Re: Unix Time Zone Format
Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au> writes:
> That will be good, but we still need to make a lot of noise about this.
> It's ludicrous that any idiot with a lawyer can bring down a resource
> like the site hosting Olsen timezone data, even temporarily.
ado took the site down voluntarily (almost certainly), so there's really
nothing to protest other than the concept of damages for ongoing
infringment after notification, about which making a lot of noise will do
precisely zero. It looks like the tz database was an innocent bystander
in a legal fight between two other companies and the whole thing will blow
over once that's sorted out and the actual nature of the tz database was
established.
All you're going to accomplish at this point by making a lot of noise is
to make life even more difficult for ado, so please don't. Please
remember that he was using a server at his job for this (a US government
server, no less), so he's going to be maximally careful about not turning
this into a problem for his employers.
Once all the details are out and the case is either resolved or there's
some clear idea how we can help is the time to make noise if it's
appropriate then. Right now, lawyers from the IETF are already involved
and the EFF has already been notified, and those of us who are
well-meaning but don't know how to properly handle the specific legal
situation should really just be quiet and let the lawyers handle it.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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