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By Applelinks Senior Editor John H. Farr
The Washington-based Computer and Communications Industry Association's report concluding that reliance on Microsoft technology poses a national security risk has just claimed its first victim: the lead author of the report! SiliconValley.com has just posted an article with the sad news that Daniel E. Geer Jr., an expert with nearly three decades studying technology and computer security, has been fired from his job at AtStake Incorporated of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
This outrage is only the tip of the iceberg. Not only has a nationally respected computer security expert who dared to tell the truth about the dangers of an operating systems "monoculture" lost an important job for speaking out, the industry group he wrote for, the CCIA, is finding that various industry magazines are refusing to take its advertising. In other words, Microsoft-friendly businesses and publishers are trying to suppress the report.
The only safe position from which to tell the truth about Microsoft may well be that of an editor, commentator, or writer for a Mac-centric Web site. Unfortunately, people like us are relegated to preaching to the choir. Naturally, Microsoft says it did not call for Geer's firing and denies having anything to do with it.
Unfortunately, given Microsoft's power to silence critics and its friends in high places, that the only event capable of dragging the facts out in full public view may be just the sort of catastrophe Geer and his associates warned against. We take no comfort in this, however, and continue to hope for the triumph of enlightenment and compassion over greed.
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