[free-sklyarov] Boycott Adobe: Call for Proposals

[Bob La Quey]

At 08:59 PM 9/15/01 -0400, you wrote:
>On 15 Sep, Karsten M. Self wrote:
>>> Boycott Adobe should be kept ready in the event of a return to the
>>> boycott.  There is no reason to believe that Adobe will continue to
>>> play nice, and we need to be ready to rekindle the boycott in great
>>> strength at any time.
>> 
>> Adobe are not playing nice.  I vote for reactivating the boycott.
>
>I definitely don't follow you here.  Adobe met the boycott demands, and
>so the boycott crew ended the boycott.  We supported them in that.  You
>should go back and read the messages from the first week.

proclus states his case well and argues most rationally. I do
appreciate that. Nonetheless I am troubled by the state of 
affairs. 

Many of us who have been active on this list and elsewhere were 
disturbed and critical of the original decision to let Adobe off 
so lightly. It certainly helps that "Adobe withdrew its support 
for the criminal complaint, stating that 'the prosecution of this 
individual is not conducive to the best interests of any of the 
parties involved or the industry.' " but the practical reality is
that the charges were not dropped by the DOJ ( a very predicatable 
outcome, btw) and that as many of us suspected the victory (get 
a statement from Adobe) was, quite honestly, not all it was cracked 
up to be as Adobe's waffling PR demonstrates. 

Now proclus is quite right that "he" and I assume thus GNU-Darwin 
should not go back on their word. But I don't feel he represented 
my views, nor I suspect does Karsten feel that proclus represented 
his. 

I wonder how many on this list feel represented by proclus? 

Who is the "boycott" crew and how were they empowered to speak for whom? 

How many on the list feel that we should NOT actively pursue a 
boycott of Adobe? I would like to hear more voices. 

As far as I am concerned, it was a tactical error and has 
become a strategic error to drop the boycott. Corporate 
America can see a simple outcome. Use the FBI and DOJ to do 
your dirty work and then walk away unscathed. I just do not
think we can afford to send this message. 

These are sober times. Freedom in this country is at high risk.
Incompetent leadership abounds, and looks for scapegoats. So I 
ask you to weigh these questions carefully, but lets not back 
away from one of the most useful weapons around to free Dmitry
and to fight the DMCA. 

Let's boycott Adobe. 




Bob La Quey