Bonum Certa Men Certa

Ean Schuessler, Branden Robinson & Debian SPI accounting crisis

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Apr 23, 2024

[Article 1 year old]

Reprinted with permission from disguised.work.

This email leak from the debian-private (leaked) gossip network hardly needs any comment.

Debian will celebrate our 30th anniversary this year on Debian Day, coincidentally, the anniversary of the Debian Day volunteer suicide.

In 30 years, Debian and SPI have never provided a consolidated financial report for all Debian-related financial resources, revenues and expenses. â–ˆ

Subject: Disclosure.
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:34:36 -0500
From: Ean Schuessler <ean@spi-inc.org>
Reply-To: ean@spi-inc.org
Organization: Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
To: debian-private@lists.debian.org
CC: SPI Board of Directors <board@spi-inc.org>

Hello Everyone,
As most of you know the SPI corporation has spent the last several years slowly disintegrating. It has now been reduced to the butt of jokes and is typically an object of scorn. Many Debianers seem to feel a sense of pride in this scorn, presumably as if they are somehow above the dirty details of how monetary affairs are managed. This is attitude is both dangerous and deeply regrettable.
Today, I am the President of your corporation. Debian's legal welfare lies literally in my very hands. It is probable that many of you have no idea how I arrived in this position or what degree of damage I could do from where I sit. Even more disheartening is the fact that some of you may not even care. Debian must wake up and help me fight if you care about what we are doing.
Free Software does not exist in a vacuum. We cannot turn our backs on the real world with all its greed, bureaucracy and politics. The real world is inescapable and will come to us on its terms if we ignore it.
All of Debian's money, all of its copyrights and all of its trademarks are owned by SPI. If control of SPI is lost or SPI collapses then the Debian would lose title to its machines, its code and its very name. The project would be shattered and in the confusion it might never recover. It would effectively cease to exist. (Bruce calls this kind of pragmatic talk "scare tactics")
Branden Robinson took on the task of managing SPI's finances when Darren showed that he could not cut the mustard. He soon found that he was overwhelmed as badly as Darren was. He called for help and no one came. By the time I could help him there was so much damage done that he was embarrassed to let anyone see how badly things had gone. He delayed my repairs a few more months.
But before you any of you lynch poor old Mr. Robinson I would remind you that he did more than most of you have. His only sin was underestimating his task after a wise man like Bdale had warned him otherwise. I'm sure that many of you have failed to pay a bill, file a form or neglected the clerical routines of your daily life. Keeping track of SPI is a hundred times worse. Be careful about casting the first stone.
That brings us closer to the present. Once Branden finally swallowed his pride and delivered the papers to me I was able to take action. My mother Anita, who is also Brainfood's bookkeeper, set things right in short order. She can tear through a filing or accounting problem the way a programmer chews through code. As Bruce has already let slip, the damage is bad, more than $18,000 of potential income has been lost to lack of process and inattention. This damage is something that all of us must take responsibility for. It took every board member, every SPI member and every Debianer who didn't care enough to attention to make this happen. We all have a hand in it.
I will say I find it ironic that Bruce is the one to let that number slip. Bruce spent a fair amount of energy delaying my work by claiming that I wasn't following due process. He blocked me from bringing this news a month ago by ordering me to "work with my board and Treasurer". Now he has let the number leak without any board authorization at all. He also looks like he is trying to give Branden a good scalping. This seems consistent with people trying to take credit rather than responsibility. The problem is central to SPI's failures.
So that brings us mostly up to date. I have received the financial papers. I have had my staff process them, sort them and file them. I have been ordered to obey processes by the board and have stopped my activities unless ordered otherwise. The board is more concerned with unimportant details than actually solving the problem or are simply not participating. No resolutions have been passed. My hands have been tied and my activities have effectively stopped.
This is what should happen:
- Publish a full copy of all the board correspondence relating to this issue to the Debian membership.
- Release a report of the uncashed checks to the Debian membership with the personal information removed.
- Bring Brainfood's resources back into action by recruiting some local trustworthy Linuxers in as volunteer labor to finish the process of scanning the mail.
- Get Adam Heath or myself to do a mail merge with the database of uncashed check clients.
- Print apology letters for each of the unfortunate people whose checks we did not cash.
- Use those same recruits to print, sign and stuff the hundreds of letters that must be sent out.
- Get every Debianer concerned with improving SPI (like revoke Developer status for people who do not vote or something).
- Send up a GR for immediate re-election of all SPI officers (including myself) complete with platforms and the usual election hooplah. (perhaps this should occur after a strategy meeting at DebConf)
- Use GRs or whatever other mechanisms are necessary to retool SPI into a reasonable and effective instrument for the Debian organization with Debian as its first priority.
That's about all I have for now. I look forward to your opinions.
E
ps. If you would like to send a thank you note to Anita for all her work drop her a line at anita at brainfood dot com. Be nice though. She's my mom.
-- Ean Schuessler, President Software in the Public Interest, Inc. http://www.spi-inc.org

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Rust is Eating Linux
That's a recipe for problems
Cindy Cohn (Executive Director of EFF) is a Millionaire, Earned Almost $30,000 Per Month Before Departing While the EFF Lost Money
EFF is "Big Business"
 
Gemini Links 06/10/2025: Winter Nights and "Virtue Signaling"
Links for the day
Links 06/10/2025: Scientific Awards and Typhoon Matmo
Links for the day
IP Kat Gone Bonkers, Pushing Slop in Patents (Likely Illegal, With Severe Consequences)
AstraZenecaKat: "Last time, this Kat covered some practical steps on how to ensure client confidentiality when using AI tools (IPKat)."
Links 06/10/2025: Grokipedia as Malicious Slop, US 'Martial Law' a "New Normal"
Links for the day
Fake Economics and Clown Computing Circuses
who's gonna pay for these scams?
Nobel Prize in Economics Does Not Exist, It's Propaganda From Sveriges Riksbank
"It is that time of the year when it is important to remind people that there are no Nobel Prizes for professional wrestling, astrology, or economics"
Non-Denying Denial From Microsoft (Again) Regarding the End of XBox Consoles
It's kind of hilarious that even the site chosen by Microsoft to relay its BS, based on past loyalty, isn't quite buying it
Bringing Back Lost Articles From the 1990s: Microsoft Products Leave Door Open to NSA
Nothing has changed since then
When the Slop Bubble Pops People Will Say Richard Stallman Was Right (Again)
What was once known as Computer Science turned into "IT"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 05, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 05, 2025
Links 06/10/2025: Science, Hardware, and Andrej Babis Making a Comeback
Links for the day
Links 05/10/2025: Slow News Day and Wondering About the Canada Post Walkout
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/10/2025: Telnet Debugging and The Programmer’s Brain
Links for the day
More Than "Just a Rumour": XBox Seems to Have Just Died
At this point, why would any studio out there target or partner with XBox?
How to Tell Your Community, Project or Company is Being Infiltrated by Saboteurs
How to identify nefarious social engineering
The Fortieth Birthday of the FSF Made Us Extremely Happy
It feels like the 'hacker community' is regrouping to discuss things and prepare for the next Big Challenge
Chat Control 2 Them, Not 2 U
Follow the advice of Dr. Patrick Breyer
Mozilla: Throw Away Your "Old" PC and Enable "Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
This is heading in a bad direction
Controlling Our Computing for Another Forty Years
40 years of freedom
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025
Watch the FSF Party Live (via Livestream)
It's in WebM format, which is widely supported by now
Advocacy of Software Freedom Changed, LUGs Became Less Relevant
The way we see it, support groups like LUGs sort of outlived their usefulness when it became easier to install GNU/Linux
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
When Microsoft "Integrates" Something With "AI" It Means It's Losing Money and Is Generally Hopeless
how did Bing fare after 36 months of LLM slop being hyped up as "replacement" for search?
Most Certificates Don't Improve Security, They Mostly Increase Downtime (for No Good Reason)
The 'Gemini sites' (capsules) are a growing force
The statCounter Site Has Data Integrity Problems
Maybe we'll get back to statCounter when its data becomes more "stable" again
10 Ways to Combat Software Patents
software patents are loathed also by proprietary software developers
"Just a Little Bit of Meat..."
Free software "absolutism" is not a radical stance, more so if the only "radical" belief the user possesses is that he or she must be in control of his or her software, and by extension his or her computer
Compromised by NVIDIA Proprietary Library
Meanwhile in Boston there are "[r]oundtable talk with FSF volunteers (both in-person and online)"
Red Hat is Ignoring the Free Software Community, It's a "Fortune 1000" Vendor
Red Hat's blog also participates a lot in promoting of Wall Street's latest pump-and-dump "AI" scheme
Free Software Foundation Party Has Begun
We shall be focusing a lot on software patents today
Former Head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Lina Khan Knows Whatever Microsoft Touches Will Die
Just like Skype (as recently as months ago) [...] When Microsoft grabs things, or when it buys things, it almost never ends well
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About LibreOffice in Austria and Wine 10.16
very short
Links 04/10/2025: "attempted Coup" Noted in Facebook, Russia Kills Journalists via Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Anesthesia and Baudpunk
Links for the day
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day