[NCLUG] RFC: draft of press release -- comments from another side

[John L. Bass]

	anyway, don't get me wrong. i think the BSA's actions are vulgar, and should
	be stopped. i just think y'all aught to be wearin' the white hats!

It's kinda like the NRA and no-gun camps ... each has rights and concerns, but the
discussion with either will quickly degrade down non-supportable intollerant extreme
of which neither is really "RIGHT".

Any attempt by Gun Hobbiests to defend themselves is quickly pushed into a child killer
argument. Any attempt by no-gun camps to defend themselves is quickly pushed into
a Consitutional Rights arguement.

Any attempt to discuss BSA's actions negatively will quickly be pushed into defending
software piracy. I don't think it is productive to even create a battle ground where
that one issue can force choosing sides and setting a moral framework that WILL paint
the Linux camp as the bad guys here.

We want to push Linux/GPL on it's good merits - not bash BSA members and offer
a free alternative. If we take the high ground and not mention or bash BSA members,
then they have absolutely no grounds to force NCLUG into a non-defensible corner
supporting software pirates.

The offical NCLUG policy should be clear and strong - Piracy of Intellectual Property
is wrong - but not to the extreme of hunting down the community like BSA. Internally
the policy should be "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", we don't need to be goodie-goodie about
it - we are not a moral police organization. We should support the BSA's fundamental
mission of anti-software piracy, since in the long run it supports our position too.
By having a policy that discourages software piracy on encomic grounds, it furthers
our role in offering a cheap (but slightly inferror) alternative that is morally
correct.

John