FSF Campaign against Microsoft's Plan to Enforce "Secure Boot"

[geoffrey mendelson]

On Oct 25, 2011, at 2:45 AM, Amit Aronovitch wrote:
> Sorry for not following up on the legal issues (getting too tired  
> right now), but I thought that Israel was the country that tried to  
> legislate a non-boycott law :-)
>
> If US law forbade boycotts, how comes Pepsi or McDonnald's were not  
> dissolved for participating in the Arab boycott? (and this was full  
> boycott, not merely a
> single-visit-personal-compliance by the foundation's president).
>
> I need to know that, because I'm considering boycotting emails from  
> people that boycott organizations whose presidents boycott countries  
> that pass laws against boycotting Israel.
>
> If some of the people involved in this chain are US citizens (or  
> Israeli, or both), would I get into trouble?
>
>    (yet another) AA



It's not the boycott itself, it's that a boycott of Israel is outside  
of the activities that the FSF is chartered to conduct.

Because of the type of corporation they chose to incorporate as, they  
can only do political actions as  corporation related to free software  
(check their articles of incorporation and the relevant laws, IANAL).

For example (but don't hold me to it) they could boycott Apple because  
it uses a closed OS, but not because it uses child labor in China.

So because RMS claimed that AS PRESIDENT OF THE FSF he was boycotting  
Israel because of its treatment of Palestinian Arabs, he was  
performing a political activity that they were forbidden to do.

If he had claimed that he was doing it as RMS, private citizen, or  
because free software was being blocked at the "borders", Israel was  
harming Palestinian Arabs for use of free software, etc it would have  
been different.

BUT he dragged the FSF into it, and that was not legal.

Geoff.



-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson,  N3OWJ/4X1GM
My high blood pressure medicine reduces my midichlorian count. :-(