[WOS] (Fwd) Fw: Florida police reportedly harass anti-MS Linux prote

[Volker Grassmuck]

by way of Geert Lovink

------- Forwarded message follows -------

From: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@well.com>
To: <politech@politechbot.com>
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 9:25 PM
Subject: FC: Florida police reportedly harass anti-MS Linux protestes


> 
> ----
> 
> Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2001 06:59:30 -0400
> From: robin <robin@roblimo.com>
> To: declan@well.com
> Subject: Clearwater Allows Scientology, not Linux, Evangelism
> 
> Dear Declan and Politechnics:
> 
> Last week, across the street from the Church of Scientology's Sandcastle
> Center in Clearwater, Florida, Microsoft representatives harassed
> members of a local Linux Users Group [LUG] who were handing out CDs
> containing free software in front of the city-owned Haborview Convention
> Center. With the aid of Harborview security guards, they forced this
> seditious activity to stop.
> 
> "You can't pass out free software here," was the phrase a number of LUG
> members specifically recall hearing from Microsoft staffers and
> convention center security guards. My NewsForge colleague Tina Gasperson
> wrote this lighthearted story about the event:
> 
> http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/06/01/1540231
> 
> Microsoft was holding an Office XP "rollout" seminar in the convention
> center, and perhaps they felt that, as paying exhibitors, this gave them
> the right to stifle free expression (and free software) not only inside
> the building but in the open air nearby. But the Suncoast Linux Users
> Group was a legitimate exhibitor at the Computer and Technology Showcase
> being held on a separate floor of the convention center at the same
> time.
> 
> Apparently none of the LUG members thought of saying, "No, we're not
> going to leave. This is public property, and we have as much right to
> pass out literature and software here as anyone else, especially since
> most of us live here and are, therefore, part-owners of this facility."
> When confronted by uniformed security personnel they left quietly and
> returnd to their display booth inside, which got far more visitors than
> the Microsoft booth a few hundred feet away despite having a decidedly
> amateur, "thrown together" appearance.
> 
> Meanwhile, Church of Scientology members were handing out fliers on
> nearby city-owned beaches, as they apparently do every day, unmolested
> by security guards or police.
> 
> It's amusing, really, to think that Scientologists are allowed to spread
> their material and philosophy freely in Clearwater while Linux advocates
> are not allowed to do the same thing, at least while Microsoft is in
> town.
> 
> The Church of Scientology has a history of calling for security and
> police assistance whenever anyone demonstrates against them, no matter
> how peacefully, near their Clearwater buildings. Apparently Microsoft
> marketing people are following in Scientology's footsteps by trying to
> quash those who publically speak out against their practices.
> 
> Is it possible that Microsoft has been infiltrated by Scientologists?
> Could Bill Gates be a secret member? Or has Microsoft developed an
> internal culture so cultlike that it acts like an obnoxious religious
> cult without realizing it, not only internally, but in the way it deals
> with the outside world and any perceived competitors?
> 
> Scientology did not start out as a religion. It became one to shield its
> activities from prying eyes, especially those of government. Could this
> be Microsoft's ultimate defense against antitrust actions and all other
> government regulations: to become a religion?
> 
> - Robin 'Roblimo' Miller
> Editor in Chief, http://osdn.com
> (publishers of Slashdot, freshmeat,
> NewsForge, and other fine Web sites)
> 
> 
> 
> 
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