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SCO THREATENS TO SUE LINUX USERS!

Posted by RocketGib in on November 23, 2003 at 4:03 PM
From EFF.org: "The SCO Group, Inc. recently announced that it plans to sue individual Linux users if they refuse to pay the company a $700 licensing fee, which it threatens to double in the fall. This is an effort designed by SCO to bolster its licensing claims against IBM and Red Hat by beating up on people who can't afford a multimillion-dollar defense. SCO hasn't proven that it has a right to collect this money at all, so its attempt to hold end-users liable is a terrible misuse of the legal system. Tell Congress that SCO's tactics are unacceptable!" Looks like another way to abuse the DMCA. I don't believe SCO has a case BECAUSE Linux is open-source, and has always been free. The only reason RedHat charges for their boxed version is because of the technical support licenses. Otherwise you can download Linux for FREE at one of the many FTP servers provided by RedHat.

User Comments

KadenKendein	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 8:56 PM Bah, this is absolutely ridiculous...
spikester	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 9:06 PM SCO has an old outdated obsolete product on their hands, they are nearly out of the game, so they are going to try as much damage as they can get before that happens. SCO Unix is inferior to Linux/BSD and they want to cash in illegally. Yes BSD is next on their list.
hawk7771	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 9:10 PM just downloaded linux let them sue me i have nothing i know nothing but i carry a big stick same goes for the riaa
In-Flames	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 9:22 PM i bought Mandrake 8.x in April 2002... i suppose this doesn't have an effect on me.
In-Flames	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 9:23 PM * nevermind, didn't know it was for just redhat users
compmore	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 9:29 PM I downloaded RedHat from the linux website and have it on a partition. Let them try to sue me for it. it'll get laughed out of court
CodeWarrior	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 9:47 PM hmmm..wouldn't it be cool if the RIAA had an un "licensed" copy of Linux, and SCO had some RIAA tunes on their boxes....lol..... looks like they went to the RIAA school of litigation...if you can't sue the big boys out of existence...attack defenseless users..yeah, that'll make ya popular SCO.... Sick Cowardly Organization
compmore	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 9:52 PM Ok I just rebooted my machine and logged into my Red Hat. so come and get me.
undeath	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 10:22 PM I'm getting Linux anyway since a lot of the programs I want to use are only for Linux and nothing else. Now if only I can build myself a machine that has a CD drive... Oh wait! I can! I get my parts for free! Woohoo!
viscix	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 10:26 PM Forget it, their case is slightly better than a stupid prank. On December 6th they'll either be told they have no rights to any of the code they're claiming IBM misappropriated for Linux, or (worst case, judge is psychotic scenario) the GPL is invalid, in which case they still have no rights since they aren't the ones who wrote Linux anyway, but maybe Linus Torvalds sues them and everyone else in a fit of Gatesian greed. DMCA has nothing to do with it, they have yet to point to a single copyright they own.
Suikiogiaz	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 10:34 PM Don't quote me, but my friend has linux and he gave me a link to an article awhile back, which stated that SCO is being funded for these lawsuits by M$. If thats true, M$ is essentially using SCO to exterminate their free competition.
Suikiogiaz	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 10:35 PM Er... wrong not these lawsuits. Their lawsuit against Linux.
CodeWarrior	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 10:35 PM compmore...i still can't find the file...tried keywords and file name..bizarre
compmore	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 10:37 PM huh let me boot back to windows. open your messenger. I'll change the file name
Cantido	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 10:56 PM Give us 700 dollars or we take your house. If that's not extortion, I don't know what is.
purfus	Date: November 23, 2003 @ 11:16 PM I consider this another good reason to use linux. It pisses off a big corporation and somewhere an angle gets its wings.
darknite9	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 1:07 AM SCO and Orin Hatch are both from UT. Any connection? Both are idiots, neither know what they are talking about.
Bill43	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 2:51 AM Does the greed ever end? This is asinine. A new level of absurdity has been reached.
independentm...	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 8:14 AM Go to hell SCO. Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy Support Local and Independent Music AND OPEN SOURCE!
purfus	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 9:51 AM I wonder if SCO is trying to stimulate the growth of linux through a massive level of reverse psychology....
viscix	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 10:46 AM An interesting take on the MS take: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031121013756776 Those of you who don't like DRM might want to start getting used to Gnu/Linux now..
ConsumersAbyss	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 1:16 PM A while back SCO's slide show for its claims were up on the net and all the programers that looked at it thought it was nothing but a load of crap. The only way they could win is by the judge's ignorance. The whole tale sucks. How someone can add code to a Open source program then turn around and use that to try a highjack control over something they did NOT create is wrong on so many levels its not even a little funny. They were sending out threats to indivituals from day one. Expecting people to pay for something that by its very nature is free and have been using ligit for a long time is also wrong on at least as many levels. 700$ is just nuts for an OS. Especaly for one you have been using. The only reason I can think of for that price tag is to try and kill linux. The whole thing pisses me off. Of course guess what OS I'm using.
Prideful-Chr...	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 1:34 PM Pretty damn INSANE!!!!! First of all, SCO would have to break even more laws then the RIAA would to be able to reveal the identities of individual Linux users!! SCO would have. SCO would have to illegally snoop in on Red Hat's, Mandrake's, and other Linux distributors servers or illegally obtain customer records from computer stores who sell Linux. There is no way they could possibly do that and get away with it. At most, they could sue companies using Linux. Heck even Microsoft doesn't sue individual users running a what they-so-call-an-unlicensed copy of Windows XP, because I was told by a privacy expert that Microsoft can't prove you didn't legally obtain a copy of Windows XP that just might of unknowingly had an unlicensed key. But still pretty fucken scarry that these kind of things are going on!!!
arundevi	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 4:26 PM $700 , i can buy sco for less than that. they have to be out of their then minds. ask $20 i might consider, if promised a certificate of ownership
arundevi	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 4:27 PM $700 , i can buy sco for less than that. they have to be out of their then minds. ask $20 i might consider, if promised a certificate of ownership
mtekk	Date: November 24, 2003 @ 6:00 PM Gnu/Linux rocks, and I am used to it, and I detest DRM. SCO sux, and is dieing, they will fade away after they loose, which they have already done.
ChillinBuzz	Date: November 25, 2003 @ 2:01 AM sue open source? yeah right. straight outta the RIAA handbook for treating end users. what a waste of money and time - let em sink.