Going to work this morning in downtown DC, I see an article headline in the Express - "Open Source Changing Course". I usually don't pick up the Express but I was interested in a mainstream article on Open Source Software. Turns out the entire article was about P2P file sharing networks, the law suit against Morpheus, and how various file sharing programs are being used to download copyrighted material. There was nothing - absolutely nothing - about the OSS initiative. There was also no mention whatever about how P2P file sharing networks can be used, and are being used, to download and distribute legitimate content. Every Linux distro I've downloaded has been through BitTorrent. All the HighRez Mars Lander pictures I use as wallpaper (and it's "wallpaper" not a "screensaver" - but that's another rant) I downloaded from NASA also using BitTorrent.

How did this perception of OSS equating to illegal file sharing arise in the "minds" (and I use the term loosely) of people in general? I've had people refer to me as a hacker. It's a moniker I would proudly wear, but I don't think I qualify having contributed only infinitesimally small chunks of code to the community. The mere fact that I use Linux paints me as a "hacker" in their minds.

Where does this idea come from and should we combat it?

I haven't read the article, nor do I have access to it, but from your words, the title of the article is an absolute misnomer. The author's mind probably jumped to something else as soon as he or she started writing it. Or the title was just randomly/inappropriately chosen. More likely however, is that he or she isn't well informed on open source. Illegal activity from music/movie sharing often steals the media spotlight.

Most (if not all) open source software allows you to copy and distribute it, as written in the licence. Even if it is copyrighted, the licence gives you permission to copy it.

The practice, of "sharing" copyrighted material in violation of the copyright owner's permissions, is what is illegal. If you recorded a song off of your digital radio feed and placed the resulting file anywhere outside of your own home or office, you will have committed the same crime.

Equating "open source software" with "piracy" might be the pipe-dream of a struggling proprietary-software maker such as Microsoft .. and, yes, I now consider them to be 'struggling' ... or perhaps of a record-label who sees the death-knell for its chain of CD-stores and DVD-rental shops and knows it cannot stop the tide. But that's just wrong.

You cannot achieve security through obscurity. You cannot put the ocean back into a bottle. You cannot stop the tide. What you can do, is learn how to surf these great new waves.