- From: Theo de Raadt <deraadt@cvs.openbsd.org>
- Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 00:08:23 -0600
- To: www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org
No, it is the other way around: open standards are dangerous to patents and their holders. That is why a number of tightly associated vendors have decided to attempt to take control in this fashion. Don't be fooled. This was planned very carefully, and I am positive that there was an attempt to hide this from the press. (Are there any insiders who wish to talk about this anonymously?) W3C is now going to tell us that this mimics what other standards groups do. That is not true. Some do, but most do NOT. IETF has this same policy, but increasingly it is being questioned, as companies at IETF try to inject patented material into the the SSL specification, SSH specification, and others. Much of this stuff happened back in the days of VRRP, and Cisco and Alcatel are in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over various rights, and that includes VRRP. And we should question it. If we win this one, I think we should tell the IETF secretariat: "See? Your rules suck". Free speech yes, but no free thought. It is a mockery.
Received on Monday, 1 October 2001 02:04:55 UTC