Patented NSA-Linux

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

A security-oriented Linux-based operating system is being pressed toward
non-free licensing by the existence of a patent on one of the critical
calculation rules which it uses.

See

From: http://lwn.net/Articles/2376/

SELinux is a distribution produced by the U.S. National Security Agency. It
is based on the Linux Security Module architecture (which is not yet part
of the 2.5 kernel). SELinux provides a whole set of mandatory access
control features to protect parts of the system from each other. There is
no "root" user in SELinux. Even if a server process is compromised, it is
highly limited in the damage it can do to the rest of the system.

...

SCC, in its implementation of SELinux, used a technology that it calls
type enforcement. As it turns out, SCC has a patent on this technology.

...

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
120,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/