Free for All How Linux and the Free Software Move- ment Undercut the High-Tech Titans by Peter Wayner This is the free electronic version of the book originally published by HarperCollins. The book is still protected by copyright and bound by a license granting you the limited rights to make complete copies for non-commercial purposes.You’re welcome to read it in electronic form subject to these conditions: 1) You may not make derivative works. You must reproduce the work in its entirety. 2) You may not sell versions. 3) You refer everyone receiving a copy to the website where they may get the latest corrected version. (http://www.wayner.org/books/ffa/). A full license developed by the Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org) will be forth- coming. Please write ([email protected]) if you have any questions or suggestions. Disappearing Cryptography, 2nd Edition Information Hiding: Steganography & Watermarking by Peter Wayner ISBN 1-55860-769-2 $44.95 To order, visit: http://www.wayner.org/books/discrypt2/ Disappearing Cryptography, Second Edition describes how to take words, sounds, or images and hide them in digital data so they look like other words, sounds, or images. When used properly, this powerful technique makes it almost impossible to trace the author and the recipient of a message. Conversations can be sub- merged in the flow of information through the Internet so that no one can know if a conversation exists at all. This full revision of the best-selling first edition “Disappearing Cryptography is a witty and enter- describes a number of different techniques to hide taining look at the world of information hiding. information. These include encryption, making data Peter Wayner provides an intuitive perspective of the incomprehensible; steganography, embedding infor- many techniques, applications, and research direc- mation into video, audio, or graphics files; watermark- tions in the area of steganography. The sheer breadth ing, hiding data in the noise of image or sound files; of topics is outstanding and makes this book truly mimicry, “dressing up” data and making it appear to be unique. A must read for those who would like to other data, and more. begin learning about information hiding.” The second edition also includes an expanded dis- --Deepa Kundur, University of Toronto cussion on hiding information with spread-spectrum algorithms, shuffling tricks, and synthetic worlds. Each “An excellent introduction for private individuals, chapter is divided into sections, first providing an intro- businesses, and governments who need to under- duction and high-level summary for those who want stand the complex technologies and their effects on to understand the concepts without wading through protecting privacy, intellectual property and other technical explanations, and then presenting greater interests.” detail for those who want to write their own pro- grams. To encourage exploration, the author’s Web site - David Banisar, Research Fellow, Harvard Infor- www.wayner.org/books/discrypt2/ contains implemen- mation Infrastructure Project, & Deputy Director, tations for hiding information in lists, sentences, and Privacy International. images. • Do you have personal infor- Most database administrators spend some of each day worrying about the information mation in your database? they keep. Some spend all of their time. Caring for information can be a dangerous • Do you keep les on your responsibility. customers, your employees, This new book, Translucent Databases, or anyone else? describes a different attitude toward pro- tecting the information. Most databases pro- vide elaborate control mechanisms for letting • Do you need to worry abou the right people in to see the right records. European laws restricting the These tools are well-designed and thoroughly information you keep? tested, but they can only provide so much support. If someone breaks into the operat- ing system itself, all of the data on the hard • Do you keep copies of credit disk is unveiled. If a clerk, a supervisor, or a card numbers, social security system administrator decides to turn traitor, numbers, or other informa- there’s nothing anyone can do. tion that might be useful to Translucent databases provide better, deeper identity thieves or insurance protection by scrambling the data with encryption algorithms. The solutions use the fraudsters? minimal amount of encryption to ensure that the database is still functional. In the best • Do you deal with medical applications, the personal and sensitive infor- mation is protected but the database still records or personal secrets? delivers the information. Translucent Databases, a new book by Peter Wayner, comes with more than two dozen examples in Java and SQL code. The book comes with a royalty- free license to use the code for your own projects in any way you wish. Order today at http://www.wayner.org/books/td/ FreeForAll/i-viii/repro 4/21/00 11:43 AM Page i FREE FOR ALL FreeForAll/i-viii/repro 4/21/00 11:43 AM Page ii FreeForAll/i-viii/repro 4/21/00 11:43 AM Page iii FREE FOR ALL … How Linux and the Free Software Movement Undercut the High-Tech Titans PETER WAYNER FreeForAll/i-viii/repro 4/21/00 11:43 AM Page iv FREE FOR ALL. Copyright © 2000 by Peter Wayner. Some Rights Reserved.See front cover. FIRST PDF EDITION Page layout for this and the original paper edition designed by William Ruoto Not printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wayner, Peter, 1964– Free for all : how Linux and the free software movement undercut the high-tech titans / Peter Wayner. p. cm. ISBN 0-06-662050-3 1. Linux. 2. Operating systems (Computers) 3. Free computer software. I. Title. QA76.76.063 W394 2000 005.4'469—dc21 00-023919 00 01 02 03 04 ❖/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FreeForAll/i-viii/repro 4/21/00 11:43 AM Page v CONTENTS Acknowledgments . vii 1. Battle . 1 2. Lists . 17 3. Image . 25 4. College . 31 5. Quicksand . 41 6. Outsider . 53 7. Growth . 67 8. Freedom . 77 9. Source . 105 10. People . 125 11. Politics . 139 12. Charity . 147 13. Love . 161 14. Corporations . 171 15. Money . 189 16. Fork . 205 17. Core . 229 18. T-Shirts . 239 19. New . 253 20. Nations . 265 FreeForAll/i-viii/repro 4/21/00 11:43 AM Page vi vi … CONTENTS 21. Wealth . 277 22. Future . 291 Glossary . 309 Bibliography . 317 Index . 325 FreeForAll/i-viii/repro 4/21/00 11:43 AM Page vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This is just a book about the free software movement. It wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and the dedication of the thousands if not millions of people who like to spend their free time hacking code. I salute you. Thank you. Many people spoke to me during the process of assembling this book, and it would be impossible to cite them all. The list should begin with the millions of people who write and contribute to the various free software lists. The letters, notes, and postings to these lists are a won- derful history of the evolution of free software and an invaluable resource. The list should also include the dozens of journalists at places like Slashdot.org, LinuxWorld, Linux magazine, Linux Weekly News, Kernel Traffic, Salon, and the New York Times. I should specifically mention the work of Joe Barr, Jeff Bates, Janelle Brown, Zack Brown, Jonathan Corbet, Elizabeth Coolbaugh, Amy Harmon, Andrew Leonard, Rob Malda, John Markoff, Mark Nielsen, Nicholas Petreley, Harald Radke, and Dave Whitinger. They wrote wonderful pieces that will make a great first draft of the history of the open source movement. Only a few of the pieces are cited directly in the footnotes, largely for practical rea- sons. The entire body of websites like Slashdot, Linux Journal, Linux World, Kernel Notes, or Linux Weekly News should be required reading for anyone interested in the free software movement. There are hundreds of folks at Linux trade shows who took the time to show me their products, T-shirts, or, in one case, cooler filled with beer. Almost everyone I met at the conferences was happy to speak FreeForAll/i-viii/repro 4/21/00 11:43 AM Page viii viii … ACKNOWLEDGMENTS about their experiences with open source software. They were all a great source of information, and I don’t even know most of their names. Some people went beyond the call of duty. John Gilmore, Ethan Rasiel, and Caroline McKeldin each read drafts when the book was quite unfin- ished. Their comments were crucial. Many friends, acquaintances, and subjects of the book were kind enough to read versions that were a bit more polished, but far from complete: L. David Baron, Jeff Bates, Brian Behlendorf, Alan Cox, Robert Dreyer, Theo de Raadt, Telsa Gwynne, Jordan Hubbard, James Lewis Moss, Kirk McKusick, Sam Ockman, Tim O’Reilly, Sameer Parekh, Bruce Perens, Eric Raymond, and Richard Stallman. There are some people who deserve a different kind of thanks. Daniel Greenberg and James Levine did a great job shaping the conception of the book. When I began, it was just a few ideas on paper. My editors, David Conti, Laureen Rowland, Devi Pillai, and Adrian Zackheim, were largely responsible for this transition. Kimberly Monroe suffered through my mistakes as she took the book through its production stages. They took a bunch of rambling comments about a social phenomenon and helped turn it into a book. Finally, I want to thank everyone in my family for everything they’ve given through all of my life. And, of course, Caroline, who edited large portions with a slavish devotion to grammar and style. Visit http://www.wayner.org/books/ffa/ for updates, corrections, and additional comments.