03.06.21
Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Google, IBM, Microsoft at 11:39 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Summary: The AstroTurfing and the Googlebombing campaigns of large corporations would have us believe that genuine activists are toxic and malicious people, whereas corporations exist to save the world from evil people; don’t fall for those Public Relations tactics (a gross inversion of narrative)
FOR quite a few years people have warned abut the hypocrisy of mega-corporations in the field of technology, arguing that they combat racism when they in fact profit from racism. Clyde W. Ford has mentioned this in relation to IBM, which he knows very well, and also Google [1, 2]. Even employees of those companies increasingly become aware that their salaries are paid by institutional racism. Some resign. Some don’t. Some just want to pay the mortgage.
Racism is a real and persistent issue, but it won’t be tackled by corporations that profit from racism. This past week Microsoft did a great deal of veiled racism to distract from its incompetence. The sad thing is that by hijacking popular movements against racism and sexism (Mozilla Corporation does this all the time, even yesterday) those corporations harm the grassroots efforts. They help portray the activists as corporate shills while at the same time berating and demonising real grassroots/community-led efforts.
The video above deals with this difficult subject. It’s considered difficult because of the risk of being taken out of context. In the video I mostly discuss issues we’ve long covered in Techrights and I also show the Googlebombing efforts undertaken by those most culpable. Shame on IBM, shame on Google (also for taking money from Bill Gates for reputation laundering, which he desperately craves and needs), and shame on Microsoft for attacking software freedom while bribing the Linux Foundation for openwashing and greenwashing. █
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02.25.21
Posted in GNU/Linux, IBM, Red Hat, Servers at 1:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Summary: Red Hat is becoming as ‘free’ as shareware or freeware in some regard; one might say that they even mimic the immorality of the 'ethical' licences while working for companies that bomb people
RED HAT (or IBM) has just announced this ‘free’ (with conditions) offer that’s already coming under severe criticism. Basically, after IBM took away CentOS from users (years after Red Hat had bought CentOS) it offers something similar, but this time with conditions, first a limit on the number of instances (up to 16) and now limitless albeit only for ‘Open-Source Infrastructure’, whatever that even means. They clearly feel the pinch, seeing that people might move away to Oracle or ‘Alma’ or ‘Rocky’ (and who knows what else is still in the pipeline, set aside non-RHEL-like distros).
Qt did something similar about a year ago, in effect taking away what was largely or widely regarded as Free software. They used a “bait/switch” kind of approach, in effect getting people ‘hooked’ on the free product (with high and increasing exit barriers) and now they want money. The code of many projects now depends on a proprietary stack again. Freedom isn’t an option and one needs to pay, regardless. They try to make it inconvenient to not pay, never mind if the timing is ever more sensitive due to a pandemic.
The video above contains my thoughts on this latest move and a little bit of background information. █
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02.24.21
Posted in GNU/Linux, IBM, OIN, Patents at 10:51 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Summary: Response to the puff piece entitled “How the Big Banks and OIN Can Lock Out Patent Trolls with Enabled Publications”
OIN does not work for “community” (or for Free software) but for banks and rich monopolies, as we already explained last week. A longtime reader brought to our attention the new article which the video discusses. Not only does this article lack substance (or clarity about what’s actually proposed); it reinforces the view that OIN works for the rich and powerful, not for powerless Free software developers.
“It mostly distracts from those of us who want to truly fix the status quo, e.g. working to abolish software patents.”IBM is very eager to be publicly seen as open and anti-racist, largely because of its past as an abusive and racist monopolist, profiting from racism and overcharging everyone owing to monopoly, guarded largely by patents.
Seeing how OIN has helped the EPO regime (media stunts of Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos), we can’t help but feel like OIN — no matter what its original intention and/or goals might have been — is no ally. It mostly distracts from those of us who want to truly fix the status quo, e.g. working to abolish software patents. █
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02.21.21
Posted in Deception, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat at 5:27 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Summary: The troublesome misdirection from real issues (such as imperialism and racism that beget social apartheid) means that mainstream media hails corporations as the solution to the very problem they contribute to (for profit)
THE world’s giant technology companies, which see themselves as “master of the universe”, start consortia and Web sites (cheap or low-cost PR campaigns) that help shift attention from their racist policies, racist past, and contracts that help them profit from racism. The corporate media is more than happy to participate in these PR campaigns, which perpetuate their power over society, rendering billions of people around the world "digital slaves".
“The corporate media is more than happy to participate in these PR campaigns, which perpetuate their power over society, rendering billions of people around the world “digital slaves”.”Recently, the Linux Foundation decided to lend the name “Linux” to this, in effect whitewashing a racist past (again, for profit!) and failing to point out sheer hypocrisy.
I am aware that this is a sensitive subject, but I’ve written enough about those matters to speak about it unprepared and unscripted. Towards the end I critically assess the PR campaigns and why they may be missing the point or overlook the real problems. █
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Posted in Deception, IBM, Microsoft at 10:15 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Back in October: IBM: The Word “Master” is Rude (Except When We Use It Ourselves)
Summary: There are corporate consortia and a media obsession with supposedly offensive language; little attention is being paid to the blood spilled by those same corporations, usually consciously and for profit
EVER noticed how large corporations and their media/chiefs just love accusing their critics of being “toxic”, “negative” etc. while they themselves do vastly worse things, including killings of projects, companies, and sometimes even people?
“People’s feelings matter. Women who lost spouses and kids (or even their own lives) to racist/imperialistic wars of conquest are a lot more hurt than people who might feel uncomfortable with terms that are barely even connected to slavery (depending on the context).”The hypocrisy is surface-deep. It’s not hard to spot. Companies and people who work for the Pentagon (to help bomb civilians) and for ICE (to kidnap children and forcibly sterilise imprisoned moms) tell us that having a Git branch called “master” is a bad idea and we should be shamed/humiliated until that gets ‘corrected’ (never mind if they don’t own Git and actually attack Git through GitHub).
Days ago the Linux Foundation and IBM had the audacity to portray IBM as pro-Jamaica (hijacking the flag) and pro-black, perhaps consciously distracting from what IBM had done there.
People’s feelings matter. Women who lost spouses and kids (or even their own lives) to racist/imperialistic wars of conquest are a lot more hurt than people who might feel uncomfortable with terms that are barely even connected to slavery (depending on the context). We’ve already written many articles on this matter, which seems to be a corporate ploy to distract the masses. █
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02.20.21
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, IBM, Microsoft at 7:44 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Summary: IBM, with much help from Zemlin's PAC (a sleazy marketing firm which does not pay tax), is trying to portray IBM as the opposite of what it is; that’s another example of the “Linux” brand being misused or misapplied where it has no relevance at all (so-called 'vaccine passports', 'contact-tracing' surveillance and so on)
THE Linux Foundation, already filled with former IBM employees, is misusing the trade name “Linux” and a bunch of openwashing tactics (outsourcing code to proprietary software of Microsoft) to white-wash the history and current status of IBM, even if IBM continues to profit from “Racist” contracts (while offering us a list of “Racist” words that it demands be removed, even if those words have nothing to do with race, e.g. words like “master” and “whitelist”).
“In a sense, it seems pretty clear that IBM is mostly trying to confuse the general public, sending out the message that IBM is combating rather than perpetuating institutional racism at a very large scale.”Little does IBM say about its difficult past with Jamaica or the racist inclinations of its founder, the original Watson. In a sense, it seems pretty clear that IBM is mostly trying to confuse the general public, sending out the message that IBM is combating rather than perpetuating institutional racism at a very large scale. █
Links from the video above (in order of appearance):
- Two new Call for Code for Racial Justice projects just went open source
- New Open Source Projects to Confront Racial Justice
- The Linux Foundation and IBM Announce New Open Source Projects to Promote Racial Justice
- The Linux Foundation and IBM Announce New Open Source Projects to Promote Racial Justice
- The Linux Foundation adds 7 projects to combat racial injustice
- Linux Foundation backs 7 new open-source projects to promote racial justice
- IBM, Linux Foundation Expand Call for Code for Racial Justice
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02.15.21
Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, IBM, OIN, Patents at 4:47 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Summary: The press release and puff pieces from Bergelt et al won’t tell the public what OIN really does, in practice (which is worse than nothing at all)
THE Open Invention Network (OIN) has been covered here since its inception, back when an IBM person (founding member) ran the whole thing and seemed mostly reasonable, even better than benign, at least at the time (much like the Linux Foundation, which is partly connected not just in the sense that sponsors and agenda overlap). Big banks aren’t our friends; they might be OIN’s friends. OIN isn’t our friend and these people often undo the goals of FFII and other groups that oppose software patents.
“OIN isn’t what it seems or what it claims to be. It exists to serve and protect monopolists.”Nowadays many of us in the Free software world have already grown cynical and critical of the IBM-centric OIN. Adding Microsoft as a member did not lend legitimacy but mostly harmed it, especially in light of the fact that Microsoft continued to attack Linux — sometimes with patents — after it had joined OIN. The video above is a response to this morning’s press release. As we put it earlier on in Daily Links, OIN is not a community (the word “community” is used in the headline) but a front group of software patents proponents looking to openwash their monopolies and striving to make software patents look benign w.r.t. Linux. They say they were “formed to safeguard open source software (OSS)” (no “F” word, nothing about Freedom) and then they call themselves a “community” again. Nowadays companies like to portray themselves as “green”, “open” and even “communities”…
Yes, nothing says “community” like ruthless for-profit corporations that help bomb people…
Keith Bergelt is then quoted naming a bunch of buzzwords and name-dropping hype like “fintech” (one of the many weasel words that software patents’ proponents use). A few hours ago the ‘news’ site ZDNet did a puff piece about the whole thing, as usual. The video above only scratches the surface of what we know and what we’ve shown about OIN over the years. This is just more of the same.
Not too long ago the Linux Foundation was greenwashing big banks, so why can’t OIN? The puff piece keeps mentioning “trolls” and “patent trolls”, but nowhere is it mentioned that OIN never stops trolls and moreover it hired trolls to lead the OIN. What a lousy piece of cheap propaganda.
OIN isn’t what it seems or what it claims to be. It exists to serve and protect monopolists. █
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02.08.21
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, IBM, Red Hat at 5:23 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Or: IBM and the Media
Summary: I’ve made this quick video just to complain about some stuff in today’s news (or so-called ‘news’), in effect unnecessarily sensationalised drama, shameless marketing, and paid-for puff pieces made to look like reporting
THE media strategy of IBM isn’t ethical. They try to police which words people can and cannot use because their founder had a keen sense of Public Relations. Only last year and about a decade ago IBM was attempting to manipulate my writings, so I confronted them over the telephone and over E-mail. IBM is, in that regard, reminiscent of Microsoft.
“This has barely changed; the Public Relations has changed, just like the Public Relations strategy of Microsoft (lies such as “Microsoft loves Linux” and IBM’s “embRACE”).”The video above and our extensive set of articles about IBM (we wrote about IBM about 100 times last year) isn’t rude. What’s rude is what IBM kept doing for as long as a century in order to make money. This has barely changed; the Public Relations has changed, just like the Public Relations strategy of Microsoft (lies such as “Microsoft loves Linux” and IBM’s “embRACE”). █
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