+1 from me. Cheers, Chris
On Jan 13, 2012, at 6:43 PM, Sean Kelly wrote: > Colleagues: > > The Internet is a global resource and I'm thankful that the majority of our > Apache and OODT users needn't put up with any of the shenanigans that the > governments of Syria, Iran, and China employ routinely to throttle the free > distribution of software, open exchange of ideas, and unmoderated dialog of > critique deployed against their respective peoples. > > Sadly, the United States of America is considering legislation [1], [2] in > its dual legislative houses of government that is on par with these > oppressive regimes[3]—all in a misguided attempt to stop piracy of both > durable and logical goods. > > While we are an international organization that freely distributes software > beyond national borders, we've got to admit that the practices employed > within the United States has global ramifications, especially since our > software, being free and open source, enjoys a worldwide audience and runs > the majority of the web's infrastructure. > > Other efforts within the Apache Software Foundation have already stepped > forward with visible, tangible displays of their commitment against the SOPA > and PIPA acts currently under consideration by the USA House of > Representatives and Senate, respectively. > > Some of these efforts have elected to participate in an "internet strike" by > displaying banners and/or "going dark" on the 18th of January, 2012. > > I would strongly urge the Object Oriented Data Technology (OODT) project of > the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) to join in this solidarity and > demonstrate a commitment towards the unregulated and open exchange of ideas > that we expect on the internet. > > Towards that end, I propose we shutter the OODT website at > http://oodt.apache.org/ and replace every page accessible under that domain > with a singular white-text-on-black-background that conveys, without any > doubt, our commitment to an open, un-regulated, free-of-government control > internet that eschews the ideas of both SOPA and PIPA. > > I hope OODT will join in this protest. And, if it is at all possible, ALL of > apache.org will follow suit. The Internet is at a vital nexus point, and we > face an opportunity for change we dare not squander. > > Yours faithfully, > Sean. > > > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act > [2] http://edrn.me/S > [3] http://edrn.me/t > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chris Mattmann, Ph.D. Senior Computer Scientist NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, CA 91109 USA Office: 171-266B, Mailstop: 171-246 Email: [email protected] WWW: http://sunset.usc.edu/~mattmann/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Adjunct Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
