shouldn't write about Linus or the Internet, because They Know Nothing About Technical Issues, and make themselves look foolish. Their solution is to get more capacity to handle traffic, buy more bandwidth, get a better server, etc. If they had a popular web site, they'd know that already. Since they are babes in the woods when it comes to tech, they think a Slashdot effect is a web attack. Oh, and psst: if they know how to "quickly restore" a DoS'd website, they really ought to let SCO know how that's done. In fact, I think we'd all like to learn how. They should write a white paper and release the details of their coping mechanisms. I'm sure it'd be fascinating, and I hope they do it.

And by the way, AdTI, it's Andrew Tanenbaum, not Arthur, as in your current masterpiece of a press release. Just a friendly heads up. Here's what you wrote:

"We also appreciate the effort by others, however, including Linus Torvalds, Eric Raymond, and Arthur Tanenbaum, to discuss the facts and the issues -- even if they disagree strongly with my report and my assessment of the likely origins of Linux. . . .

"'Tocqueville has entered into a discussion in which, to be fair, there is very little critical review of the claims and methods of the open- and hybrid-source community,' Brown said. 'If we are to have a free, open, and productive dialogue, we respectfully request that leaders in the open- and hybrid-source community condemn and discourage these attacks.'"

How hypocritical. Linus didn't address the "issues." There are no issues, so he just told some jokes about the Tooth Fairy. AdTI wrote some things that everyone who knows anything has repudiated. They didn't mention Dennis Ritchie, but he has provided evidence that undermines AdTI too. And I note that while they had time to put up this press release, they still have not made the links on their site to Linus or Tanenbaum's remarks workable. Some dialogue. More like a monologue over there. Here, once again, is a complete list of everyone's reactions to AdTI, including Richard Stallman.

Since they call for a condemnation, I will oblige. I think I speak for us all when I strongly condemn AdTI's attack on Linus and the free and open source community. Using a phrase like "open- and hybrid-source community" is offensive. Getting Mr. Tanenbaum's name wrong is typical of AdTI's research capabilities. Slandering Linus is not acceptable.

And pretending this is a difference of opinion, when in reality it's a matter of facts on their side being simply wrong and malicious is typical of their level of honesty.

As for condemning the alleged "attack" on their web site, I have seen no evidence it happened, and I have my personal experience that doesn't match their story. I note that after investigating (and I'm sure they did a fabulous job), they have decided not to take legal action. Do you really believe that story? Maybe they decided not to take action because they found out it wasn't an attack at all, or couldn't be proven to be one, hence their use of the phrase, "an apparent denial of service attack". A slashdotting looks a lot like a DoS at the receiving end. That didn't stop them from putting out this cunning and underhanded press release, however, to try to paint the free and open source community as thugs and criminals. Say, who does that remind you of?

And on a personal note. Groklaw has been attacked on numerous occasions, and I get nasty comments and email all the time. I have been threatened with physical harm. Should I put out a press release and imply SCO is behind it? SCO told journalists where they thought I lived, making such threats genuinely dangerous to me. Sometimes email has even come from people masking their addresses. But I am a geek, so I figured out where it really came from. Here's a tip: if you work for a Canopy Group company, you are probably not helping your cause by sending me email pretending to be in Kentucky. That particular one wasn't nasty in tone, but it was trying to find out what state I am in. Say, you don't suppose they had a purpose in that, do you? Can we think of any good reasons someone at a Canopy Group company might be wanting to know where I am located and thought they needed to tell me they were somewhere they were not?

For the last couple of weeks, every time there is a major story, someone attacks Groklaw, placing scores of offensive pornographic links as comments on old stories. When they all got removed the first time, next they interspersed tech words with the porn, hoping to get past our filters, I suppose. They seem to use a bot, so it does affect us. I didn't put it out as a press release and imply or accuse SCO or AdTI of doing it, even though it is certainly possible, because ... well, because folks in the free world don't do such things. We are not in the business of trying to destroy anyone or ruin their good name with implications without proof. If I ever get proof, I'll tell the world, naturally. But I don't call press conferences on a hunch, even though I have one.

I get sent viruses every day too. They haven't done any harm, of course, because they are invariably viruses that only work on Microsoft software. I call it the Microsoft effect. Suggestion to AdTI: switch to GNU/Linux or even Apple, and you won't have those headaches. There is even someone using my email address to send out spam as if coming from me, and someone has signed me up repeatedly for things I don't want to join or don't want to receive.

I only mention it now to say this: I didn't call a press conference. I can see how I could: "For months, Groklaw has been under attack, my email address criminally used, and persons that may be related to SCO or AdTI could be behind the attacks. I call on SCO and AdTI to condemn such actions and cease and desist and rejoin the human race." Would I not look silly? The fact is, SCO could be behind the attacks, but no decent person would say so without solid evidence. AdTI is making accusations without evidence, just like SCO did, and they look foolish, at best.

Anyway, when a lot of people read what you write, some of them will turn out to be nasty and some will be foolish and some will be stupid. "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: There are a lot of idiots in this world, it was announced today." Please. It's the down side of the Internet, meaning it's the down side of the real world, because the Internet reflects the real world, and some people in the real world are disgusting and some are real criminals and heaven only knows there are lots of stupid people. Some apparently work for "think" tanks, not that much deep thought seems to be going on there. And some of them work for corporations that demonstrate no ethics or morals at all, just an unnatural love of money, which motivates them to say and do things nice people don't do. I don't think that is worthy of a press release, however.

I hope you don't visit the AdTI site, but if you wish to verify their press release, it's at http://adti.net/kenarbeit/webattax.release.june.04.html but say, don't all go at once, ok? AdTI might just put out another accusatory press release, and some mainstream journalists who aren't so tech-savvy may even write about it and spread the nonsense. They did that for SCO, some of them, if you recall. I hope responsible journalists do not let themselves be used for AdTI's smear campaigns.


  


We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do? | 442 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Corrections here
Authored by: bsm2003 on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 02:56 PM EDT
.

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 02:58 PM EDT
According to Netcraft www.adti.net runs on FreeBSD.... surely this unix-like OS
infringes on SCO's IP!

[ Reply to This | # ]

Links & O/T Here
Authored by: bsm2003 on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 02:59 PM EDT
.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Bot postings?
Authored by: paul_cooke on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:01 PM EDT
would it be possible to put an anti-bot feature into
anonymous posting so that the poster has to provide the
text given from a graphic sent to him/her after the
"Submit Comment" button is pressed.

---
Use Linux - Computer power for the people: Down with cybercrud...

[ Reply to This | # ]

I sence some trouble here
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:04 PM EDT
PJ,
I sence in your writing you are attacked verbally in emails sort of.
Please note that the majority admires your posts and remarks, even a anomalous
coward like myself.

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:05 PM EDT
would be better if they didn't host on Geocities...

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: blacklight on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:06 PM EDT
"If we are to have a free, open, and productive dialogue, we respectfully
request that leaders in the open- and hybrid-source community condemn and
discourage these attacks" Ken Brown

Ken: you shouldn't use big words that you don't have a clue what they mean -
words such as "respect". The only respect I have for you is the
respect which is due to you as a person who is entitled to the equal protection
of the laws - that's it. And don't ask for more!

[ Reply to This | # ]

Traffic = viruses
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:07 PM EDT
If you have a busy web site, containing your email address, you will get emailed
viruses

Many of ADTI's pages contained their email address, hence a surge in traffic
would increase the number of viruses that they get sent.

Here is why:

1. A person gets infected with a virus without their knowledge

2. That person visits a web site. These pages get into their browser cache

3. Some viruses will scan web pages the user visits, or pages in their cache,
for email addresses. Then the virus automatically sends itself on.

Most of these type of viruses are Windows-based, but they are common.

When there is a major outbreak of one of these types of viruses, our company has
gotten literally thousands of these emails in a day. Even when there isn't a
major outbreak, it's not at all uncommon to get 100 or more virus-laden messages
in a day.

None of this suggests a deliberate attack on any site, it's really just a
consequence of having a busy web site, especially one visited by Windows users
(who are most surfers)

If ADTI never received a virus before via email, and then suddenly started
receiving a bunch of them, then it mainly suggests surge in traffic.

The solution to not get sent these viruses is

1. Never publish your email address, e.g. use a formmail script

2. Change to a new email address if you already published your old address

Short of that, which is drastic:

3. Limit the number of times you publish your email address (e.g. place it one
page of your site, not every page, so it's less likely to be in a user's browser
cache)

4. Obfuscate your email address when publishing your pages using HTML entity
encoding or URL encoding or JavaScript. This makes it a lot less visible to
these types of viruses. There are various programs that can do this for you, if
you aren't an HTML coder.

[ Reply to This | # ]

AdTI web server
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:10 PM EDT
For those planning to dig in a little more, over on the Yahoo board they
indicate the site is actually hosted by Yahoo/Geocities, lending credence to the
idea that they do not know what they are talking about.

And yes, those porn
bots are a pain.

[ Reply to This | # ]

It's Official:
Authored by: jkondis on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:17 PM EDT
M$FT, Caldera/The SCO Group, and AdTI (among others) have officially
commoditized lies. Money can now buy lies, and lies can buy money. M$FT buys
and uses the lies, Caldera/The SCO Group create trading markets for lies, and
AdTI is one of many well-known public brokers of lies, charging commissions for
their trades.

The next time someone feeds you the line "Follow the money" try
instead "Follow the lies".

Liars, Damned Liars, and M$FT/SCO/AdTI...

...J

---
Don't steal. Microsoft hates competition.

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • It's Official: - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 06:10 PM EDT
  • It's Official: - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 07:56 PM EDT
  • It's Official: - Authored by: hans on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 08:11 PM EDT
We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:18 PM EDT
So how many days does netcraft think their servers been up?

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Nick_UK on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:18 PM EDT
Brilliant Pamela.

Nick :)

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: blacklight on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:22 PM EDT
"After investigating the attacks and promptly restoring the web site, AdTI
said that it does not plan to take legal action unless the efforts resume."
Ken Brown

Yeah Ken, don't hold back: sue the pants off "Anonymous" and
"John Doe"!

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: aaron_tx on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:26 PM EDT
it is disgusting that anyone, let alone Canopy etc employees trying to spoof
their addresses, would threaten PJ for publishing this site. I would take a
bullet for you Pamela...

[ Reply to This | # ]

It was very well stated PJ
Authored by: ray08 on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:27 PM EDT
As I read thru the article, I wanted to stop several times and comment. Instead
I kept reading and you seemed to say everything I wanted to, so well done.

BTW, FWIW, I wrote Cnet and blasted them for not picking up ANY coverage of
AdTI's slander or the Dr Ritchie/Tanenbaum, Eric Raymond/Richard Stallman
rebuttals. They simply thanked me for telling them what I was interested in and
they were always looking to satisfy their readers! And they still haven't
written anything about it (after several days).

---
Caldera is toast! And Groklaw is the toaster! (with toast level set to BURN)

[ Reply to This | # ]

And Netcraft Says . . .
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:29 PM EDT
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=www.adti.net

[ Reply to This | # ]

Here is another clue for you AdTI
Authored by: SkArcher on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:31 PM EDT
You cannot hide your actions from us, not forever, not for a while, and not right now.

"given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" - Linus's Law

Look it up. Learn it. Understand what it means, and how we can and do apply it. You are a bug, an imperfection in a operational process. You emit false data. You have put yourself on the fix list and you are being watched for further debugging info.

You cannot avoid our scrutiny. Wherever there is a single person willing to let us know what you are doing and how you have lied, we are all there. There are enough of us to equal your entire work-capacity for a year in mere hours.

The sun NEVER sets on the internet. The world wide web NEVER sleeps. We have access to all of the necessary information and we can and will use it.

Get out of the way, or get in line.

Bugs get squashed. And you are a really obvious bug in our operations.

---
irc.fdfnet.net #groklaw

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an id

[ Reply to This | # ]

Looks like BS to me
Authored by: tangomike on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:33 PM EDT
Another post has results from Netcraft: here

Basically, they've been up for 166 days. Doesn't appear they were down briefly or otherwise.

---
To The SCO Group - please come back when you pass a Turing test.

[ Reply to This | # ]

meanwhile back in NYC terrorists have struck again!
Authored by: moogy on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:36 PM EDT
Flash! 400,000 terrorists drove into downtown NYC
causing a traffic gridblock that delayed and dirupted
commercial commerce for hours! NYC's mayor said
"I tell you these terrorists will stop at nothing in their
attempts to disrupt NYC."

---
Mike Tuxford - irc.fdfnet.net #Groklaw
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you,
then they fight you, then you win. --Gandhi

[ Reply to This | # ]

Comment Spammers
Authored by: whoever57 on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:43 PM EDT
There has been some discussion of this in the Geeklog mailing list. It seems
that someone discovered how to post anonymous comments on sites that do not
allow anonymous posting and used this to "spam" geeklog sites with
comments that are merely lists of offensive links.

There have been some updates to Geeklog that fix the problem.

In general though, it looks like the ofensive postings are just spam -- someone
trying to improve their google rankings perhaps? So, unless the offensive
postings on Groklaw had any text that might be considered relevent or specific
to Groklaw, it's probably just the act of random comment spammers -- rather like
graffiti.

[ Reply to This | # ]

I think they
Authored by: Tim Ransom on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:44 PM EDT
took too many hits. Stay away from the Brown acid.

---
Thanks again,

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: KentWA on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:48 PM EDT
"After investigating the attacks and promptly restoring the web site, AdTI
said that it does not plan to take legal action unless the efforts resume."
-- Ken Brown

I guess this means they whipped out the credit card and paid GeoCities the extra
two bucks to move from Pro to Business hosting account. When I encountered the
error at AdTI's site it stated they had excedded band width limits.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Ask Yahoo If They Had A DDoS
Authored by: dmscvc123 on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:51 PM EDT
Afterall ADTI.net is hosted on Geocities (I wonder if they went all out and
bought the "Business" hosting for $13 a month or if they only got the
"Pro" and $9 a month) and they've had Geocities index their website:
http://us.geocities.yahoo.com/search?p=adti.net

Also here is the data on Alexa users going to ADTI.net:
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=www.adti.net/

The spike they are talking about is the "Slashdot Effect" and there's
no grand conspiracy under way. I think ADTI knows there was no DDoS since even
they have to know that Yahoo would be the ones calling the Feds.

[ Reply to This | # ]

spambot behavior
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 03:58 PM EDT
There is even someone using my email address to send out spam as if coming from me ...
I don't want to claim that there aren't such people out there, but this is SOP for a variety virus based spambots. Most likely (IMHO), someone you've emailed with caught a case of mydoom/novarg. Just a day of life in the jungle - nothing personal.

[ Reply to This | # ]

How Do You Avoid Libel Cases for this
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:04 PM EDT
Is it actionable if you publically say:

AdTI have convinced me that they are a worthless Microsoft Shill?

Is that free speachy enough???

[ Reply to This | # ]

Thanks.
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:07 PM EDT
You seem like a person that really reads all the comments that are made and I
hope the positive and interesting ones make it worth while for you.

So here is another one !.

Retep Vosnul.

[ Reply to This | # ]

OT: Remind me, How is the FBI investigation going?
Authored by: geoff lane on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:23 PM EDT
A while ago SCO claimed that they had called in the FBI to investigate the DOS
on their site.

What became of that investigation?

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:31 PM EDT
Hey! my name is anonymous too! Do I know you?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Echoes of SCO????
Authored by: NicholasDonovan on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:34 PM EDT
Why does this sound almost word for word what SCO said about their servers?

I hate to say it but at this point I have to believe that Microsoft has been
putting words in the mouth of both parties.

Prove me wrong Microsoft. I doubt you can.


Cheers,


Nick




---
Not an Attorney.
Views expressed are my personal opinions and not necessarily those of my
employer or its affiliates.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Be really carefull PJ...
Authored by: senectus on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:36 PM EDT
Your treading a mighty thin line.
I'd hate to see them drag your life through the muddy court system because you
lashed back and crossed the line just a little.
I really wish there was some accountability in the media, including the
interent.
I firmly belive iun the law of karma. What goes around will come around.
They'll gets whats owed to them (and none of it will come from GNULinux bank
accounts)

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • Don't worry... - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:52 PM EDT
Ignore AdTI
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:36 PM EDT
Please ignore AdTI. Writing full editorial pieces about them simply helps to
legitimise an illegimate organisation.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Groklaw DOS message (several months ago)
Authored by: reuben on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:36 PM EDT
Several months ago, Groklaw was briefly unavailable, and a short message was
displayed instead. The text indicated that Groklaw was experiencing a denial of
service attack, but when the site came back up I never saw any explanation or
further information. What is the story behind this? I have assumed that there
was no denial of service attack, and that whoever posted the replacement message
was misinformed.

I know that others saw this message, too. I was kind of surprised at the time
not to see any more information about it when Groklaw returned to service.

[ Reply to This | # ]

AdTI web hosting
Authored by: AdamBaker on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:41 PM EDT
As a couple of others have already noticed, a quick check (such as a reverse DNS
lookup on their IP address) reveals that ADTI actually host on Yahoo Geocities.

They are on a premium server that is cached by akamai and is therefore
sufficiently distributed that a DDoS attack against it is difficult to achieve.

The earliest complaints from AdTI implied to me that the problem was they were
exceeding their bandwidth allocation and a couple of posters here seem to have
seen messages from the site confirming that.

That makes the slashdot effect pretty much a certainty. I expect some of those
hits were from people pointing web crawlers at the site to grab any possibly
incriminating evidence that may be there which, considering there were
apparently some large reports there, could have taken a significant amount of
bandwidth but it was only done with the intention of reading what they had
published for the world to read.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The gall...
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:48 PM EDT
"We also appreciate the effort by others, however, including Linus
Torvalds, Eric Raymond, and Arthur Tanenbaum, to discuss the facts and the
issues -- even if they disagree strongly with my report and my assessment of the
likely origins of Linux. . . ."

Well, I'd say that Linus Torvalds _might_ have some authority to disagree with
Brown's assessment of the "likely" origins of Linux. Unless he has
amnesia, he should have some "likely" ideas how it came about.

What slime.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Opinion vs. Fact
Authored by: rsteinmetz70112 on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:49 PM EDT
Torvalds vs. Tanenbaum debate over whether a kernel should be monolithic or not
is a matter of opinion and there are numerous facts which can support either
side.

In a principled debate, like that one people take pains to get the facts right.

It appears that AdTI President and study author Ken Brown is attempting to
demagogue the issue and to use loaded language in an effort to color the debate.


I always though it was normal to refer to the other side as they refer to
themselves, unless they are seriously misrepresenting themselves. Mr. Brown
seems to have invented the term "open- and hybrid-source community"
for the sole purpose of spreading fear uncertainty and doubt, and to insult his
opponents and detractors.

Some of the people mentioned like Dennis Ritchie and not known for their support
of any one vision of how software should distributed. He is however would
renowned as programmer or computer scientist, however he wishes to be known.

I for one condemn any one who sent Mr. Brown any spam, threats, viruses or
attempted a malicious attack on his web site. I seriously doubt more that it
really happened, but you never know. I hope the FBI finds and convicts them. I
also condemn anyone who has sent PJ any spam, viruses, threats or has
maliciously attempted to attack her web site.

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: eibhear on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 04:56 PM EDT

PJ wrote:

Oh, and psst: if they know how to "quickly restore" a DoS'd website, they really ought to let SCO know how that's done. In fact, I think we'd all like to learn how. They should write a white paper and release the details of their coping mechanisms. I'm sure it'd be fascinating, and I hope they do it.

Sure they will. You'll be able to download the executive summary for a mere $199, and the whole report for $699 (until October 15, that is, after which it'll be available for $1399).

This whole AdTI episode reminds me constantly of Tom Lehrer's Song Lobachevsky< /I>:

... Plagiarize!

Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize --
Only be sure always to call it please "research".

When all is said and done, I must say that Linus' response and attitude is the one that inspires the most.

Éibhear

-- 
'...MS Windows utilities only have the capacity to say "my tummy's sore" and you don't know if that's because it has indigestion or because its appendix is about to burst.'
-- me, describing why a standard Windows environment is a poor software development environment

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Slashdot Effect
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 05:14 PM EDT
Hmm, so the supposed DoS attacks began May 17?

http://slashdot.org/index.pl? issue=20040517

Go figure ... two Alexis de Toqueville Institution related /. posts on May 17! Someone call the FBI and some MIT scientists, I think we're on to something here!

[ Reply to This | # ]

Reviews at booksurge.com
Authored by: bobn on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 05:14 PM EDT
Interestingly enough, Booksurge, the oufit hosting the e-book of K. Brown's "Samizdat", has accepted several reviews and other information postings, including links to here and other places. Most or all are negative. These can be seen at: http://www.booksurge.com/reviews.php3?action=viewList&bookID=ADTI00005-00008

I think it speaks well of Booksurge that they did this, as none of these can be expected to increase sales.

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 05:28 PM EDT
If their site is hosted by Yahoo! which has virtualy unlimited bandwidth, why
would they be complaining about a DOS attack?

[ Reply to This | # ]

..OT Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do? (Legally, ofcourse.) ;-)
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 05:30 PM EDT
..http://www.vcstimeless.com/wdbc/stolengoods/ ;-)

..btw, what _is_ the specific legal term for this crime?
I would suspect at least the UK and its former colonies
would have a legal term for this. FWIW, in Norwegian,
it is "heleri", in the penal code and in Danish, it's "hæleri",
and in Swedish "häleri", the pronounciation
is similar in all these 3-4-5. ;-)

[ Reply to This | # ]

SCO's gestank (sp?)
Authored by: RedBarchetta on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 05:39 PM EDT
Yes, this definitely has a SCO Group gestank.

Here are the tipoffs:

1) First, the press-release. SCO's weapon of choice.
2) The bald-faced exaggerations in the press release, primarily with "Linus discuss[ing] the issues."
3) Second, the press release focusing on being attacked.
4) The request for condemnation of the attacks.
5) "Investigating" the attacks, but refusing to file charges


One - The SCO Group has effectively used the press releases as a weapon against their enemy. ADTI is learning this, along with the upsides and downsides of such a tactic.

Second - the false, or mispresented, statements from the opposition. This is similar to SCO's contextual kung-fu regarding Eric Raymond's unfortunate "we've been contacted [by the hackers]" comment. Again, ADTI is learning this tactic from The SCO Group.

Third - yes, the infamous "we were attacked by open source zealots" accusation. They learned from SCO the true opportunities associated with being Slashdotted. Claim it was an attack, point the finger at your enemy.

Fourth - the request for condemnation from the open source community. Typical SCOG tactic. First, pretend an attack took place (Sobig virus), then ask your sworn enemy for a public statement, as if to legitimize the attack by getting some sort of acknowledgement. Moan and groan in the press about how you have been "wronged" at the hands of tech-terrorists. Fits right in with the times.

Finally - investigating the incident, but refusing to press charges. Just like the SCOG statement about how they know who attacked their web site, and they know some went to "the big house" {i.e., prison), but refused to press charges. Do you honestly think that SCO, much less ADTI, would pass up an opportunity to hang an open source hacker by his toes, in the court of public opinion? I don't.

Yes, it all has the gestank of The SCO Group. So while it may appear the Microsoft is Ken Brown's schill, it more than likely is The SCO Group. Only The SCO Group has ethics and morals this shameful... and ADTI has demonstrated that it took lessons from the masters of shame and immorality.

---
Collaborative efforts synergise.

[ Reply to This | # ]

GrokMon
Authored by: Turin on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 05:53 PM EDT
We should start monitoring these web sites for up time and access speed. SCO,
ADTI, etc. I'm tired of these claims of denial of service attacks and hacks.
Site monitoring is easy as all hell and would get rid of these stupid claims
fast.

Hell, i'm going to set up something hackish tonight with a MRTG running display.

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • GrokMon - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 08:48 AM EDT
Solaris
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 05:56 PM EDT
I was reading this article at
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1606740,00.asp
I'm wondering how Sun can open source Solaris without any great legal problems.
Solaris after all is Unix, right? Wouldn't that somehow infringe on SCO's
intelectual property?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Link in Press Release from ADTi
Authored by: BigTex on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 05:56 PM EDT
Has anyone noticed that the link to the website found at the bottom of the
online Press Release found at
http://adti.net/kenarbeit/webattax.release.june.04.html is a bad link.

BAd Link from PR: http://adti.net/kenarbeit/www.adti.net

aybe that is what the "unavailable info" bs is about.

[ Reply to This | # ]

New FUD Term - HYBRID SOURCE
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 06:02 PM EDT
Maybe I've missed something, but it seems to me that now they are going to start
bandying around this "Hybrid" term in their continuing attempt to
imply that all open-source software actually "Derives" from
proprietary IP. They will stop at nothing to try to scare everyone away from
Linux and open-source.

And when I their, I'm talking about this imaginary group I have pictured in my
head of a roomfull of slimeballs (mostly attorneys) sitting in a room in Redmond
trying to figure Anything they can to try to derail Linux. They are a scared and
craven group who have no ethics whatsoever. They are pulling strings evewhere in
this sick battle that they think they can somehow win. It is very much a classic
good/evil struggle and they are truly evil.

Unfortunately, many people are indeed stupid and will but into this crap. Just
watch, I bet we start seeing the term "Hybrid-source" spilled over all
kinds of press releases, articles, and discussions until it becomes common.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Arthur Tanenbaum?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 06:08 PM EDT
Ken: "Arthur Tanenbaum? That's this guy I met down at the Pub. Very nice,
once you picked him up off the floor, and he kept on saying it was all his, and
those thieving scum had stolen everything he had. Obviously, he was talking
about linux..."

[ Reply to This | # ]

A Caution
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 06:08 PM EDT
While I certainly don't trust the guy as far as I could throw him, given the
strong feelings involved, I wouldn't be surprised if there were deliberate
attacks/sent viruses/threats. Also, when I looked at the press release, I had
the feeling it was an attempt to deliberately goad those inclined to more
attacks - it started with an anti Linus/Linux rant, and continued with the
magnanimous statement "it does not plan to take legal action unless the
efforts resume."

Keep in mind that attacks and rants PLAY INTO THEIR HANDS. Regardless of what
actually happened, the first thing that should be said is that we all oppose
attacks done TO ANYONE. For that matter, letters sent to them should be polite,
with statements like "You are incorrect, see these examples" instead
of "You liar, you know better." Don't give him more material for his
book! Let him stick his own foot in his mouth. Don't do the same yourself no
matter how angry or justified you feel.

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • His book. - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 06:58 PM EDT
  • Does not the law... - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 07:07 PM EDT
And here's their claimed "accomplishments"
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 06:15 PM EDT
Visit: http://www.adti.net/mission.html

Click on the "accomplishments" link

A 404 error! Hysterical!

[ Reply to This | # ]

What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 06:25 PM EDT
  • Apologize.
  • Recant.
  • Tell the truth.

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: fmouse on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 07:08 PM EDT
PJ said:

And by the way, AdTI, it's Andrew Tanenbaum, not Arthur, as in your current masterpiece of a press release. Just a friendly heads up.

Looks like the folks at AdTI read Groklaw ;-) They fixed the error.

[ Reply to This | # ]

PJ, you and Groklaw have arrived
Authored by: chaz_paw on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 07:36 PM EDT
The bots, porn links, spamming, threatening email, and viruses are all very bad
things to happen to you. But there is always a silver lining to every cloud- all
these distasteful things mean you and Groklaw are a bona fide, big time player
on the internet.

We all admire and respect you.

Now, since you have released only twelve articles in the last two days, why
don't you quit feeling sorry for yourself and get back to work!

(Honestly, how do you do it?)

Charles

---
United we stand.

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 07:37 PM EDT
Ken Brown:

"We also appreciate the effort by others, however, including Linus Torvalds, Eric Raymond, and Arthur Tanenbaum, to discuss the facts and the issues..."

I'll tell you what else ADTI can't do. Spell like a true college graduate.

Not only did he get Andrew's first name wrong, but he misspelled Tannenbaum.

And this person is supposed to have a degree in English? Where did he buy it from?

[ Reply to This | # ]

OT: Breaking news - SCO wins major court victory
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 08:15 PM EDT
Breaking news - SCO has won a major victory in Judge Kimball's Utah court!


I just read elsewhere, that a new ruling appears in Kimball's daily orders if
not yet on the docket (so I can't verify it).


Kevin and Mark have got their ex parte motion to use up to 20 pages in their
answer brief on the scheduling motion.


</sarcasm>

(Had you guys going heh. There is of course a big difference between simply
being allowed to file a longer brief and actually winning the substantive
argument)

I'm glad they got this one:

(1) It gives them one less thing to appeal about. They can't say the court
refused to hear their arguments and abused its discretion.

(2) I am really looking forward to Kevin and Mark's "correction" of
IBM's mischaracterizations of Heise's, McBride's, Sontag's, Blepp's, and
Stowell's various statements. It is bound to be spectacular.

20 pages of free (unintended) comedy by SCO, is better than 10 if you ask me.


[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: parsnips on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 08:30 PM EDT
They need to find a new host... maybe http://www.microsoft.com/adti would get
them that extra bandwidth they need.

[ Reply to This | # ]

It's a great pleasure, PJ...
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 09:24 PM EDT
...to read your articles like this one. Although I'm a German I understand your
irony and sarcasm best (or at least I think so...) and often I sit here laughing
loudly about sentences like these:

"It's not a denial of service attack however. It's math."

"Oh, and psst: if they know how to "quickly restore" a DoS'd
website [...]. They should write a white paper and release the details of their
coping mechanisms. I'm sure it'd be fascinating, and I hope they do it."

In a way, one can thank badSCO for stretching their legal efforts against IBM
and others incredibly over time, because PJ gets more and more chances to write
such nice articles. ;-)

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 09:30 PM EDT
There is also the tort of conversion.

[ Reply to This | # ]

How hard is it to get a decent server?!
Authored by: LotusEater on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 10:28 PM EDT
My site (gnosis.cx) has been slashdotted a couple times... literally, my book
and some of my articles got reviewed/mentioned in front page articles. It
turns out that my $25/month shared server--running Linux, of course--
remained snappy the whole time, narry a hiccup. It's possible the site slowed
down a tad on a couple specific days, but it never stopped delivering pages,
even on the day it delivered about 2GB of traffic (an order of magnitude or so
more than normal).

It seems to me that US$25 is really not a huge amount of money. Can't Bill G.
cough up that much for his friends' website hosting? Or maybe it's that AdTI
uses an Microsoft IIS server, and so expectedly cannot handle actual traffic...

even SCO doesn't make THAT mistake :-).

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: cozmokramer on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 10:34 PM EDT
Excellent analysis PJ. You go girl.

AdTI's contention is height's of lunacy. I've a suggestion for them to add a
line in their press release...

"Apparantly" we found that it was actually Linus and Tenanbaum, who
had rounted the DoS attack and see Linux is very bad...

Give me a break. Common sense tells us that _any_ website should protect itself
in this Microshaft/DoS attack world. If AdTI is going to expect that only few
users will visit their web-site and if they can't figure out what is a DoS
attack and what _may have been_ just a web-server overload, 1st of all there is
a web-server that has to be taken, instead of travelling around the world to
figure out the origin of Linux.

Wake up you guys in AdTI. But keep joking around...

[ Reply to This | # ]

E-mail correspondence with ADTI
Authored by: LarryVance on Thursday, June 03 2004 @ 11:18 PM EDT
thanks for your note, but we're not confused, and, with respect, you don't have any information on which to base your comments. appreciatively, g. Larry Vance wrote: Greg, I really think that you are quite confused about what happens when you make the news on the internet. The people that come to visit your site to see the preposterous things you profess generates a large volume of traffic. The appearance of an attack was probably just the influx of curious onlookers trying to see the evidence of stupidity in research for themselves. Larry Vance

---
IAAE - TGIANAL
Larry Vance

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • Ha! - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 12:47 AM EDT
    • Ha! - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 06:57 AM EDT
Quality FUD?
Authored by: odysseus on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 02:21 AM EDT
Hmm, while the obviousness of this FUD would indicate Mr
Brown's usual low standard, the well-formed English and
clever "implication-by-proximity" without actually lying
would indicate a slightly higher form of pond-scum. Let's
deconstruct a few ponts, shall we?

"From May 17 to 19, AdTI President and study author Ken
Brown said, the web site www.adti.net was briefly shut
down by an apparent denial of service attack, and queries
were received from some supporters and journalists noting
that site content was unavailable.

Not "Site" but "Site Content". Given the number of
"Under
Construction" links, and postings here by Groklawyers
saying they e-mailed AdTI about these, this can be true
without it being as a result of the alledged DDOS attack.

"The institution also received several hundred email
messages that included physical threats and computer
viruses -- many mentioning the release and the forthcoming
paper.

Doesn't actually say the virus e-mails mention the book,
or even that the physical threats mentioned the book, just
thet they received many e-mails, some virii, some threats,
some about the book. Big deal.

"After investigating the attacks and promptly restoring
the web site, AdTI said that it does not plan to take
legal action unless the efforts resume."

Note they don't say what actually caused the outage or
what prompt action they took? Pulling out the Amex
qualifies as taking prompt action, doesn't it???

Anyway, they obviously thought if it was good enough for
SCO, its good enough for them, but forgot how quickly we
would find the Yahoo connection :-)

John

[ Reply to This | # ]

Pornography links may be submitted by spammers
Authored by: Captain on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 03:11 AM EDT
Some other blogs suffer the same effect. Using a script, a spammer tries to get
his website in as many comments, on as many blogs, as possible. Not even to be
clicked, but to improve the site's rating at Google and other pagerank based
search engines. It's a scripted Googlebomb.

Could be what's happening here.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Call the fire department...
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 03:38 AM EDT
... there's a flame around here.

[ Reply to This | # ]

why not sue microsoft?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 05:04 AM EDT
hey, pssst, ken: check it out: all these nasty viruses came from windows
machines which maliciously lack security features to not allow viruses to
install themselves. why don't you sue microsoft for this?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Real think tanks have looked at this ......
Authored by: futureweaver on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 05:10 AM EDT

... and done a much better job, for example Brookings here.To quote from the flier : "Can open source software—software that is usually available without charge and that individuals are free to modify—survive against the fierce competition of proprietary software, such as Microsoft Windows? Should the government intervene on its behalf? This book addresses a host of issues raised by the rapid growth of open source software, including government subsidies for research and development, government procurement policy, and patent and copyright policy. Contributors offer diverse perspectives on a phenomenon that has become a lightning rod for controversy in the field of information technology.".

Their article on the constitutionality of copyright law is also relevant : it "questions whether the current §106 could survive the intermediate scrutiny standards of the First Amendment, given the lack of evidence that the benefits of §106 exceed its costs.

Perhaps others might like to suggest more in the way of properly-researched and well-constructed contributions from more respectable members of the think-tank community that ADTI has so shamed by its conduct. They don't have to be pro-OSS, just professionally done by people who have a clue what they're talking about. There is after all nothing wrong with the debate ADTI say they want, only with the quality of their contribution to it.

[ Reply to This | # ]

This quote seems appropriate
Authored by: PeteS on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 05:16 AM EDT
"Never ascribe to malice that which is explained by incompetence"
--Napoloen Bonaparte

Although ADtI and others may indeed have malice, they are apparently
sufficiently incompetent to be covered by the rule above.



---
Today's subliminal thought is:

[ Reply to This | # ]

s/slander/libel
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 05:31 AM EDT
Tsk tsk

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 08:16 AM EDT
My friend use to tell me:

"A lie repeated over and over again will soon become truth to most
people."

AdTi just have to insist on their lies over and over again because they have to
convince themselves of that truth, in the first place.

[ Reply to This | # ]

slashdot is a DDOS
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 08:55 AM EDT
I have come to conclude that these are one and the same... In the first a post
is made to /. for the slashbots to download and follow. The slashbots then
attack the server until it goes down. Its effectiveness for small servers is
known. Also, the trojan is not installed on the computer and is mobile and
blends in fairly well with the populace ('cept for maybe after a long night of
coding). It can launch attacks from different computers and firewalls are
practically useless. Many slashbots have access to firewall codes and can
disable them at will.

So, in the end, AdTI may be right. Rather scary if u ask me...

[ Reply to This | # ]

Is this Fraud???
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 09:25 AM EDT

I don't know if this can be considered fraud or not - but if it can be, maybe we need to start filing complaints with the FTC

https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

Since they are based in the US, I believe that the FTC would be able to investigate them for publishing fradulent mateial.

[ Reply to This | # ]

alternative viewpoints, my ...
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 10:29 AM EDT
quoting Mr. Brown:<P>

"'Tocqueville has entered into a discussion in which, to be fair, there is
very
little critical review of the claims and methods of the open- and hybrid-
source community,' Brown said. 'If we are to have a free, open, and
productive dialogue, we respectfully request that leaders in the open- and
hybrid-source community condemn and discourage these attacks.'"
<P>

this bit of FUD also looks mighty familiar--it's coming from the same place
that the cigarette companies, oil companies and fundamentalist creationists
all get their legitimacy...<P>

in all cases, the ones claiming to present an 'alternative viewpoint' are on
very
shaky ground indeed, and are so far from the mainstream that it's hard to get
too worked up about it...until you go to the Grand Canyon and see a
creationist monument with a caption stating that the world is only 10,000
years old!<P>

for all of their hyperbole, adti and mr. brown lack the smallest amount of
experience and legitimacy within the computing world--considering their last
major client was the tobacco industry, and their website is run on geocities!
<P>

let's see...on one side, you have only the MOST respected computer scientists
and programmers, and the other side, you have Darl and Kenny
boy...hmmm...is it really a fair discussion?

-D Witt

[ Reply to This | # ]

AdTI Stole My Lawn Gnomes!
Authored by: Tim Ransom on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 10:42 AM EDT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2004

A pro-OSS drink tank that recently publis hed a report skeptical of claims that an AdTi article was "written from scratch" says his front lawn was subjected to a series of attacks coinciding with his posting of the report.

On May 27, Tim Ransom ridiculed AdTI article 'Patents and the Penguin' in a post that said AdTI President Ken Brown "inadvertantly" didn't write the article, and on May 27, the post was offered for free on Groklaw.

From May 27 to 28, domicile resident and post author Tim Ransom said, his front lawn was briefly subjected to a denial of gnome attack, and queries were received from some supporters and neighbors noting that lawn content was unavailable.

Ransom also received several hundred email messages that included physical threats and computer viruses -- many mentioning viagra and free MCSE training.

After investigating the attacks and promptly restoring the bird bath to it's upright position, Ransom said that he does not plan to take legal action unless the efforts resume.

"I am saddened that there are some, apparently within the opinion- from hidden-source community, who respond to criticism by launching gnome-attacks," Ransom said. "This seems contrary to the comedic nature of the hidden source community.

"I also appreciate the effort by others, however, including Ken Brown, Gregory Fossedal, and Bill Gates, to discuss the facts and the issues -- even if they disagree strongly with my report and my assessment of the likely origins of Patents and the Penguin."

Ransom said that after a series of statements by opinion- from hidden-source leaders in recent weeks, and correspondence with his mom and others, he is in the process of writing an update responding to some of the points "that will respond on the substance."

"Ransomville has entered into a discussion in which, to be fair, there is very little critical review of the claims and methods of the opinion- from hidden-source community," Ransom said. "If we are to have a free, open, and productive dialogue, I respectfully request that leaders in the opinion- from hidden-source community condemn and discourage these attacks.”

---
Thanks again,

[ Reply to This | # ]

Porno-Comment Spam
Authored by: SoundChaser on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 01:06 PM EDT
Hi,

Just a quick note: there appears to be some porno-spammer's out there specifically hitting GeekLog sites. The GeekLog authors have provided a patch for it. Here's the news story from their site: Geeklog Security Update

// George

[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: bjb1959 on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 01:27 PM EDT
Below you will find one of the "unpleasent emails" that Mr. Brown is
referring too. As you can see from Mr. Fossedal's response he took great offense
to my position.



Bart.Burroughs@infoUSA.com wrote:

Your agenda is showing.... speaking with 12 people is not, in my opinion, a
"path breaking study" but that's just me. I want Linux to succeed only
to have choice as a consumer.... in some ways it is better than Windows and in
some ways it isn't as good. But it is extremely unhealthy for anyone to control
95% of anything.... in my opinion it stifles innovation. Is MS Office worth
$795.00 ? if you have a monopoly I suppose you would say yes, and if it is your
only real choice as a consumer I suppose you will pay for it. But you don't have
to be happy. I use windows XP and SuSE Linux at home and do 95% of everything I
need to in Linux, although I occasionally boot into windows for certain programs
I use that don't have a Linux equivalent yet.

Why is it you are so afraid of competition in the marketplace? do you have a
boat load of Microsoft stock? I don't know what it is you don't like but it is
very obvious that this "Study" is just an Op-Ed piece, all conjecture
and no fact.

I hope that when your study comes out you aren't made to look like too much of a
myopic fraud, but I fear the worst for you.

His response to me, Notice how he uses the word "opponent", because I
like Linux I am their opponent? Hmmm, I thought "Studies" were
supposed to be unbiased?....


-----Original Message-----
From: emeritus@adti.net [mailto:emeritus@adti.net]
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 3:58 AM
To: Bart.Burroughs@infoUSA.com
Cc: kenbrown@adti.net
Subject: Re: obvious agenda....


"before you question your opponent's motives, answer his argument," as
my colleague Sidney Hook used to put it.

if Mr. Brown or anyone else at Tocqueville is so low, stupid, or venal, it
should be easy to expose their errors of fact and reason.

best wishes, G. Fossedal


And finally my response back to him. Since I easily "exposed their errors
of fact and reason" does it mean they are "low, venal or stupid? He
has not responded since of course....


The link below is my answer to Mr. Browns argument.... His motives are
blatent.... Again, I am not emotionally attached to either operating system as I
said before I use both and just want more choice, I have versions of about 4
operating systems that I play with. My agenda is to make sure I am given the
opportunity to have the best product, in MY opinion, available to do what I want
to do. Having one system ONLY, no matter how good it is, is not my idea of
freedom of choice. What IS Mr. Browns agenda??

As I stated before, your agenda is showing.... and you can tell Mr.
Gates..er...uh I mean Mr. Brown, that we are not fooled.

http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/brown/codecomparison/













[ Reply to This | # ]

We Know They Can't Do Research, Now What Else Can't AdTI Do?
Authored by: CustomDesigned on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 01:52 PM EDT
There is even someone using my email address to send out spam as if coming from me, and someone has signed me up repeatedly for things I don't want to join or don't want to receive.

You can help with this by publishing SPF records for your domain. SPF tells the world which machines are authorized to send mail for your domain. If they are behind the times, their software may not know to ignore mail from a strange server, but it helps to get on the email authentication bandwagon.

The issue is more complicated that just that, of course, because the sender isn't displayed in most email user software (unfortunately), and handling forwarders requires reverse source path or sender rewriting, plus many other issues discussed on mind-numbing but passionate detail on the spf-discuss mailing list. The current debate is over whether to swallow the Koolaid Microsoft is offering.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Junk-baiting
Authored by: dtfinch on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 05:05 PM EDT
Just sent this to research@adti.com. If I get a serious reply, like an admission
that they will fabricate evidence for hire, I'll post it.

Hi,

I'm an intern working for a clean coal lobby promoting the idea that the release
of ""greenhouse"" gases is helpful to the environment,
preventing another ice age by compensating for other climate-chilling problems
caused by human civilizations. I've been asked to find or fabricate a study to
show that this global cooling is a major problem that would best be remedied by
the release of certain gases. Most importantly our client would like to release
more CO2, SO2, and SO3.

Roughly how much would it cost to manufacture such a study? It'd have to be
pretty convincing.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Probably old news by now...
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 08:00 PM EDT
But Brown has posted a "rebuttal" to everyone's criticisms:

http://www.adti.net/samizdat/brown.reply.june.04.html

It's about as weak as the rest of everything else he's written/said. Since
nearly everyone he's interviewed has come out against the book, he's trying to
make it look like they regret having told the truth or something. Basically
putting more of his spin on the facts. Kind of sad, actually...

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Maybe Where Brown Got Samizdat
Authored by: dmscvc123 on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 08:08 PM EDT
"Lions Book n. ---- "Source Code and Commentary on UNIX Level
6",by John Lions...for years the only detailed kernel documentation
available to anyone outside Bell Labs. Because Western Electric wished to
maintain trade secret status on the kernel, the Lions book was never formally
published...In spite of this, it soon spread by samizdat to a good many of the
early UNIX hackers.
--- New Hackers Dictionary 2/e, by Eric S. Raymond, MIT Press 1993"
http://www.peer-to-peer.com/catalog/opsrc/lions.html

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Linus' First Message About Linux
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 04 2004 @ 08:21 PM EDT
--------------------------------------
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds) Newsgroups:
comp.os.minix Subject: What would you like to see most in minix? Summary: small
poll for my new operating system Message-ID:
<1991Aug25.205708.9541@klaava.Helsinki.FI> Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki Hello everybody out there using minix -I m
doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won t be big and professional
like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is
starting to get ready. I d like any feedback on things people like/dislike in
minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system
(due to practical reasons) among other things). I ve currently ported bash(1.08)
and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I ll get something
practical within a few months, and I d like to know what features most people
would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won t promise I ll implement them
:-) Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi) PS. Yes - it s free of any minix code,
and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching
etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as
that s all I have :-(.
--------------------------------------


JeR, not logged in... (using Knoppix, you see, and just not bothered to look up
the password right now)

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AdTI, professional shills?
Authored by: mobrien_12 on Saturday, June 05 2004 @ 12:08 AM EDT

I found this link on slashdot. Disinfopedia: Alexis de Tocqueville Institution

It pretty much puts this whole thing in a very interesting light.

Standard Disclaimer: I have not verified the truth of the disinfopedia page, but I think we have pretty much verified the truth of AdTI's book here on Groklaw.

[ Reply to This | # ]

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