RMS and open letter

[Jos van den Oever]

On woensdag 24 maart 2021 07:36:22 CET Sune Vuorela wrote:
> On 2021-03-24, Valorie Zimmerman <valorie.zimmerman at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Thanks, Carl. I would like to point out that Carl posted his suggestion to
> > the individual people on this list. He did not propose that the KDE e.V.
> > officially take a stand.
> 
> Then I'd like to propose that KDE signs it.

I propose that KDE does not sign it. KDE can make its own statement.

It's easy to press 'like' or 'i agree' without carefully reading what you are 
agreeing to. And consider that by agreeing to this letter you are creating 
ammunition by which FOSS can be attacked.

The statement that is currently proposed is an unproductive and divisive 
statement and has been engineered to be. Or it was written in a rage without 
much thought. At any rate, when you sign it, consider the full text.

If you intend to sign that letter, please read it carefully and consider the 
blanket statements against Free Software in it. The letter was initiated by a 
former President of OSI [1].

The GitHub organization that initiated the letter is anonymous:
   https://github.com/rms-open-letter
The texts "We, the undersigned, believe in the necessity of digital autonomy" 
and "We believe in a present and a future where all technology empowers – not 
oppresses – people." sound hollow if it is hosted on GitHub, an undemocratic 
website where only the owners have influence on how it is run.

Why is the letter hosted there? It it because no FOSS organization wanted to 
host a letter worded like that? I think so. Instead of getting a nuanced 
opinion this letter cherry-picks signatures from across communities.

The letter says:

"It is time for RMS to step back from the free software, tech ethics, digital 
rights, and tech communities"

So sign this letter, you agree that he's an outcast.

"We ask for contributors to free software projects to take a stand against 
bigotry and hate within their projects."

So everyone that signs this bigoted and hateful letter should step away?

In the coming days, there'll be statements by FOSS organizations, public, or 
directly to the board of the FSF about this surprising board addition. But 
let's make them better than the letter that is proposed here.

⤳Jos

[1] https://opensource.org/node/1028
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 488 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part.
URL: <http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-community/attachments/20210324/59197ea9/attachment.sig>