Ohio Linuxfest 2008

The young perspective

Elizabeth Garbee is a 16-year-old senior in high school who has used Linux for most, if not all of her life. She did her first Debian install—with help from her sysadmin father—at nine years of age. Today, she uses open source software everywhere and has talked about it throughout the world at Linux.conf.au twice and at SCALE and OScon each once.

Garbee is quick to point out that she is an artist more than a programmer, but believes that "if you use something, you should be able to see how it runs in case you need to fix it." While she uses Linux primarily, she laments that she still must use Windows for some of her assignments. Her school actually banned Linux for a while. Yes, students could get expelled for using Linux on school property because a Linux-savvy student ran a port scan once and broke into a school server to alter grades. The rule was around for a while before her father spoke up—it was quickly repealed.

Garbee did not present any technical information or the like, but that was not the point of her talk. I saw her talk as more of a report from a student and young user of open source software: someone who has learned how to use it effectively in her daily life and teach others about it. "Misconceptions are prevalent," she said.

GeekPAC: Hacking the legislature

Ilan Rabinovich is one of the founders of GeekPAC, formerly known as BytesFree. GeekPAC is currently-forming political action committee subscribing to the belief that "information rights are human rights."

One of the most asked questions about GeekPAC is how it relates to the work done by the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge. Ilan clarifies the modus operandi by explaining that the EFF and Public Knowledge act reactively, whereas GeekPAC will operate proactively.

One audience member asked on which of the Republican or Democrat party GeekPAC would be courting the most. Rabinovich replied, "Both parties suck at patent reform, IP law, copyrights, and fair use rights." One of the goals is to ask lawmakers to make a pledge to respect information rights and receive the guidance in these matters of GeekPAC. GeekPAC will also hold educational sessions around the country and especiall at conventions such as Ohio Linuxfest, where folks are far more likely to be interested and recognizing of the need for information rights.

GeekPAC is also pushing for more accountability, as two major acts, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 and the PRO-IP Act of 2008 were passed with unanimous consent, meaning no record is kept of how a legislator voted. "As a citizen, we have a right to know how our legislators voted," said Rabinovich.