On Thursday, 01/19/2006 at 09:53 CST, "McKown, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I haven't read the whitepaper, but the overview (link below) indicates > that the author feels that companies using software which violates the > GPL, may also be violating Sarbanes-Oxley as well. He specifically > mentions the habit that vendors have of binary only Kernel loadable > modules (think 3590 support on zSeries Linux).
Red herring, IMO. The discussion in the whitepaper focuses on how SOX requires a company to have internal controls on the processes that are used to generate its financial reports. Implicit is that a claim of ownership must be provable if you are going to use said ownership as an asset. That's doesn't seem too unreasonable, does it? If you *develop* (not just use) software using GPL software as the starting point, then your asset claim depends on your right to develop said software. Another reasonable point, eh? At this point the FUD comes into play. If you use something *someone else built*, and *they* deliver it to you under GPL, can you believe them? There's lots of room for the talking heads and bloggers to stir the pot and let you infer that every CEO who builds GPL-based software must have processes in place to verify that the GPL claim is true. If it turns out that something GPL is not, in fact, GPL, can the software CEO go to jail? What constitutes "due diligence" on the part of the CEO & senior leadership? Hmmmm....If I buy parts for my widgets from a company that claims to have the right to sell me the parts, and it turns out they don't, is my CEO liable under SOX? I doubt Congress intended to put an unreasonable burden on the company. Burden, yes. Unreasonable, no. (I can't define "unreasonable" but I'll know it when I see it! :-) ) But since IBM does not release the 3590 drivers or the intellectual property contained therein under the GPL, there's no issue. Alan Altmark Speaking only for the two of us, not my employer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
