Posted on 04/18/2003 1:32:37 PM PDT by Pro-Bush
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The U.S. military's research agency cut off grant money for helping to develop a secure, free operating system after a top programmer made anti-war statements to a major newspaper.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency halted the contract less than two weeks after The Globe and Mail of Toronto published a story in which programmer Theo de Raadt was quoted as saying he was "uncomfortable" about the funding source.
"I try to convince myself that our grant means a half of a cruise missile doesn't get built," de Raadt told the newspaper.
Within a few days, de Raadt said he received an e-mail from Jonathan Smith, a computer science professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the grant's lead researcher, expressing discomfort over the statements.
On Thursday, Smith notified de Raadt of the cancellation.
"A tenured professor was telling me not to exercise my freedom of speech," de Raadt said.
Smith declined to comment on the matter, and DARPA did not return telephone messages Friday. De Raadt's suspicions about the cancellation could not be confirmed.
The $2.3 million grant had funded security improvements to the OpenBSD operating system since 2001 as well as related projects.
OpenBSD, a variation of Unix (news - web sites) designed for use on servers, is touted as so secure that its default installation has had only one bug in the past seven years.
Thousands of copies of OpenBSD have been downloaded in the past six months. It's not clear, however, how many are in use.
De Raadt estimates about 85 percent of the DARPA grant has been spent, with about $1 million being used to pay for OpenBSD developers. Much of the work has been handled by a team of 80 unpaid volunteers.
Another $500,000 of the money funded the work of United Kingdom-based researchers on a related project called OpenSSL, which is used to encrypt data.
DARPA, which oversees research activities for the Pentagon (news - web sites), is best known for developing the network that evolved into the Internet.
___
On the Net:
"I try to convince myself that our grant means a half of a cruise missile doesn't get built," de Raadt told the newspaper.
Within a few days, de Raadt said he received an e-mail from Jonathan Smith, a computer science professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the grant's lead researcher, expressing discomfort over the statements.
On Thursday, Smith notified de Raadt of the cancellation.
"A tenured professor was telling me not to exercise my freedom of speech," de Raadt said.
Smith declined to comment on the matter, and DARPA did not return telephone messages Friday. De Raadt's suspicions about the cancellation could not be confirmed.
The $2.3 million grant had funded security improvements to the OpenBSD operating system since 2001 as well as related projects.
OpenBSD, a variation of Unix (news - web sites) designed for use on servers, is touted as so secure that its default installation has had only one bug in the past seven years.
Thousands of copies of OpenBSD have been downloaded in the past six months. It's not clear, however, how many are in use.
De Raadt estimates about 85 percent of the DARPA grant has been spent, with about $1 million being used to pay for OpenBSD developers. Much of the work has been handled by a team of 80 unpaid volunteers.
Another $500,000 of the money funded the work of United Kingdom-based researchers on a related project called OpenSSL, which is used to encrypt data.
DARPA, which oversees research activities for the Pentagon (news - web sites), is best known for developing the network that evolved into the Internet.
___
On the Net:
OpenBSD: http://www.openbsd.org
DARPA: http://www.darpa.mil
Anti-war behavior = No government funding
No one put you in jail. No one told you that you COULDN'T make the statements you did.
But no one has the obligation to give you taxpayers' money to develop software for the military of our government when you basically are saying the military is "evil."
I'm simply surprised at your hypocrisy, is all I can say.
"A tenured professor was telling me not to exercise my freedom of speech," de Raadt said.
A professor cannot tell you you can't exercise your freedom of speech. What he is telling you is that freedom of speech can have consequences in the private sector. Now, if the government had thrown him in jail for being 'uncomfortable', then that would be restrictions on freedom of speech.
However, he wouldn't have been in jail long, even if tossed in. He's a Canadian and the local Canadian attache would have him out in minutes.
The irony here is that EVERYONE in the computer security game KNOWS that "social engineering" is the weakest security link. So mouthing off about politics while working on an OS for the folks you're badmouthing is simply comical.
He lives in Canada. He has no freedom of speech to lose. :-)
This has nothing to do with freedom of speech, jerk. This is about an organization giving you money and you publicly expressing negative wishes for that organization. If I did that with my employer, I would be escorted out the door, period.
If it's "free", why does it require grant money?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.