relationship between squid and safesquid?

[ there's very little mention and no discussion of safesquid on the
squid list archives, so i don't know if this issue has come up before.
sent to the -dev list because licensing issues seem more relevant to
developers aka copyright-holders than to users. please CC me on any
replies, i haven't been subscribed to squid-dev or squid-users for many
years, although i still use squid every day and install it routinely on
new networks ]

on the debian-isp list, we've just had someone recommend safesquid[1],
as an off-topic reply to someone who had already said they don't want
just a http proxy, they want generic IP content filtering.

the sub-thread starts here:

http://lists.debian.org/debian-isp/2008/05/msg00010.html

on further investigation, all of the howtoforge articles about safesquid
referenced by this "Sean" person were all written by him, and a google
search for his email address shows that his *entire* presence on the
net consists of him making off-topic recommendations for safesquid in
response to various questions. i think it's a pretty safe bet that he's
a shill spamming for the safesquid company.

the spamming and astro-turfing has annoyed me, as has their
misappropriation of squid's name and the goodwill & reputation
associated with the name (and also their implication that the real squid
is somehow "unsafe"), so what i'm trying to find out is:

0. are you, the squid developers and copyright holders, happy with
safesquid's use of squid's name and/or code, and/or their compliance
with the licensing terms? if so, then i'll just drop the issue and shut
up about it.

1. what, if any, connection is there between squid and safesquid?

2. is safesquid derived from squid's source code? or does it
just use squid?

3. if it is derived from squid's source, does the safesquid company live
up to the terms of squid's GPL v2-or-later license?

4. if it just uses squid, and IF they distribute it together with squid
(rather than as a completely separate item), do they license safesquid
as GPL as they are required to do by clause 2 of the GPLv2, or clause 5
of GPLv3?

5. safesquid also integrates with clamav and mysql, both also GPL - if
they distribute them along with safesquid then GPLv2 clause 2 again
requires them to license the whole work as GPL. anyone know if the
clamav or mysql people are aware of safesquid's use of their software?

[1] http://www.safesquid.com/

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>