Charles Fussell, Jonathan Cohen & Debian SLAPP microsite, resignations
[Article 2 years old]
Reprinted with permission from the Free Software Fellowship.
The Debian web site has an interesting definition of freedom:
Many people new to this subject are confused because of the word "free". It isn't used the way they expect – "free" means "free of cost" to them. If you look at an English dictionary, it lists almost twenty different meanings for "free", and only one of them is "at no cost". The rest refer to "liberty" and "lack of constraint". So, when we speak of Free Software, we mean freedom, not payment.
The biggest rort in town
A large sum of money from Debian funds is now paying for Jonathan Cohen, a lawyer at Charles Fussell & Co LLP, to pursue a SLAPP lawsuit and try to shut down the Debian Community News and the Uncensored Debian Planet (now Disguised.Work Planet) web sites.
Debian Community News has published a blog about the initiation of the lawsuit.
A Charles Fussell parody microsite has appeared at FussellCharles.com.
Resignations
DPL candidate Felix Lechner has resigned from the Debian Trademark Team, citing his disagreement with the lawsuit: █
Subject: Resignation from Trademark Team
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2022 05:57:56 -0700
From: Felix Lechner <felix.lechner@lease-up.com>
To: leader@debian.org
CC: secretary@debian.org, debian-www@lists.debian.org, debian-project@lists.debian.org
Dear Mr. Leader,
Congratulations on your re-election as Project Leader. I wish you the best for your third term.
Please accept herewith my resignation as your trademark delegate, effective immediately.
Since two of your trademark delegates remain, you are probably staffed adequately until a replacement is found.
With this step, I hope to make room for someone whose attitudes toward business and legal matters can reflect more closely the preferences of the membership as a whole.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve.
Respectfully,
Felix Lechnercc: Secretary Kurt Roeckx
Web Team
d-project mailing list