Debian Choosing Secrecy (in Defiance of Its Very Own Transparency Rules) Harmful to Trust

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2020-08-29 03:15:59 UTC
Modified: 2020-08-29 14:28:32 UTC

Summary: During a discussion about controversial expulsion of Daniel Baumann it was pointed out that the Debian-Private list needs to be declassified and published (status reproduced below); it's moreover noteworthy that the Debian Social Contract, point 3, calls for something similar in order to amplify truth (this is why we publish/divulge full IRC logs every day, even if some parts of the conversations are 'inconvenient')

Declassification of the debian-private archives

The debian-private mailing list is used for private discussions among developers, which are sparingly needed.
For the sake of transparency, the Debian project voted in 2005 for a declassification procedure which will publish messages posted there after a period of 3 years.

Status of the GR implementation

Debian is more than willing to keep up to its promises and implement what the outcome of this GR requires. Still, the declassification cannot happen per se, but rather needs DebianDeveloper volunteers to actually do that.
Until a suitable team of volunteers with the energy to work on the issue shows up, this GR will remain not implemented.
Bottom line: help is needed. If you are interested to help, please check the last call for help on the matter and contact <leader AT debian DOT org> to volunteer.
Ideally, in your mail you should come up with a suitable declassification work flow for both past messages and for new messages that daily become declassifiable.

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Links 09/07/2025: War Updates and Microsoft Moving to India to Cut Costs: Links for the day
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Some Scheduled Maintenance Later Today: Typically the most vulnerable service during short interruptions is IRC
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FSF40 T-shirt message: by Alex Oliva
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Debian Choosing Secrecy (in Defiance of Its Very Own Transparency Rules) Harmful to Trust

Declassification of the debian-private archives

Status of the GR implementation

Recent Techrights' Posts