Bonum Certa Men Certa

Intel's Corruptions Against Linux-run OLPC Reach New Heights

Convicted monopolist resorts to astroturfing

This is scandalous, yet hardly surprising. It confirms all those remarks that I made about OLPCNews in the past.

Last week we posted a quick update on Microsoft's and Intel's corruptions that are used against OLPC. The OLPC project is a charity. Intel is astroturfing to fight this charity as we have just revealed.

Here is another new one for New York antitrust investigators to look at:

The OLPC News website in the past months has build up a reputation for sharply criticizing the $100 laptop project headed up by Nicholas Negroponte.

[...]

So it doesn't take too much of a conspiracy theorist to believe that Intel is secretly bankrolling the OLPC-News website.

Adding insult to injury, OLPC-News is buying advertising on Google to attract visitors to its website.


In the text quoted above, mind the use of the term "conspiracy theorist", which sparked a large series of arguments recently. So, all those conspiracy theorists who said that OLPCNews must be some campaign against OLPC are not so 'crazy' anymore, are they? They were right on point, all along. It remains to be seen who -- if anyone -- is behind LANCOR's lawsuit against OLPC.

“It hurts everyone who is an honest blogger.”As Joel Sposkly once argued, astroturfing such as the above from Intel gives a bad name to blogs. It shatters credibility, lacking clear disclosures. It hurts everyone who is an honest blogger. Interestingly enough, Spolsky was referring to Microsoft's acts. which he then also described as "bribery".

Just like Microsoft, Intel resorted to using fake voices on the Web (yes, Microsoft does this all the time). It even used its own employees. This is criminal behaviour, assuming one is not above the law.

Here is a lot more to this, but it escapes the scope of this Web site. How about some example incidents from Peru?

Oscar Becerra Tresierra, general director for educational technology at Peru's Ministry of Education, says that after the country recently agreed to buy 272,500 OLPC laptops for primary-school students, an Intel sales representative tried "to scare us" by claiming the machines and their power adapters didn't work. "I don't feel very happy about it," he said. "We wouldn't like the project to fail because somebody is spreading gossip about the machines that doesn't turn out to be true."


Nick Negroponte says more on this:

Negroponte said Intel even tried to undo a deal One Laptop had already sealed in Peru by citing flaws in the One Laptop "XO" machine and telling government ministers "we ought to know, because we are on the board." Such hostile comments were prohibited, Negroponte claimed, under the July peace treaty that brought Intel into the One Laptop Per Child camp.

"I want to say we tried, but it was never a partnership," Negroponte said. "There's not one single thing in their contract or agreement that they lived up to."


I would personally not support chip makers that fight charities. Intel is now astroturfing and using scare tactics. Its products probably ought to be avoided, at least for the long-term public good (price, ethics, competition and development).

Microsoft's role in this smear campaign and the sabotage of OLPC was hardly mentioned in this post, but the most outrageous thing here is that Microsoft now wants to virtually eat the lunch of that whom it shot. We recently cited this guy who welcomes Microsoft's hijack of a project that people have donated to. Always remember this admission:

“Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don’t pay for the software [...] Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”

--Bill Gates



When poor people and children are seen as customers, then you know the world has gone awry. When a company as wealthy as Intel attacks a charity, then you barely have hope for decent human behaviour.

This following has been said before, but it is worth repeating, expanding on, or rephrasing. When people look back at this as a history lesson, they will not 'get' the real story. The literature and press is so strictly controlled by corporations such as Microsoft, so all one will see are the smear campaigns against Nick Negroponte. This includes attacks on him which were launched by secret Intel blogs and Microsoft mouthpieces like Rob Enderle (he too has attacked the OLPC many times before). How appalling.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Writing and Coding Isn't Always Enough
Last year we had to assume a role we didn't have before: litigants
 
Why We Publish Information About the SLAPPs (But Not About the Legal Process), an Abuse of Process by Americans Trying to Silence Critics of Their Employer, Microsoft
It doesn't take thousands of pages to explain something simple
Internet Relay Chat Didn't Fall Off a Cliff
IRC will turn 40 in less than 3 years from now
The UEFI 9/11 - Part V - This is Not a Drill (Disable "SecureBoot" Now)
A "9/11" Coming
There's No Obligation to Speak to Anybody
The very fact that "bkuhn" is till spending time in social control media says a lot about his poor judgment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 01, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 01, 2025
The Register MS Says "AI Web Crawlers Are Destroying Websites", So Why Does The Register MS Help 'AI' Companies? (Spoiler: Money)
People need to call out The Register MS on its hypocrisy
Microsoft Trying to Force People to Resign (Amid Mass Layoffs) a Strategy That Takes Its Toll
Microsoft seems to be circling down the drain and the "final flush" will be the moment the "hey hi" (AI) bubble implodes completely
Google Simply Cannot Be Trusted
Only fools would trust GAFAM
Admission That a Third Party (or Parties) Funds the SLAPPs Against Techrights
This can end up costing them over a million dollars
Modifying and Writing One's Own Computer Programs is Not a Crime (or: Google Proves That Stallman Was Right)
We're generally gratified to see so many positive mentions of him
Why We Stopped Publishing Videos (for Now)
We'll probably get back to videos one day, but it's hard to say when or to what extent
What Animal Rights Activism Teaches Us About Sympathy and Focus
It's possible to believe that the planet is warming, that we must do something about it, and still eat eggs and butter
When You Turn Web Sites About Tech Into Political Sites
A lot of people fall into the trap of catering only for particular groups
Gemini Links 02/09/2025: ROOPHLOCH 2025 and Lagrange 1.19 Released
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: News Corp. WSJ and A Month With NixOS
Links for the day
Slopfarms Already Peaked, They Will Die When Slop Companies Run Out of Money to Borrow
slopfarms will lack an actual "engine"
“Sideloading” Never Killed Anybody
There are many online discussions this week about the misnomer "sideloading"
Slopwatch: Google News as FUD Vector Against Linux and Plagiarism Enhancer, Serial Slopper (SS) Uses LLMs to Googlebomb "Linux"
Slop destroys the Web not just by screwing with search engines and helping plagiarists. It's also responsible for de facto DDoS attacks...
Links 01/09/2025: "Attacks on Science" and China's "Soft Power" Grows
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Fresh Backlash Against Slop and "Norway’s Electricity Crisis is About to Hit Britain"
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Catching Up (Mostly via Deutsche Welle), "Windows TCO" Effect in UK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: Linguistic Barriers and "Web 1.0 Hosting"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 31, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 31, 2025
Autumn Has Come
Autumn should be exciting in all sorts of ways; it'll also mark our anniversary
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IV - External Interference
They all seem to be playing a role in crushing Software Freedom and self-determination for users
Links 31/08/2025: Baggage Claim Scams, an Insurrectionist’s War on Culture, and a Sudden Robotics Hype
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/08/2025: Reviewing Netsurf and Slightly Less Historic Ada Design
Links for the day
IBM Has Taken Control of GNOME
Don't expect a successor to be found any time soon
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago