Kenneth Brown (author)

Kenneth P. Brown, Jr. is an American lobbyist and author, and the former president of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI), a think tank based in Arlington, Virginia.

He is best known for authoring reports critical of Linux and open source software, notably the book Samizdat. While his intended audience included legislators, newspaper editors, and talk show hosts, his reports and book are strongly criticized in technical circles for numerous inaccuracies and intentional falsehoods. A number of technology journalists accused Brown of leading a smear campaign against Linux. The allegations in his articles are refuted by many including those Brown critiqued, neutral experts, as well as Microsoft, a funder of AdTI, the entity, which most likely to benefit from Brown's campaign.

Activities

As AdTI's President, Brown oversaw the Institution's policy studies and foundation relationships. He is also Vice-President of the Emerging Markets Group, an overseas market investment and advisory firm. Kenneth Brown also serves on the Board of Directors of the Democratic Century Fund, and oversees an investment hedge fund.

Brown has a B.A. in English Literature from George Mason University.

Articles

• “One Year Makes the Difference in Access Debate”, Multichannel News, May 1, 2000.
• “The Internet Privacy Debate”, International Journal of Communications and Law Policy, March 8, 2001.
• “Outsourcing and The Devaluation of Intellectual Property”, Darwinmag.com, (April 26, 2004)
• “Samizdat: And Other Issues Regarding the 'Source' of Open Source Code”, May 20, 2004.

External links

• Kenneth Brown, B.A. (biography, International Journal of Communications Law and Policy)
• Andrew Tanenbaum, "Ken Brown's Motivation, Release 1.2", Linuxtoday, May 22, 2004.
• Andrew Tanenbaum, "Some Notes on the 'Who Wrote Linux' Kerfuffle, Release 1.1", Linuxtoday, May 20, 2004.
• Andrew Tanenbaum, "Some Notes on the 'Who wrote Linux' Kerfuffle, Release 1.5", Original article by Andrew Tanenbaum, May 20, 2004.