-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Well actually... the Constitution protects you from the government, *not* Microsoft. Since you enter into a *contract* with Microsoft in order to use their software you give up rights you may have otherwise had. The only way you get to keep your rights is by not using licensed software ;-). If you see some actual constitutional infringement going on I'd like to hear about it. I just don't think it's there. The only way this could be a constitutional violation is by Microsoft being considered as a corporation and not a person. See, the government creates corporations by assigning charters. In that sense the goverment is involved in whatever privacy erasing activities Microsoft is involved in. There are bunches of non-geek activists working on just this issue: corporate personhood. Send me a line if you are interested in getting involved with the corporate personhood issue. I'll connect you. Joshua b. Jore Minneapolis Ward 3, precinct 10 http://www.greentechnologist.org On Sat, 24 Nov 2001, Rick Engebretson wrote: > I went to Forest Lake for hydraulics parts yesterday and couldn't help > stopping in an Office Max next door to browse the software shelves. Nothing > Linux there. The sales help was nice and I asked if it was true what I > learned from the TCLUG that Windows XP maintains open control of your > computer's software. He said yes, and it was, in part, to protect us > against the bad guys. > > We've come a long way from worrying about phone taps and opening another's > mail, to acceding to such flagrant violations of Constitutional privacy. > Being software stupid, I'd like to know what you software experts know > about all of this. > > I've seen my kids taught to accept compromises to their Constitutional > rights at school. I've protested with limited success. They can get > expelled by bringing an aspirin (and with three daughters, we go through > aspirin). But I can't believe its acceptable for M$ to rummage through your > personal computer via the internet. > > The M$ money monopoly is not new, but disregard of our Constitution is > historic. Please inform. > _______________________________________________ > Twin Cities Linux Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > http://www.mn-linux.org > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > https://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (OpenBSD) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE7/7i/fexLsowstzcRAvYRAKDnlPUVz3TKfQG9fbdH2YS2Ojgj8wCeMZyF sxv0fXmdPBr6i7o+BNOrYJI= =D0zn -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----