folks, hi,
my apologies if anyone felt offended by my deliberate use of
swearwords to describe adobe.  i use them because it makes _me_ feel
better, being able to clearly and unequivocably express things
publicly in this way.  some people find the use of swearwords to be
funny.
much of what i've said is specifically directed to adobe employees on
this list.  aware that you'll be unable to respond, i have to fill in
the conversation for you.

i've been made aware of the possibility that you, adobe, may have been
pressurised by your dmca-loving customers to enact that DMCA take-down
notice.  if that's the case, you can now call a meeting with them, at
which, may i take the liberty of suggesting a few choice words (which
you _may_ have to rephrase somewhat) that you might like to use:

"well, that was a complete failure, and has resulted in us looking
like fools. thanks a bunch.  we'll not be pursuing any further action
against free software projects: you'll have to do your dirty work
yourselves from now on, mr customer".

"thanks for nothing, mr customer.  we added DRM measures that we
_told_ you would be ineffective in the first place, after you
pressurised us to, and we even sold them with the full support of our
marketing team, to whom we had to lie about their effectiveness by the
usual judicious use of technical oversimplification.  we now have a
situation where a well-known security researcher and reverse-engineer,
who is known not to be afraid of large corporations, could come after
us, like he did microsoft in 1997 to 1999, and make us look like even
bigger fools than we've already been made to look.  and because of the
provisions in the DMCA that exempt security and anti-virus
researchers, there would be _nothing_ we could do about it.  thanks
for placing us in the middle of _that_ one, mr customer.  do let us
know where we can send you an invoice."

"thank you, mr customer.  thanks to you, we now have a whole bunch of
free software projects that have _increased_ the level of RTMP
interoperability of their products, rather than decreased it. thanks
to your pressurising us to issue that DMCA takedown notice, our bottom
line and market share have both _decreased_ not increased.  where can
we send you our invoice to make up the difference?"


so if in fact, adobe, you _have_ been pressurised by your customers to
issue DMCA takedown notices, it might be in fact in your interests to
tell them in no uncertain terms where to go, and it _might_ just be in
your interests to publicise that fact, to get yourselves out of being
the one in the middle of an unwinnable situation.

or, perhaps to very quietly get the DMCA takedown notice against
sourceforge revoked.

at the very least, adobe, continued silence, and no further action
against free software developers and projects on your part, adobe,
would be the smart move right now.

l.

_______________________________________________
osflash mailing list
[email protected]
http://osflash.org/mailman/listinfo/osflash_osflash.org

Reply via email to