From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from dsl092-170-086.wdc1.dsl.speakeasy.net ([66.92.170.86] helo=toccata.rednote.net) by speech.braille.uwo.ca with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 17AwSM-0008Ph-00 for ; Thu, 23 May 2002 13:32:54 -0400 Received: from localhost (janina@localhost) by toccata.rednote.net (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g4NHWnP17477 for ; Thu, 23 May 2002 13:32:49 -0400 X-Authentication-Warning: toccata.rednote.net: janina owned process doing -bs Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 13:32:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Janina Sajka X-X-Sender: janina@toccata.rednote.net To: speakup@braille.uwo.ca Subject: OT: From Today's Washington Post ... Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by toccata.rednote.net id g4NHWnP17477 Sender: speakup-admin@braille.uwo.ca Errors-To: speakup-admin@braille.uwo.ca X-BeenThere: speakup@braille.uwo.ca X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.9 Precedence: bulk Reply-To: speakup@braille.uwo.ca List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: washingtonpost.com Open-Source Fight Flares At Pentagon Microsoft Lobbies Hard Against Free Software By Jonathan Krim Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 23, 2002; Page E01 Microsoft Corp. is aggressively lobbying the Pentagon to squelch its g= rowing use of freely distributed computer software and switch to propriet= ary systems such as those sold by the software giant, according to officia= ls familiar with the campaign. In what one military source called a "barrage" of contacts with offici= als at the Defense Information Systems Agency and the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over the past few months, the company sai= d "open source" software threatens security and its intellectual property. But the effort may have backfired. A May 10 report prepared for the De= fense Department concluded that open source often results in more secure,= less expensive applications and that, if anything, its use should be expand= ed. "Banning open source would have immediate, broad, and strongly negativ= e impacts on the ability of many sensitive and security-focused DOD group= s to protect themselves against cyberattacks," said the report, by Mitre Co= rp. A Microsoft Corp. spokesman acknowledged discussions between the compa= ny and the Pentagon but denied urging a ban on open-source software. He a= lso said Microsoft did not focus on potential security flaws. Spokesman Jon Murchinson said Microsoft has been talking about how to = allow open-source and proprietary software to coexist. "Our goal is to re= solve difficult issues that are driving a wedge between the commercial and f= ree software models," he said. John Stenbit, an assistant secretary of defense and the Defense Depart= ment's chief information officer, said that Microsoft has said using free software with commercial software might violate companies' intellectua= l-property rights. Stenbit said the issue is legally "murky." The company also complained that the Pentagon is funding research on m= aking free software more secure, which in effect subsidizes Microsoft's open-source competitors, Stenbit said. Microsoft's push is a new front in a long-running company assault on t= he open-source movement, which company officials have called "a cancer" a= nd un-American. Software is designated open source when its underlying computer code i= s available for anyone to license, enhance or customize, often at no cost= . The theory is that by putting source code in the public domain, programmer= s worldwide can improve software by sharing one another's work. Vendors of the proprietary systems, such as Microsoft and Oracle Corp.= , keep their source codes secret, control changes to programs and collect= all licensing fees for their use. Government agencies use a patchwork of systems and software, and propr= ietary software is still the most widely used. But open source has become= more popular with businesses and government. The Mitre report said open-source software "plays a more critical role= in the DOD than has been generally recognized." The report identified 249 uses of open-source systems and tools, inclu= ding running a Web portal for the Defense Intelligence Agency, running ne= twork security for the Army command in Europe and support for numerous Air F= orce Computer Network Defense tools. Among the most high-profile efforts is research funded by the National= Security Agency to develop a more secure version of the open-source Linu= x operating system, which competes with Microsoft's Windows. The report said banning open-source software would drive up costs, tho= ugh it offered no specifics. Some government agencies have saved signific= antly by using open source. At the Census Bureau, programmers used open-source software to launch = a Web site for obtaining federal statistics for $47,000, bureau officials= said. It would have cost $358,000 if proprietary software were used, they sa= id. Microsoft has argued that some free-licensing regimes are antithetical= to the government's stated policy that moneymaking applications should d= evelop from government-funded research and that intellectual property should = be protected. Microsoft also said open-source software is inherently less secure bec= ause the code is available for the world to examine for flaws, making it possible for hackers or criminals to exploit them. Proprietary softwar= e, the company argued, is more secure because of its closed nature. "I've never seen a systematic study that showed open source to be more= secure," said Dorothy Denning, a professor of computer science at George= town University who specializes in information warfare. Others argue that the flexibility provided by open-source software is = essential, enabling users to respond quickly to flaws that are found. "With open source, there is no need to wait for a large software firm = to decide if a set of changes is in its best interests," said Eugene Spaf= ford, a computer-science professor at Purdue University who specializes in sec= urity. Jonathan Shapiro, who teaches computer science at Johns Hopkins Univer= sity, said: "There is data that when the customer can inspect the code th= e vendor is more responsive. . . . Microsoft is in a very weak position = to make this argument. Whose software is the largest, most consistent sou= rce of security flaws? It's Microsoft." Stenbit said that the debate is academic and that what matters is how = secure a given piece of software is. To that end, the Defense Department = is now prohibited from purchasing any software that has not undergone securit= y testing by the NSA. Stenbit said he is unaware of any open-source softw= are that has been tested. =A9 2002 The= Washington Post Company --=20 =09 Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina@afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html