If there ever was a group with a conflict of interest that prevents them from functioning in the interest of Free Software, this is it.
Legally, as an German e.V. (registered association) the FSFE has every right to function as a corporate body. They may censor members communication on their platform, abruptly close programs, and/or force downgrade voting rights away from members. I don’t have any problem with legality of their previous actions. What i have a problem with is their use of the phrase “Free Software” in their name. Free Software relies on interested parties to volunteer their codebase under a FOSS license. Individual developers are not going to continue to do this if they feel they are mistreated by those representing our community. They will simply walk away from Free Software. I personally decided to take a long break from software development after experiencing their egregiously heinous action of blocking the only voice of the fellows, the election, and then downgrading the Fellowship to supporters thereby silencing any objections to them ruling with an iron fist. And, I am not the only person who was totally turned-off by their actions because they are not in the spirit of the Free Software movement. This election is proof that the community at large does not support these actions! The logical conclusion of their onerous behavior is that only big companies like Mozilla will be left developing in FOSS space. Effectively, they are raising the bar of FOSS participation to the level of corporate bodies and driving off individual efforts by muting their voice. And, as i said before this tends to converge FOSS with commercial software. What i want most is to STOP other people from being similarly turned-off to the FOSS way because FSFE is doing a poor job of representing the Free Software movement. The new Fellowship is a community effort which I urge you to support for the sake of a future that embraces the potential of technology to make the world a freer place thru software. If we can maintain our independence, there is no limit to our potential. Thank You, Joe Awni On Mon, May 13, 2019 at 10:15 AM Garfield <[email protected]> wrote: > > I hate Mondays. > > On Sun, 12 May 2019 10:07:52 +0200 (CEST), <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > > > Now we understand, Kirschner covers up a major data breach in March, > disappears on extended paternity leave and comes back in May to a general > meeting to eliminate the fellowship representative and avoid accountability > > > > Then he uses the money and lawyers and threats to create a wall of > secrecy and fear around his shady empire. > > > > this is freedom? > > > > > > May 11, 2019, 5:37 PM by [email protected]: > > > > > > > > Dear Fellows, > > > > > > Many of you expressed frustration that an organization like FSFE was > > > distributing your email addresses to other members. Not all of you > were > > > warned about that when you joined the mailing list. > > > > > > Anyhow, it turns out that there was a rather serious missed opportunity > > > to review that policy in 2018. FSFE president Matthias Kirschner wrote > > > an email to the GA mailing list on 15.03.2018 with the subject "[GA] > > > Report about privacy problem with financial data" > > > > > > Kirschner goes on: > > > > > > "The archives of > [email protected] <mailto: > [email protected]>> , and thereby all the information > > > including full names, amount, credit card and bank details, were public > > > from 18 December 2017 until 13 March 2018." > > > > > > It is incredulous that such data is managed on a mailing list, > > > especially when the list runs on the same public server as > > > Internet-accessible public lists. All financial organizations that > I've > > > ever worked for keep such data on servers in isolated subnets, with > mail > > > allowed in through an intermediate box in the DMZ. There is never > > > direct access from the Internet to the box where sensitive data is > stored. > > > > > > Privacy regulations in many countries require customers/members/donors > > > to be informed about such hiccups. I don't believe FSFE sent any > > > notice to Fellows like you at that time. > > > > > > Kirschner raised the possibility of informing possible victims and told > > > the GA that council members had explicitly decided not to do so. They > > > argued that the logs didn't show any conclusive evidence that the leak > > > was exploited. Would you have wanted to be warned anyway, just in > case? > > > > > > The email encouraged list admins to check list settings. But as FSFE > > > confirmed[1] last week, the names of list subscribers were still > > > available to all other subscribers to download freely more than a year > > > after that previous incident. > > > > > > "as explained ..., this list was available to all list-subscribers as > it > > > is common practice. However, we now changed the settings and > > > list-subscribers are only visible for list-admins from now on." > > > > > > Will FSFE tell us how many times the data was downloaded during the > last > > > 18 months? > > > > > > Or will they use that money you donated, with your potentially > > > compromised credit card numbers, to hire an army of lawyers to savage > > > the representative you voted for? > > > > > > It appears that FSFE missed the opportunity to revise privacy settings > > > in March 2018. Regrettable? > > > > > > Repeating that quote from Kirschner, a summary of his plotting with > > > Chris Lamb, former Debian Project Leader: > > > > > > "One general wish -- which I agreed with -- from Debian was to better > > > share information about people" > > > > > > Is it correct to blame the people who download things that Kirschner > shares? > > > > > > The same email included malicious assertions about the former > Fellowship > > > representative, myself, a coordinated attempt to cause me harm in a way > > > that has compromised the privacy of numerous individuals. > > > > > > As that email has been circulated around various communities, a number > > > of people have been shocked at the way Kirschner and Lamb were > > > conspiring against the privacy of their own members. Some of the > > > defamatory claims were even implausible, this was obvious to people > > > familiar with the details. I want to thank all those people who > quietly > > > tipped me off about Kirschner and Lamb. > > > > > > I would encourage all of you to embrace the opportunity to vote in the > > > first autonomous Fellowship elections. > > > > > > Faithfully, > > > > > > Your undead zombie Fellowship Representative who just didn't die > > > correctly when backstabbed > > > > > > > > > 1. > https://lists.fsfe.org/pipermail/discussion/2019-May/012696.html > <https://lists.fsfe.org/pipermail/discussion/2019-May/012696.html> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Discussion mailing list > > > [email protected] <mailto: > [email protected]> > > > https://lists.fsfellowship.eu/mailman/listinfo/discussion < > https://lists.fsfellowship.eu/mailman/listinfo/discussion> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discussion mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.fsfellowship.eu/mailman/listinfo/discussion > > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.fsfellowship.eu/mailman/listinfo/discussion >
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