Stephen Northcutt needs your help

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Tim O'Reilly <tim () oreilly com>
Date: June 25, 2004 8:49:34 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Stephen Northcutt needs your help

Dave --  I thought that this appeal might deserve some wider airing.   
Obviously, Google Adwords are used in competitive situations all the  
time, but it does seem inappropriate, as Stephen notes, the rules  
should perhaps be a little more stringent for government-funded  
organizations competing with private organizations.  I wonder if anyone  
from CERT could comment.

Begin forwarded message:


> From: Stephen Northcutt <stephen () sans org>
> Date: June 24, 2004 8:54:26 PM MDT
> To: Nathan Torkington (SD136537) <gnat () frii com>
> Subject: Stephen Northcutt needs your help
>
> Hello,
>
> This note is intended for U.S. citizens and is a personal note from
> Stephen Northcutt.  For the past few weeks CERT and SEI, DoD
> government funded organizations, have been purchasing google adwords  
> so that
> when people search for "SANS Training" they see an advertisement for
> CERT/SEI's network manager course.
>
> I have a couple of concerns about this.  The first is trademark or  
> brand
> related, when you search for SANS training, you should get SANS
> training.  Other competing commercial training companies have also
> engaged in this behavior and when I have written them and asked if   
> this
> how they want to be remembered by the security community, they have
> discontinued this practice.  I wrote cert () cert org a couple weeks ago
> and they continue this practice.
>
> My second concern is that the government offering the course violates
> the spirit and letter of OMB A 76. "Two of the key principles of
> Circular A-76 has always been that "in the process of governing, the
> Government should not compete with its citizens" and that "a
> commercial activity is not a governmental function."
> http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a076/comments/a76-289.pdf
> The course:  
> http://www.sei.cmu.edu/products/courses/cert/infosec-net-mgrs.html
> The funding:http://www.sei.cmu.edu/about/about.html
> http://www.cert.org/faq/cert_faq.html#A4
>
> My third concern is the amount of tax we pay as citizens.  The
> government is in the process of authorizing about 481 billion dollars
> for DoD spending.  The Department of Defense clearly has too much
> money if they can afford to create training that mirrors material  
> widely
> available from SANS, MISTI, CSI, Intense School and other training
> organizations.  I believe the money spent on CERT, SEI and the Office
> of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and
> Logistics should each be reduced by at least 10% immediately.
>
> So I am asking for your help.  If you agree with me please write your
> congress person and either use this note as a base or write your own.
> I would be honored if you would copy me, Stephen () sans org.  If you
> don't agree with me, or don't want to help me, that is fine, but  
> before you
> send me a knee jerk email flame would you do three things.  Look at
> your last paycheck stub and remind yourself how much tax you pay,  
> second,
> consider the impact of the U.S. deficit
> (http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ ) and finally think about how you
> would feel if the government decided to compete in a disreputable
> manner with a course that took you months to write, SANS Security
> Leadership.
>
> After that, if you disagree with me, I would love to hear what you   
> have
> to say.  So please help me and write your congressman and tell them
> your home address, make sure they know you vote and you agree that the
> government has no business wasting taxpayer money competing with a
> course Stephen Northcutt does a better job of anyway.
>
> To find your representative:  http://www.house.gov/writerep/
>
> To find your congressional representative, the best link I could find
> is:  http://www.senate.gov/
>
> Thank you for taking the time to help!  Needless to say, I write this
> note as a private citizen and the author of SANS Security Leadership
> and am certain this note does not reflect the collective views and
> opinions of The SANS Institute.
>
> Stephen Northcutt
> Stephen () sans org
> (808) 823-1375



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