"We got the solution!"

Summary: Free software FUD is spread by Black Duck 'researchers' so as to sell their proprietary software (the 'medicine')

OVER the past week we have come across several FOSS-phobic pieces such as this one, only later to find out that Black Duck, a proprietary software company created by a Microsoft employee [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], was also offering a 'solution' to the imaginary problem that it itself created. From IDG:

Few Canadian open source companies doing development in the U.S. know they must file encryption algorithms with U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security when exporting code. Black Duck Software releases version 5.0 of its Black Duck Export tool to find algorithms and help developers through the filing process

So, these alarming voices that talk about "open source" and encryption algorithms are the same voices that make profit from it. This is akin to the latest FUD about Twitter -- that it costs businesses over a billion dollars -- FUD which is being spread by filtering companies that offer a 'solution' to this problem that they create with highly inflated and irrational figures.

Watch out for FUD and follow the money. Some companies are marketing perceived risk. ⬆