Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft and Proxies Work on Changing the Laws Again

One of the vilest among the Microsoft pressure groups/analysts is IDC. The acronym is very deceiving because it does not reflect on the fact that IDC is just a component in the marketing pipeline. Shall a certain hypothesis require 'proof', IDC gets hired by a company that supplies its own data and methods to ensure a biased and self-flattering outcome (for income). To make matters worse, IDC sometimes conceals the sponsorships. Sadly enough, the Linux Foundation too went down this path quite recently. It's a serious issue that we wrote about many times before.



At the moment, as always, Microsoft is trying to influence lawmakers. How does it go about achieving this? By paying the likes of IDC and using the BSA (another Microsoft lobbying option), which has done a lot of legwork for Microsoft lately. It's the same old chorus that was seen about 3 months ago (it was also Microsoft+IDC+BSA at the time):

Microsoft has claimed that each dollar it “loses” to software piracy equals $5.50 in “lost opportunities” to the firm’s channel partners.

A Microsoft-sponsored white paper (pdf) released by IT analyst house IDC yesterday highlights the effects of copyright infringement on the software ecosystem across the tech industry.

[...]

The BSA has claimed that the value of just PC software that was counterfeited in 2007 was close to $50bn worldwide.


It's sponsored by Microsoft. Rest sure that the BSA will carry on trying to pass anti-FOSS laws on behalf of paymasters that including Microsoft Corporation. The BSA is far from a friend of Free software. which renders its job obsolete.

Antagonism to Free software comes not just from Microsoft but from an entire ecosystem that needs to be identified and recognised for its goals.

The same problem that affects Free software also affects indie music. The other day we mentioned G8 playing ball for Hollywood. Behind this you also have alleged corruption from Vivendi and the servitude of the French president.

According to this new article from Heise, the ACTA, which was composed secretly by a few greedy and self-serving elites, is to be integrated into the law with endorsement from G8.

On the second day of the G8 meeting in Hokkaido, Japan, the rising price of food and oil were the focal points, along with climate change. But the heads of the G8 nations also found time to consider the troublesome issue of intellectual property. In their declaration on the global economy published today, they therefore called for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to be adopted by the end of the year.


This is not a democracy. One again, it's the case involving a handful of monopolies hiacjking the system. rewriting laws the way they see fit. and thus securing (or expanding) their influence and wealth.

In part, Free software isn't just a case against proprietary software but also a case against political corruption, where affluence is equated to control. It's about breaking the "golden rule", namely that those who have the gold make the rules. They get to glorify themselves and daemonise the rest. Case of point below (from times when Microsoft 'warned' the government about the 'great threat' of open source).

"Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer [...] I can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business. I'm an American; I believe in the American way, I worry if the government encourages open source, and I don't think we've done enough education of policymakers to understand the threat."

--Jim Allchin, Microsoft

Recent Techrights' Posts

If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
 
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Snowy Photos and utism is a Spectrum
Links for the day
Microsoft-Sponsored Xenophobia and Nationalism
IBM is very similar in this regard
Vintage is Sometimes Better
Why can't we get back to "simple" if (or where) "simple" means better?
Climate Breakdown Means We'll be Publishing More, Not Less
Press freedom will be a common, recurring theme
Our 5-Year Geminispace Anniversary is Coming Up
I still remember when Gemini Protocol was quite new
It's Right to Point Out Violence From the Right
Violence is a recurring theme
Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
Web Browsers That "Do Hey Hi" (AI)
State-of-the-art plagiarism or "autocomplete on steroids" (not coined by us, nevertheless a nice description) don't have much/any prospect
Links 20/09/2025: Hardware Projects in View, Some Independent Publishers About Russia Prosper After Cheeto Cuts Funding
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Options and TV Time Machine
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Retrocomputer, Antique Phone Experience, and More
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day