[ Thanks to Jeff
Gerhardt for this link. ]
Tonight Live: On The Linux Show!!
Tuesday, May 27th, 2003from Chicago IL
Tonight LIVE on www.thelinuxshow.com.
At 6pm pt, 7pm mt, 8pm ct, and 9pm et…. Kevin Hill, Arne
Flones, Doc Searls, Russ Pavlicek AND Jeff Gerhardt are all back
live tonight. We have a what we consider another HISTORIC show
lined up tonight on The Linux Show! This is another one for the
“best of” file.
Segment One- The News. We will cover
THE HOT NEWS of the week. Tonight on the news: Of
course an update on SCO, and Microsoft’s response to our “SMOKING
GUN” story, And way way more…..
Story Links
- FRESH SCO
- SCO Unix licence
irrevocable, says IBM– by Peter Williams of vnunet.com
Torvalds Sounds Off On SCO Lawsuit– by Paula Rooney, of CRN
(Internet week)- LinuxTag:
SCO Must Desist Unfair Competitive Practices– Press
Release - Eric Raymond’s
attempt to stop SCO– You go boy!!
- SCO Unix licence
- The SCO/Microsoft Connection
The Linux and Main Summary– has to be good, quoted
jeff…..
Linux & Main editorial citing Microsoft– By Dennis
Powell- “SCO
ANNOUNCES UNIX LICENSING DEAL WITH MICROSOFT” – the official
press release - If it Look like
a duck, smells like a duck, walks like a duck? Its a duck HEY
DOJ WAKE UP!!!!!!! - OK, So Why
Did Microsoft Buy That SCO License?– by Maureen O’Gara of
LinuxGram
- NON-SCO News
- Wi-Fi and Linux in New York– by Doc (four
links)
Segment Two- The End Game! Have we already lost the
war?
Tonight we will have a conversation about a major failure of the
combined technology communities. We have won a few minor battles,
but on the very near horizon we face the end of what we now have.
This is an important conversation for any American, especially
those who identify with technology and the Internet.
In the last few years the FCC has changed the rules several
times that allowed the consolidation of phone companies and cable
companies. The present landscape dramatically favors MEGA
consolidations over small American Business. The game has been
rigged. there are now only a small handful of Regional bell
companies and CATV companies. Recent new regulations that we have
talked about here on TLS, have led to sweeping and fast moving
changes in the telecommunications and internet business; that WILL
bankrupt the ISP and CLEC industry groups. This is because the
Telcos can now charge their competition wholesale rates that are
higher than retail rates. The FCC handed the Phone Companies this
new regulatory weapon as a reward for acting illegally during the
late 90’s, to allow them to consolidate their monopoly.
The telcos illegal acts during the late 1990s allowed them to
stall the nation wide deployment of DSL broadband by DSl ISPs and
CLECS. Billions were lost by investors because in large measure of
the acts perpetuated by the phone companies. The phone companies
ARE RESPONSIBLE for a significant amount of the blame for the
DOT COM BUST.
These new FCC actions have handed the phone companies a new
monopoly that can not be challenged. The actions by the phone
companies and the regulatory cooperation of the FCC should be
called what it is, Economic Treason. They are
putting the welfare of a single industry group ahead of others, and
ahead of our entire nations needs. They have cost the
nation millions of jobs.
At the same time, SEC regulations loosened that allowed the
consolidation of the entertainment industry group to be held by 5
extremely large Intellectual Property rights companies. Go into a
music store or a video store and look around at the number of
independant labels available. There are very few. Content is
already being force fed to the American public. We may have
hundreds of cable channels, but few real choices.
And now the end game. In one week is a vote at
the FCC for sweeping new rules that govern the broadcasting
industry. This rule change will remove all the barriers preventing
a company from buying up all the newspaper, TV stations, cable
outlets and radio stations in a given market. This new set of rules
will allow a company to consolidate as much as they want, so we can
anticipate that consolidation will follow soon and we will have 5
or 6 companies owning ALL the broadcast and news outlets, no
independant local companies. These new rules will put into law,
what exists already in the back rooms of Washington DC. Clear
Channel corporation is in violation of present law and should be
shut down for predatory practices. FCC chairman Michael Powell
chooses to turn a blind eye because he knows the rules will change
anyway.
Sound like doom and gloom, well folks its pretty bad. Its bad
for open technology, its bad for an open internet, its bad for the
American economy, its bad for any effort to hold American Jobs, its
even bad for the freedoms given us in our constitution. We have
moved so far, so fast that little hope is left for turning this
around. even now at the FCC they are talking about the wonderful
future of how these mega companies will eventually merge so that
one firm can provide access, content development and content
delivery. Its Cable TV Version TWO! The ultimate
DRM network.
All of this is caused by ONE THING. The power of large groups
and their lobbying in Washington DC. Large Business, large industry
groups, large labor groups; all share this power because they are
the only ones who get to the table. The simple fact is that over
the last decade the Washington DC power brokers (both Democrats and
Republicans) have turned their backs on the entrepreneurial
foundation of America. They believe that you must be big to
accomplish things, because that is what the lobby groups have been
saying for ten years. The forget that most every inovation in our
history came from an independant developer in some little lab.
If you do not listen to tonights program and then ACT, sooner
than you know you will feel the impact. But hey at least you will
be able to download Disney and Time Warner movies real fast.
It is in your hands, because you will get exactly the government
you ask for. We have been telling you for over a year that the best
way to battle this is to get organized. We still believe that is
true, but most of you have failed to hear our warnings. GeekPAC has
received over $50,000.00 in pledges over the last year to hire a
lobbyist and yet less than $2,000.00 has been mailed in. The sad
thing is we need $250,000 to have a chance of accomplishing
anything. That sound like a lot, but if you look at the Slashdot
community alone, its pennies per Slashdot regular user.
In the mean time, do not wait for organization. Act NOW and Act
FAST. Call you congressman and your two Senators ON THE PHONE and
ask to speak with your representative or their legislative aid.
Tell them to stop the FCC and reverse this trend that is killing
thousands of small businesses across the US. Threaten to change
your party affiliation, do whatever it takes to get them to call
the FCC and stop FCC Chairman Powell from screwing up our country
any more than he has. We MUST stop this before we can expect them
to start to turn and make change.
- Washington DC address for congressman can be found at http://clerk.house.gov/members/index.php
- Washington DC address for Senators can be found at
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
If you are in a band or represent an artist,
please contact us asap to be added to our play list.
Please join us on the show, and check our IRC
Chat (irc.thelinuxshow.com #linuxshow).
Catch the Linux show at www.thelinuxshow.com