Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

bluesky - RE: your freenet posts

bluesky AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Global-Scale Distributed Storage Systems

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: <george-oldenburg AT pobox.com>
  • To: "'Global-Scale Distributed Storage Systems'" <bluesky AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: your freenet posts
  • Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 13:47:49 -0700


> I found Ian to be a politically correct snob

That's an understatement.

> I was also stressed out and really pissed off because I thought the FBI
had contacted me, and I really couldn't understand why; it's just a design
and an incomplete one at that. I now know it was some ex-coworkers screwing
with my head.

You should consider a civil suit, but it may cost you as much as you intend
to recoup. You may want to avoid the courts completely, it will take years.

Your X.509 CA validation idea needs more detail. I am not aware of any
existing service like that. Recording who the CA isn't enough, you need the
signature of the certificate, its serial #, etc. Plus you need to address
how your service will avoid being spoofed itself. Considering the past
responses you've received, I'd recommend you move over to the cipherpunks
list. They will be far more useful for your project than these people.

George O.

-----Original Message-----
From: Josh [mailto:josh AT mercuryfs.net]
Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2001 1:34 PM
To: Global-Scale Distributed Storage Systems
Cc: Bluesky global storage list (E-mail)
Subject: RE: your freenet posts

Martin, if you read my posts then you saw me state that I will be forwarding
any more messages I receive regarding freenet back to their chat list.
However, I've finally stopped receiving emails (or should I say lectures
about the definition of open source) from them. So instead I'm copying this
message to another group which has been just as prejudicial, liberal, and
useless as the freenet crowd because it may help them to understand what
happened. Especially since I just posted a brief and professional message to
the list the other day and received another useless insult of a reply, and
of course it was a private email.

To answer your question, the reason I approached them was a business
proposition. I was excited to find out about their project, but didn't do
enough research on them because I've got so much stuff on my to do list.
Once I learned that Ian had received funding and was forming a company, I
assumed he was a businessman who'd be interested in hearing a business
proposition. That was mistake #1. When I asked him to return my phone call,
he replied "I prefer email". That should have caused me to realize the type
of person I'm approaching. That was mistake #2.

He was interested in reviewing my design, but didn't have the courtesy to
reply to my email once I asked him to sign a non-disclosure (I had not yet
filed for the patent). I should have just moved on, but instead announced
the design on the freenet list a month or so later when I had filed for the
patent. That was mistake #3, because he clearly had no intention of hearing
me out. He was too busy inviting his group to tear into me. Quite an
unprofessional response.

I found Ian to be a politically correct snob who thinks people seeking
patents are bad people. His group views open source as a religion, and like
most religions they argue about the 10% difference between their philosophy
and other philosophies, while ignoring the 90% we have in common. I remember
seeing a post that goes something like "the day is upon us, the BSD license
is being pitted against the GNU license, lets all rally together, blah blah
blah" No wonder Microsoft dominates; these fools are all too busy arguing
among themselves.

I'm against most forms of censorship, key escrow, and other common things. I
do not support the elimination of copyrights or the rejection of patents. My
end goals are similar to freenet's, but the philosophy and methods of
achieving those goals are different. To use an analogy, think of me as a
republican who's opposed to the death penalty because of the recent DNA
evidence that shows that 10% of death row inmates are innocent. I have no
problem with the death penalty, but I do have a problem with a flawed system
run by ass backwards bureaucrats. Now think of Ian as the liberal who's
opposed to the death penalty for moral reasons. Now consider me approaching
him as saying "lets work together on a common goal", and him saying "get
lost you conservative puke". That's how I view what happened. But I've
also run into other groups (such as the second CC address of this email)
that are just as worthless as the freenet crowd, and they aren't even
political projects like freenet. It's amazing how only 2 of their replies
were useful, and one was a response to a question about freenet.

The main reason they pissed me off is that they remind me of people who
always create personnel problems. I come from a project management
background, and am so sick of dealing with close minded idealists that are
politically correct yet worthless. I'm so sick of people who waste time on
idealism and argue about petty details.

To answer your question of why I went about it in that way: I was really
pissed off, and didn't think before I typed. My emails for the last 8 years
have been to people I've already met face to face, or to tech support
people. So I'm not used to the online crowd or meeting people thru emails. I
should have spent more than 10 minutes typing the license, which contained
statements that were easily misinterpreted. It was definitely not ready for
the public, and these guys treat licenses as holy scripture. Plus I could
should found a better license to modify than GNU, because it's the most
liberal of open source licenses. Basically, the patent app came in the mail
and I immediately went online with what I had because I was excited, even
though it wasn't ready. When they decided to discuss everything BUT the
design, I was a bit shocked. What you didn't see in their email archives was
the amount of private messages that was completely insulting and useless. I
allowed myself to get angry because of those messages, so my responses were
not professional.

I was also stressed out and really pissed off because I thought the FBI had
contacted me, and I really couldn't understand why; it's just a design and
an incomplete one at that. I now know it was some ex-coworkers screwing with
my head. I've notified the FBI with some proof they impersonated them, which
is a serious crime, but there were no finger prints on the letter they sent
me other than my own, so they aren't going to do anything about it. I spent
a good amount of money putting a law firm on retainer to deal with this, and
that retainer fee is non refundable since it was a hoax. I've illegally
obtained emails that prove it was them, but they can't be used as evidence
in court.

Add that all together and you've got the explanation of what happened.
Altogether, it was a big mistake and I've learned from it.

Good luck with your report, and keep in mind that my project isn't exactly
peer to peer (or client/server), so I'd keep it out of your report. Assuming
your report is for school, here are a few tips: Be sure to check out
www.oreilly.com, and click on the P2P section, it's a good starting point.
Also note that P2P has been around for a long time, it's not a new buzzword.
For example, my first introduction to it was Artisoft's Lantastic in the
1980's, but it probably goes back to distributed mini computers of the
1970's (an assumption). I'm not pro at P2P.

- josh



-----Original Message-----
From: martin chao [mailto:martin12345678992649 AT yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2001 5:50 PM
To: josh AT mercuryfs.net
Subject: your freenet posts

Hello, I was reading the freenet e-mail archives and I
ran across your posts. I must say, their responses
really illustrates the tunnel vision mentality of
these people.

I'm curious, why did you choose to engage this group?
And why did you go about it in that way?
(your design comes across much more professionally
than those email posts).

The reason I ask is for a report I'm writing about
peer to peer technologies.

Thank you

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
http://personals.yahoo.com



---
You are currently subscribed to bluesky as: josh AT mercuryfs.net
For list information visit http://www.transarc.ibm.com/~ota/bluesky/





  • RE: your freenet posts, Josh, 10/20/2001
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • RE: your freenet posts, george-oldenburg, 10/20/2001

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page