Vengeance Against Adobe

[Declan McCullagh]

Right. The organizing tools available to activists nowadays are
substantial. Free software including email-to-web gateways like
mhonarc, front ends based on Slash, mailing lists running majordomo or
mailman, back ends based on MySQL, launch-and-forget websites running
Linux and Slash -- all these allow programmer-activists to launch
online campaigns in minutes.

But the Feds won't back down as readily as Adobe, I wager. They don't
have to worry about what programmers think, they don't have to worry
about what Wall Street thinks (at least DOJ doesn't), they don't have
to worry about slipping revenue in a soft economy and users turning to
non-Adobe tools. In short, they have a different incentive structure
and it's one where programmer-types are much less
influential. Sklyarov is still in jail, and not one legislator has
called for a repeal of the DMCA (one, perhaps, has criticized it
mildly).


In my Wired article that will appear tomorrow, I write:

 That leaves the Free-Dmitry contingent wary of celebrating -- and free
 to target the U.S. government, which may not back down to pressure
 from irate programmers as quickly as a firm that's based in the heart
 of Silicon Valley.

At least there's one consolation for Adobe: They're no alone, and can
take a proud if somewhat humbled seat next to Intel and Microsoft. :)

-Declan



On Mon, Jul 23, 2001 at 09:26:31PM -0700, Tim May wrote:
> Something's that interesting is the _speed_ and _strength_ of the 
> reactions against companies when they cross some line.
> 
> Adobe's use of police state measures to have a minor critic (by their 
> own later admission) yanked out of a conference is not likely to be 
> forgotten quickly. I expect this will have consequences when they 
> eventually resume college recruiting. Adobe will likely face sneers 
> and derisive laughter when it shows up on college campuses next 
> spring to recruit.
> 
> My old employer, Intel, has also caught the wrath of the community a 
> couple of times. Notably when they briefly tried to add a "processor 
> I.D." They retreated, though Microsoft was not deterred a few years 
> later from planning their own "registration" features.
> 
> ("This system has a different printer attached to it than when it was 
> Officially Registered with the Borg Mothership. We have concluded 
> that you are a possible software pirate. Windows XP, Microsoft 
> Office, Outlook Express, and Internet Explorer have been disabled. 
> Contact our office during normal business hours and attempt to 
> explain why we should reauthorize you. Have a Microsoft day!")
> 
> Like Niven's "flash crowd" effect, the slash dot, mailing list, and 
> online news services are making the anger of the users a terrible 
> swift sword. Adobe became a pariah in a matter of days.
> 
> Adobe will be suffering for a long time to come.
> 
> (Note to our FBI monitors: This is NOT a threat against Adobe. Note 
> to Cypherpunks: With feebs like the Feebs out there, one can never 
> assume that ordinary figures of speech will be understood.)
> 
> --Tim May
> 
> 
> -- 
> Timothy C. May         tcmay at got.net        Corralitos, California
> Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon
> Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go
> Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns