[CS-FSLUG] Biblical anti-MS, pro Free Software arguments

[Norbert Bollow]

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Don Parris has (in private email) expressed interest in how I
would formulate my arguments for Free Software from a Christian
perspective.  Hence here is my write-up of what has motivated
me to start the DotGNU project, and what still motivates me to
be active in the Free Software movement.  By the way, I have
prayed to God, asking Him that the brothers and sisters whom
the Lord wants to call to start a Christian Free Software
business together with me would feel particularly moved by the
Holy Spirit when reading this article.

May the peace of Christ be with you all,
Norbert.




  Arguments against Microsoft software, in favor of Free Software and
  IETF-style Open Standards, from a Christian, Biblical perspective.

According to Dan 2:36-45, the age of human empires is coming to an end
through a sovereign action of God.  This will be the end of all kinds
of human empires, including business empires.  Here the term "business
empires" refers to companies which use anti-competitive tactics,
oppression or manipulation, to extend their realm of influence, or to
make people work for them under unjust conditions.  These tactics are
in direct violation of the command of Jesus to love your neighbor as
yourself.

It is reasonable to expect that when God crushes all the wicked human
empires, they will try to strike back in some way.  Since they cannot
do anything directly against God, they will instead take action against
the saints.  The Bible speaks openly about this.  Dan 7:25 and Rev 13:7-8
speak about a time of particularly strong persecution shortly before the
end of the age, while Rev 18:24 makes this general statement about
"Babylon the Great" (which symbolizes the political and economic empires
of the world): "In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
and of all who have been killed on the earth."

It is therefore important for Christians, and especially for Christian
businesses and ministries, to understand what is going on, so that God's
people can obey the command to "come out of her" (Babylon, which
symbolizes the worldly system of human empires) "so that you will not
share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues"
(Rev 18:4).

A lot of internet technology, including the domain name system (DNS) and
the email system, has been developed and standardized in a righteous
manner, i.e. in a manner which is completely outside the control of all
human empires.

The software which runs on most mailservers to transport email over
the internet, as well as the software which implements the domain name
system, are distributed with full source code and licensed under terms
which allow anyone to modify the programs, and to redistribute the
programs in original or modified form.  The means that the fundamental
software which makes the internet useful for communicating by email is
not part of any human empire, it's not part of the "Babylon" system about
which God says "come out of her".  In general, computer software with this
nice property is referred to as "Free Software" or "Open Source Software".
(The two terms "Free Software" and "Open Source Software" have practically
identical meaning; from the Christian perspective it is preferable to say
"Free Software" because this term emphasizes the aspect of freedom from
the control of all wicked human empires.)

The fundamental protocols of the internet, including the protocols for
the domain name system and the email system, have been standardized
through a collaborative process based on "rough consensus" in "IETF
Working Groups".  Here "IETF" stands for "Internet Engineering Task
Force".  This is not an organization under anyone's control, but rather
an international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and
researchers which is open to any interested individual.  There has never
been any act of an industry consortium or a government of this world or
any international treaty which would have given the IETF the authority
to determine the future of the internet.  The influence of the IETF
comes solely through voluntary decisions of the authors of computer
programs to follow the standards published by the IETF.  This situation
is not a shortcoming of the IETF, but rather it is what ensures that
the results of the "internet standards" process are acceptable from the
Christian "Kingdom-of-God" perspective.  Interestingly, the IETF standards
are usually referred to as "RFCs", where "RFC" is an abbreviation for
"Request For Comments".  In the IETF standards process, all knowledgeable
people are invited to join in and comment.

The first important internet standard where one of the wicked corporate
empires of this world has managed to achieve dominating influence is the
standard for the HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format which specifies
the format of webpages so that they can be displayed in a browser such
as Firefox or "Internet Explorer".  While HTTP, the HyperText Transfer
Protocol, which is used to transport webpages over the internet, has been
standardized through the IETF process, the HTML format for webpages has
been standardized only by the "World Wide Web Consortium", an industry
consortium in which Microsoft Corporation has a strong influence.  In
addition, Microsoft's "Internet Explorer" has such dominant market share 
that web designers are effectively forced to design pages so that they
look good in "Internet Explorer" and competing web browsers such as
Firefox (which should be preferred not only because it's better and more
secure, but also because it's Free Software) must be programmed to mimic
the behavior of "Internet Explorer" instead of just implementing the
standard.  In this context it is important to keep in mind that it has
been found in court (both by the district court and by the appeals court) 
that Microsoft Corporation has achieved this monopoly position in an
illegal manner, i.e. through illegal anti-competitive actions to drive
competitors such as Netscape out of the market.  The end result of this
lawsuit (in which the U.S. "Department of Justice" sued Microsoft
Corporation) has been to establish as a fact that Microsoft has committed
a grave injustice; however the lawsuit hasn't had any significant success
in the area of putting things right, through taking away from Microsoft
the influence over the internet which they have illegally gained.  In
this area the U.S. "Department of Justice" and the courts seem to be
powerless.  It's up to every individual computer user to decide whether
they want to continue to be part of Microsoft's software empire, or
whether they want to come out of it and use Free Software such as the
Firefox web browser and the GNU/Linux operating system.

Microsoft's .NET initiative can also be seen as an attempt to bring more
of the internet under Microsoft's control.  For example the New York
Times reported on July 25, 2002 in the article "Microsoft Tries to
Explain What Its .Net Plans Are About" that "Microsoft also warned today
that the era of 'open computing,' the free exchange of digital
information that has defined the personal computer industry, is ending."
Fortunately, at least so far, this aspect of Microsoft's plans for
extending the reach of their empire appears to have been unsuccessful.

Looking forward, the next main battlefield where Microsoft Corporation
is likely to attack the realm of Free Software and IETF-style open
standards is the email system.  Clearly the email system needs to be
changed in some way to solve the problem of unsolicited bulk email
(spam).  Microsoft has recently attempted to get changes to
the email system approved through the IETF working-group process,
changes which would have introduced the "Sender-ID" sender authentication
system.  A major problem of this proposal is that it would have required
a (non-sublicensable) patent license from Microsoft, which is incompatible
with the idea of Free Software.  Not surprisingly, it has been impossible
to achieve "rough consensus" for this Microsoft proposal, as required by
IETF procedures.  That however has not stopped Microsoft from still
trying to push their ideas through, for example through political lobbying
and through sheer market power.  Besides this "Sender-ID" system,
Microsoft is also pushing for the introduction of some kind of central
authority for the internet which would enforce a kind of postage for
email.

Of course Microsoft would like to replace the current internet email
system which is based on IETF standards ("RFCs") and Free Software with
a proprietary system under their control.  It is important for Christian
businesses and ministries to resist that.  If we allow that to happen,
we will be in a situation like that described in 1 Sam 16:19-23, where
only two people in the whole army of Israel had proper weapons, because
the Philistines had made sure that there were no smiths among the
people of Israel.  With Microsoft's proprietary software, only one
company (Microsoft) is able to change the software.  With Free Software
and open standards ("RFCs"), everyone has the right to make needed
changes, which includes many Christians who have the necessary skills.

As mentioned in the beginning, shortly before the end of the age and
the return of our Lord Jesus, circumstances will change so that
Christian ministry and legitimate, God-fearing business activities
become more difficult.  However also during this difficult time, our
calling remains unchanged:  We must continue to witness to a dying
world about the eternal salvation which can be found in Jesus Christ.

- From the perspective of the Kingdom of God, the most important
aspect of the internet is the ability to communicate by email.  If we
manage to retain our ability to communicate quickly and reliably though
securely encrypted email messages, it will be much easier to effectively
coordinate ministry activities even when there is some persecution.  The
persecution will eventually become so heavy that no form of ministry is
possible anymore, but if we prepare properly, we will be able to minister
effectively and save a lot of souls during the early stages of persecution
when many people start to realize that they're part of a wicked human
empire.


  Written by Norbert Bollow, 2004-11-26.
  This document is in the Public Domain.
  No Rights Reserved.




- -- 
Founder & Steering Committee member of DotGNU, see http://dotgnu.org/
Free Software Business Strategy Guide   --->  http://FreeStrategy.info
Norbert Bollow, Weidlistr.18, CH-8624 Gruet (near Zurich, Switzerland)

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