IT SICKOUT

Kelley Walker kwalker2 at gte.net
Thu Jul 19 08:02:24 PDT 2001


At Defcon 9, Adobe sent the Feds to arrest White Hat Hacker, Skylarov, for demonstrating how it would be possible to hack Adobe E-books. The point was to demonstrate that this technology can't be secured as Adobe says it can. See www.boycottadobe.com where they quote some pretty ridiculous statements made by Adobe about the invincibility of their security. It's also a form of (non-radical) protest against IP. I suspect that their critique of IP is less than ideal...

see: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45342,00.html

nonetheless, I thought this call for action interesting. For matt and AC and others who didn't understand what I was talking about when I said that the pattern of professional organization would be likely in IT, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that there's enough momentum. But it is precisely at times when the market becomes flush with employees and the .gov threatens to stick it's nose in that occupations move to organize to thwart the .gov and to give themselves an edge in a competitive labor market.

more info on the presentation of the hack and the boycott adobe movement.

hmmm, combined as a boycott and a move to organize, would carrol find this up to snuff. heh. speaking of, i should CC: this to Carrol since it's an example of thwarting technology designed to keep information a commodity. The Cult of the Dead Cow's Peek A Booty wasn't finished for a Defcon 9 splash Carrol, but it'll be down. They presented Back Orifice 2 years ago at Defcon b/c they were pissed at MS and they presented Back Orifice 2000 last year. This year, Peek A Booty was supposed to make a splash, but...

personally, i don't see this move as especially progressive. I seriously doubt IT folks will every unionize. Professionalize to protect their turf, yes. Def. not unionize.

<fowarded>

From: Cancer Omega <comega at dis.org> (Jay D. Dyson) For those who missed Dmitry's presentation at Defcon, go here: http://www.treachery.net/~jdyson/ebooks/ For those who already know what the big maggeggie's all about, go here:

http://www.boycottadobe.com

Adobe: the computer industry's RIAA. .c </backwarded>

----- Forwarded message -----

IT SICKOUT---IT SICKOUT---IT SICKOUT---IT SICKOUT

READ AND PASS ALONG

The government and corporate america are setting a very bad precedent with the arrest of Skylarov. We need to send a strong message back to them.

Currently, there are no organizations that represent IT workers and the people who keep company email, networks, and infrastructure running. The EFF is supporting the defense of Skylarov, but the DCMA is the real issue. It must be reviewed and abolished.

This may be a bad time in the industry, but it was a time like this that other Unions formed in order to have some representation. Well, we need and deserve the same.

So, the short term action is an IT SICKOUT. Just one day to protest the DMCA and the arrest of Skylarov. Long term action, create some professional guilds, unions, etc. to prevent these laws from changing our Freedoms.

There is a yahoo group to organize this action: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adhoc_it

READ AND PASS ALONG

IT SICKOUT---IT SICKOUT---IT SICKOUT---IT SICKOUT

----- End forwarded message -----



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