Sun 2008/Apr/20

• Some Chileans are getting it wrong, again. And the worst is that these Chileans, to some extent, claim to carry the free software advocates and promoters flag.

  During the last weeks, I received SPAM from two different entities that promote, in different ways, free software in my country: Corporación Linux and GNUCHILE. I was very surprised when I received the emails from them, which showed that they don't understand how much the FLOSS communities and developers all over the globe reject and disapprove the usage of massive unsolicited email.

  The first SPAM came from Corporación Linux, a Chilean company that gives support on Linux and other free software technologies. I don't know much about this company, but I'm first of all surprised of their usage of both the name Linux and the Tux Penguin. After some research, I found out that you actually need permission from the Linux Mark Institute to do this, so I notified the Institute about this possible trademark abuse (note the emphasis on "possible" –I'm not really aware of the permissions they may have to use the Linux logo and name, and that's why I notified LMI in the first place).

  The second SPAM came from GNUCHILE, a Chilean foundation devoted to the spread of the GNU operating system and Free Software in general. The contents of the SPAM seem noble: it's only an invitation for people to attend the FLISOL in Santiago, next week. Still, it's discouraging to see them using SPAM for this: the end doesn't justify the means.

  I'm concerned, because this is the kind of issues that may give the wrong impression about the people behind FLOSS. I'm sure that most of the real Chilean contributors, advocates, and developers of FLOSS are against SPAM, as a matter of principles. Therefore, seeing these people using it makes me feel like we are moving backwards.

Syndicated 2008-04-20 05:05:00 from Claudio's ChangeLog