BSA Lashes Out At Mandatory Open-Source Licensing (bsa.org) 64
Longtime Slashdot reader Elektroschock writes: The American Business Software Alliance (BSA) does not consider mandatory open-source licensing to be an appropriate indicator of sovereignty. This is among the "pointed messages" they sent to the French government consultation (closed) today. "What protects Europe is the ability to govern, audit, and mitigate risk, not where a company files its corporate papers," said Thomas Boue of BSA. "Criteria of this kind raise costs, reduce access to best-in-class security solutions, and risk conflicting with the EU's international trade commitments."
They are just afraid (Score:5, Insightful)
They are just afraid that if they lose the European market then the rest of the world will follow.
Re:They are just afraid (Score:5, Insightful)
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Exactly. In addition, I thought the 'standard business processes' exemption to the GDPR had been ruled unacceptable.
That would be true (Score:3)
"What protects Europe is the ability to govern, audit, and mitigate risk, not where a company files its corporate papers," said Thomas Boue of BSA.
That would be true if the company could ignore the law of the country where it files it's papers. Then again you govern by enacting laws that impose conditions that companies have to follow therefore it's not for BSA to tell Europe how to govern.
Re:That would be true (Score:5, Interesting)
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In plain language?
BSA: "We hate open source because we can't make money from it."
Everyone else: "Yes, that's the point."
Explain better. (Score:1)
Can someone else who doesn't want to show they think they are the smartest person in the room explain, without snark? I'm missing some crucial underpinning fact that is assumed by everyone.
Re:Explain better. (Score:4, Informative)
Can someone else who doesn't want to show they think they are the smartest person in the room explain, without snark? I'm missing some crucial underpinning fact that is assumed by everyone.
Microsoft founded the BSA to fight software piracy while not having legal liability for their actions. They have recruited other companies to join and it works to try and block anyone from using pirated software.
I haven't heard about them for years but last I heard they would estimate what software the typical computer had by category (word processor, web browsers etc) and how many computers there were then figure out the retail cost for all those computers to have that software. The difference between that number and the real income from companies they included was called "piracy". It ignored the fact that a lot of commercial software is sold below the retail costs to corporations and some is given either freely or even cheaper to schools. It also ignores free software. So your copy of programs like Libre Office and Firefox would also be counted as "pirated".
They would pull surprise audits on companies and if you didn't have all the licensing information to their satisfaction they would "fine" you. Some fines were so big that smaller companies sometimes dropped all commercial software and switched Linux and free or custom software.
That is history. It seems that they are now trying to do the same thing with countries and to dictate to them that they have to use commercial software (from their members) even if those companies are based in hostile countries (the U.S. primarily) rather than software fully hosted in trusted countries and not under a hostile government (Trump). Open source is being put into service in more and more countries because they can actually use the source code to find out what is inside it and what is inside updates rather than worry that the NSA has access to all their data held in commercial products of BSA members.
That is my basic understanding and I'm sure people will rip it apart for being hostile to MS, US and Trumpskyy.
Re: (Score:3)
watch this especially from 4'45"
https://youtu.be/OcQy1zaflbw [youtu.be]
The entirety of Europe is rapidly and aggressively migrating from USA software. It simply CANNOT be trusted.
Once Europe does this*, the rest of the world will rapidly follow. People, organisations and governments themselves have now had it proven to them that the USA cannot be trusted, is not reliable and now (proven) that confidential information is nothing more than an open book.
* e.g. EuroOffice is being released on the 9th June - a direct comp
I'm confused (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't "the ability to govern, audit, and mitigate risk" a big reason to use open-source software over proprietary? I though the point of the move was to eliminate dependence on opaque softare from US-based (and potentially US gov-compromised) companies. It sounds like they're advocating for the EU's actions here.
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Oh, you're absolutely right. They're definitely advocating in their own self interests, and just saying the EU shouldn't worry about the very same problems it's trying to address.
They're right that where a company files its papers doesn't matter... but that's only if the software is Open Source.
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So, even with AI finding constant vulnerabilities in *Nix stuff, you want to "govern, audit, and mitigate risk" on something that updates constantly and anybody can modify the new update to do anything?
Even with the major gaping security holes that you could slip the entire Pacific fleet through, I've never had a single problem in Win10 LTSC behind the router firewall.
Open Source is critical for validation (Score:1, Troll)
1. You're doing something illegal, you have to hide.
2. You're doing something unethical, or immoral, and want to keep that hidden.
3. You're ashamed of the code.
4. Your code is terrible.
Outside of that,
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You left out "trade secrets". That would be plausible if the software were sufficiently innovative.
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Re: Open Source is critical for validation (Score:3)
We hide trade secrets in this industry by not releasing internal software to the public or partners. We have manufacturing and engineering software that we don't reveal and some of this is under open source license. Yet with GPLv2 at least we are still able to keep our secrets and comply with the license, as we don't distribute even binaries in that case.
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't mean to claim that I though trade secrets in code were a good thing, merely that they were a reason a company might not want to open their source code. Patents are not such a reason. (Also, I don't believe software patents should be valid. Copyright, yes. Trademarks, yes. Trade secrets, yes. But software should not be patentable. [And copyrights should have a much more limited duration.])
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Business is freedom's natural economic enemy. (Score:5, Insightful)
Businesses want captive audiences so they act accordingly.
That's why their assertions should be seen as malicious.
Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course they don't want Europe breaking dependency. It is like asking your dealer if you should get clean.
Re: (Score:3)
Not just that, but subscriptions have probably hurt as well because it's a lot harder to audit when everyone is subscribing and now you're paying per user, not per computer.
After all, you can buy Microsoft Office outright for $400, and it's good on one PC. Or you can subscribe to M365 and now you can use it on 5 PCs - 1 of which may be a user's personal home computer, and 5 mobile devices or tablets. And 4 PCs is basically an IT department's allocation of computers for a person - they can have a desktop and
Re: (Score:2)
You are aware of this situation [neowin.net] for Apple users, right?
Self-selecting interest group says what? (Score:2)
fuck BSA (Score:2)
Did anyone ever have any respect for BSA? Why would anyone care what BSA thinks?
What moron says "You have to have our software" while implying that you will be audited and sued over any oversight?
We sure showed them (Score:2, Insightful)
Turning off software suites over petty grievance really worked out, huh? Sure glad we've got a thin skinned man-baby thumbing every scale he can find.
Damn right the whole world is going to move away from US... EVERYTHING. We've spent the last year pissing in everybody's beer, flexing in the window, and slashing tires around the world.
It's a completely different landscape than it was a year ago- the assumptions are all different now, and US tech is no longer stable and reliable.
These are consequences the GOP
Re: (Score:2)
The US elite (are estimated to) have tripled their spending: It's why the USA isn't in an economic depression, now. Logic says, they'll run-out of things to buy, which is when the pain starts: It will be another GFC. Because the poor already lack money for niceties, the spending slump that precedes a depression, will reach rock bottom in a matter of days. It's difficult to imagine what causes a government to lose control and post-apocalyptic tribalism to rise, but that will be a good starting point.
Good for FOSS therefore good for US consumers. (Score:4, Interesting)
The more global consumers are alienated by US software and others business practices the more all customers benefit from alternatives. The US is free to compete or not as it chooses.
US culture is now inherently anti-consumer, pro-kleptarchy and anti-personal freedom. As a USian that does me zero good while FOSS does me and other informed users much good, in my case since early this century.
US exports mostly enrich the kleptarchy while US milfare mostly enabled US economic competitors thus facilitating offshoring and domestic job destruction in other than miltary and related businesses.
The US is free to end restrictive arms sale conditions and behave like adults. Weapons sales should not come with a leash unless the objective is domestic job destruction.
Thomas Boue's endless mouthfuls of lies (Score:4, Insightful)
"What protects Europe is the ability to govern, audit, and mitigate risk, not where a company files its corporate papers," said Thomas Boue of BSA.
Ah yes, auditing closed-source software has always been a walk in the park, companies are only too happy to open up their proprietary trade-secret software so people can have a look, right?
Fuck Thomas Boue and his endless mouthfuls of lies.
Perhaps business should chat with the US gov. (Score:3)
Europe is leaving due to actions taken by the US. If those actions are a problem, maybe support candidates who have better policies. Justva thought.
Also Boy Scouts of America care about software??? Not a fan of acronyms in article titles.
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Europe is leaving due to actions taken by the US. If those actions are a problem, maybe support candidates who have better policies. Justva thought.
Also Boy Scouts of America care about software??? Not a fan of acronyms in article titles.
Glad I wasn't the only one wondering why boy scouts were lashing out at opensource software LOL.
Re: (Score:2)
They don't use that acronym after their bankruptcy. They're just the Scouts.
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I left the BSA 50 years ago so the acronym lives rent free in my brain forever.
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FWIW, I just used acronym finder and https://www.acronymfinder.com/... [acronymfinder.com]
Citations needed (Score:1)
I don’t buy the BSA claims that open-source requirements “raise costs” or “reduce access to best-in-class security solutions”; open-source software is notably lower in cost (most of it made freely available, while some distributors just charge for support) and have better visibility for finding and closing security bugs. As for conflicting with trade agreements, those are political decisions that can be renegotiated.
BSA: Astroturfing as a Service (Score:2)
“BSA advocates for modern laws and policies that build trust among people, companies, and governments. Our mission is to ensure that responsible software innovation [bsa.org] can thrive throughout the world.”
US mouthpiece bullshitting again (Score:3)
Sooooo... they want us to trust US companies and their lackeys, accept their bribes, and feel safe when we get fucked over by the CLOUD act or some other US law which tell US companies to hand over data whenever the US government feels like it?
No thanks.
F*ck the BSA (Score:2)
(Just like that The Exploited song.)
I thought the BSA's goal was to end software piracy. Mandatory use of open source will certainly achieve that goal!
Re: (Score:2)
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I think if you do a survey of companies that have had a negative experience with BSA you might find that those companies use more open source and do their best to avoid BSA's sponsers.
Do you own your computer (Score:2)
Or does your software vendor own your computer?
Breaking: drug dealer advocates addictive drugs (Score:2)
And until the last year, that was mostly working, because the pain/friction involved in changing to something else was too great, and so sticking with bad-but-working crap was preferable to trying to migrate
Aaaaahahahaha ... Go eff yourself ... (Score:2)
... Lobby crew!
FOSS finally getting general public mindshare. Finally!
Translation (Score:3)
FTA: "Origin-Based Sovereignty Criteria Will Hurt Europe's Competitiveness".
The truth: "Origin-Based Sovereignty Criteria Will Hurt Over-reaching American Tech Companies".
Background: Wikipedia says that "BSA members include Adobe, Amazon Web Services, Atlassian, Autodesk, Cloudflare, Cisco, Dropbox, IBM, Microsoft, Nikon, Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, Siemens and Zoom". At least ten of these thirteen high-profile companies are American giants.
The takeaway: The smart money is ditching US digital services, software, and infrastructure in order to frustrate and undermine America's desire to own the entire world. Any cost reductions are a bonus, and any cost increases are an investment in sovereignty and long-term survival. Any BSA warnings such as those pointed out in TFS are in fact BS warnings - the "A" is optional.
Corporate oligarchy hates democracy? (Score:2)
Our corporate overlords do not like the ability of democratically chosen government to limit their power...
BSA? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
A Scout is Trustworthy but this BSA has never demonstrated that virtue.
Their PR is difficult to parse as valid English but it sounds like gaslighting of the type "you can only trust what you may not examine."
It sounds incoherent but perhaps that means they have nothing else left.
Most people in Open Source are generally Helpful.
Not surprising (Score:1)
Douchy BSA wonk doesn't like the EU guarding the golden goose a little bit more carefully these days. Problem is, they need to. Most American businesses are not trustworthy and dont subscribe to any sort of legal framework or ethos that MAKES them trustworthy, so here we are. You do you, EU.
In other news, water still wet. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm flabbergasted that a trade group consisting 100% of organizations that publish closed-source software would be worried about having to comply with other people's licenses that require opening any changes / modifications / reuse made.
Anybody remember the Ernie Ball Story? (Score:2)
Ernie Ball - the guitar string company - was raided by the BSA and subsequently humiliated publicly, all in the name of selling software licenses. Sterling Ball was not impressed - he went totally open source after that. Wonder if the BSA has told France about this fun episode?
https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech... [cnet.com]
So finally bsa is ... (Score:2)
... losing its moneymaker, eg. a drop in licensed on-premise software. And do a cry baby at OSS ...
Lobbyist group lies and pushes FUD (Score:2)
What else is new. This is not even worth reporting. Will also not have any impact, they are just pretending to do something to satisfy their billionaire Epstein-class backers.