Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Starts Spending Big Money in an Effort to Resist Lawsuit From Daniel Pocock
posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 05, 2026
They've lost over half a million dollars in the latest 3 years:
Three years prior to the above they earned ~$800,000 (and Microsoft had paid them).
An American lawsuit from Daniel Pocock recently entered the UK's National Archives as it was brought up in the High Court. Days later it seemed apparent that SPI, besieged by uncomfortable allegations against it, hired a very expensive lawyer (we are guessing about $500 per hour) to deal with that matter.
Paying lawyers with money they do not have? Those are not pro bono lawyers.
To be clear, he's not a bad person, he also used to work at SFLC (Moglen's law centre), but it's revealing as SPI cannot quite distance itself from harassing lawsuits that it allegedly funded to censor a volunteer and whistleblower. For some background on SPI see:
| 2020-04-26 |
Software in the Public Interest or Software in Microsoft's Monopoly Interests? |
| 2020-09-06 |
Bribing Free Software Institutions: A Primer |
| 2024-02-22 |
Software in the Public Interest (SPI) & Debian obfuscated structure fooled suicide victim's family: the ultimate example of bad faith |
| 2024-04-29 |
Software in the Public Interest (SPI) is Not a Friend of Freedom |
| 2024-05-07 |
[Meme] About 2,564 Internet Sites Now at Risk of Hostile Takeover by Microsoft-Sponsored Software in the Public Interest (SPI) |
| 2024-05-07 |
[Meme] Software in the Public Interest (SPI), Inc, Values Articles of Daniel Pocock at ~$5,000 Each (and Fails to Hide the Facts) |
| 2024-07-07 |
Software In The Public Interest Inc. Turned Against The Public Interest and Turned Into "Red" (Heavy Losses) |
| 2025-09-18 |
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot |
| 2025-10-22 |
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses) |
| 2025-10-22 |
Mysterious grant forfeited, $100,000 from Software in the Public Interest accounts 2023 |
| 2026-07-04 |
Daniel Pocock Pursuing Complaint in the United States Against Software in the Public Interest (SPI) et al |
Pocock's lawsuit forces the SPI to spend a lot more money. It shows that funding harassing lawsuits against volunteers can prove to be more costly than initially estimated. Who will pick up the bill/tab for SPI's losses? █
