Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Linux Foundation Does Not Want You to See How a 'Code of Conduct' is Actually Enforced at Its Events

Video download link | md5sum 76f355be6d78b0bc030fbbf9cc81a184 Social Engineering by Linux Foundation Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: The Linux Foundation has just issued a "transparency" report which is hardly transparent and is very vague; the timing of the release is very suspicious -- late on a Friday on Easter Friday. The video above explores what the Foundation actually is and who (or what) it is really trying to protect.

THE so-called 'Linux' Foundation lost a lot of revenue due to the pandemic. It used to make a lot of its money from events, based on the "Linux Foundation" IRS filings, which can be found online although these folks are -- suspiciously enough -- years behind (is the IRS investigating or working to revoke the tax-exempt status of the "Linux Foundation"?). There are now two kinds of "Linux Foundation" events, in-person/physical and online/virtual (telepresence). Guess which type is hard to charge a lot of money for. It's worth noting that the "Linux Foundation" manager in charge of all this comes from the hotel/hospitality (for rich people, not hospitalisation) sector, nothing to do with Linux at all. Then again, very few people who manage the "Linux Foundation" actually use Linux or ever tried Linux.



"...very few people who manage the "Linux Foundation" actually use Linux or ever tried Linux."This post isn't about the defunct "business model" or the fraudulent status of the so-called 'Linux' Foundation. The CFO left the Foundation the same years it operated at a loss. They try to reinvent themselves as a diploma mill now and there are many other issues we routinely cover here.

Today we focus on a different aspect. The 'Linux' Foundation (we'll refer to it as "LF" from hereon) has become like a rogue operation working for corporations with a "secret police" entering projects and communities. The people who do the enforcement do not understand these projects and communities. They impose things on them (like political beliefs) and are inherently engaged in social engineering. They banish all sorts of people for seemingly arbitrary reasons.

The "LF police" is not a real police. It's more like a corporate vigilante. It's like a shadowy cabal of corporate actors known as the Code of Conduct (CoC) Committee. They're accountable to nobody and answerable only to their employers.

"They're accountable to nobody and answerable only to their employers."My experience with self-serving police forces is described in my personal site, e.g. in [1, 2, 3]. I hear that it's a lot worse in the United States. Cops typically, at least over there, aren't particularly good at crime-solving. The cops don't get scored for actually resolving disputes or solving crimes but for filing reports of them.

They protect corporations; Neither me nor youSimilarly, in the LF's case, it seems like a shadowy corporate panel is using threats to accused people (rarely launching an actual investigation; except in just one case, as noted in the report; there's no due process and there seems to be a presumption of guilt) to compel them to obey. This is what the CoC is for. It's like a rushed, ad hoc 'tribunal'; its members lack actual qualifications to study and judge incidents. Any rule can be made up or re-interpreted to defend a wrongful judgement, retroactively. It can be selectively applied or enforced based on subjective criteria and financial interests or class interests. Remember who pays the salaries of these people!

In everyday life, to the police it's typically about protecting the status quo (oligarchs etc.) and to the LF it is not about protecting people but protecting the cash cow. The LF knows where the milk (big money) comes from. It's companies like Microsoft, not a few "independent" (not connected to a corporation) conference attendees. The ticket prices are ridiculous and they're designed to encourage corporations to pass money (a lot like the academic publishing cartels and universities' libraries). Almost all attendees are present on behalf of the corporations that send them. It's a form of gate-keeping.

"The ticket prices are ridiculous and they're designed to encourage corporations to pass money (a lot like the academic publishing cartels and universities' libraries)."The above video explains my personal view. It's an expression of an idea. By intention, in order to avoid accusations of "personal attacks", the video carefully refrains from naming anyone so it doesn't make it personal, nor does it personify broad issues which even extend beyond this one controversial organisation.

The video is long, but it could be a lot longer, so I got to the point and started by covering this hours-old fluff on "Less Time on Compliance" (licence compliance; the LF doesn't truly care about GPL violations). I later turned to their main feature, the "Linux Foundation Events Code of Conduct Transparency Report". It reaffirmed my view that a CoC can be misused. For example, any challenge or doubt is "unprofessionally expressed" in their eyes (LF's eyes). They can decide what can and cannot be said based on what's convenient to their interests, not based on any objective criteria. They wish to be impenetrable to critics and criticism. This is tyranny or gross misuse of authority. As I show in the video, many incidents have insufficient details, maybe by intention. One alarming example says "2 reports of concern that several CNCF ambassadors were airing grievances about not having talks accepted at the event, which belittled the work of the program committee" (so one isn't permitted to disagree!) and another example speaks of "1 attendee [who] was speaking unprofessionally to a member of the LF staff when asked to abide by Covid health + safety protocols".

"They wish to be impenetrable to critics and criticism."What does "unprofessionally" mean? Seem rather vague. There's also "1 report of staff at a sponsor booth ignoring a woman attendee", but was this because of the gender? They say one "individual was escorted out of the venue each time", so the LF basically maintains a "blacklist" of people, akin to a "no-fly list"...

"1 attendee reported (on social media) a staff member at the JW Marriott restaurant was racially profiling them," but this term is vague and it's hard to prove racial profiling; also, a bunch of "tweets" aren't a formal report and if profiling was blatant, they should contact authorities, not LF. There are already laws which tackle racism. Finally, at the end they say "1 Attendee was spamming links to YouTube videos..."

Spamming links? What does that mean? Did the links lead to spam? Was a person posting links that the LF's sponsors and other corporate shills did not like? It seems like they're using the CoC as a very broad brush. Posting links is "spamming" and criticism is deemed "unprofessional"...

"It seems like they're using the CoC as a very broad brush."I should be clear and upfront; it's not about us condoning or encouraging rudeness, but there are other resolutions and if laws are broken, they should be reported and pursued in the legal channels.

But as I note early in the video, the LF became a GPL infringers' club (a long or relatively lengthy discussion in the #boycottnovell IRC channel covered this today), so the LF would censor on behalf of some of the very worst abusers. It is a very patronising, corporate attitude. So geeks are "Rude", they insist, but corporations that bomb people for profit are "Professional" and "Well-meaning" (or "Green" or whatever... when the LF does so much greenwashing, even for Microsoft).

"Imagine an LF CoC that says the LF is forbidden from accepting any funds from companies that work for (or with) the military."None of these issues is unforeseen or surprising. In fact we covered these aspects many times before because sometimes the LF is just shamelessly trolling the community (the people who did the lion's share of the work, the coding) and is engaging in corporate/political stunts and tricks, leveraging highly sensitive/divisive issues that these corporations are most culpable of. They use projection tactics. Imagine an LF CoC that says the LF is forbidden from accepting any funds from companies that work for (or with) the military. Oh, no... we can't have that, can we?

Recent Techrights' Posts

The High Cost of Making Scepticism of Proprietary Voting Machines a "Trump" and "Conspiracy Theory" Territory
Time to get back to paper? Or read an old paper?
Today We Got an Early Birthday Gift
Exciting times
[Meme] Going Too Far to the Left Can Breed Militant Ideology
Some people can never be appeased because they prefer not to be appeased
FSF Expressed No Preference Regarding Presidential Candidates (Its Founder Did)
Because he is a principled person, he does not prioritise loyalty to customers or employers (money)
Who Next on the Linux Foundation's 'Kill List'?
Remember that only about 2% of the "Linux" Foundation's budget goes to Linux
 
[Meme] Questioning Proprietary Software? Not OK...
A disaster long in the making
Links 07/11/2024: HTTP/3, Health Research, and Punditry
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/11/2024: On Writing Publicly and Record Player Table
Links for the day
Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) Hosted SOSS as Microsoft Propaganda Platform With Microsoft Front Group OSI
They essentially promote what they're attacking under false pretences [...] OSI is deeply corrupt. It's more toxic than arsenic.
Anti-Linux FUD, Now in LLM Form, Thanks to Brittany Day
They attack Linux with chatbots
[Meme] When You Discredit People Who Discredit Secret Code
proprietary systems with hundreds of millions of transistors (and hundreds of millions of lines of code)
Links 07/11/2024: Online Manipulation in Social Control Media, Election Deniers, and More
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/11/2024: emacs-guix and File Hoarding
Links for the day
[Meme] Election Day at the European Patent Office
Less than 60 minutes left to cast your vote
Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) Election Ending Today
In one hour
[Meme] When the Patent Office Does Illegal Things and Staff Speaks Out
many leaks received today
Apple's Debt Has Skyrocketed While Gimmicks Like Vision Pro Failed
In Apple's case, the debt is almost double the "Cash on Hand", which isn't even cash
A President Trump is Excellent News to Microsoft
His racist policies gave lots of contracts to Microsoft
Links 07/11/2024: Facebook Scams, Journalists on Strike
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 06, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 06, 2024
Microsoft-Connected Publishers Want Us to Think That Linux is Some Sort of a Virus and a "Backdoor"
"The problem is with windows and the attack vector is via Windows"
We've Made it to 18! Here's to Another 18!
Going on for another 18 years means until some time at the end of 2042
Links 07/11/2024: Political Angst and Laptop Issues
Links for the day
Even LKML Subjected to Slop/SPAM by Guardian Digital, Inc (linuxsecurity.com)
They're really awful
Links 06/11/2024: BPF in RFC 9669, More Facebook Fines for Privacy Abuses
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2024: Political Shock and Hermaic Encouragement
Links for the day
Planet Debian Allows Politics (But It Depends on Your Opinions and Debian's Big Sponsors)
Planet Debian is OK with politics... as long as all your political opinions are the "correct" ones and you add cute animals
What Makes RMS Such an Attractive Target ('Discreditisation' Campaigns)
Don't be so easily fooled
The Biggest OEMs or Vendors of GNU/Linux Stopped Competing With Microsoft (Which Pays Them to Promote Windows, Too)
Where are the competition authorities (or regulators for that matter)?
Let's Encrypt Falls to a New Low of Only 0.6% of Gemini Capsules Known to Lupa
In Gemini Protocol, certificates for encryption are required, but centralised Certificate Authorities (CAs) aren't needed
Computer-Generator Crap Flooding the Web, the Latest Example About "Linux"
Here's today's example
Links 06/11/2024: Election Disinformation and Legal Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2024: Stargazing and Death on Hallowe'en
Links for the day
Would You Trust a Liar?
Why lie about the authorship?
Mass Layoffs at Mozilla Announced During US Elections
Maybe nobody will notice?
[Meme] Announcing "Results" Before Everyone Even "Played"
There is a "tech" angle to otherwise political news
US Polls Close in One Minute (Social Control Media Does Not Care, Will Not Wait)
US election results will be known in about 2 days
Concentration and Centralisation Versus Aggregation or Syndication
KDE has a history of burying old sites
Social Control Media, Even Hours Before Polls Have Closed
Has social control media controlled by CPC (TikTok) and the Trumpmobile guy (Musk's "X") done enough to convince people not to even vote (based on presumptive "results", presented a long time before all polls have closed)?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 05, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 05, 2024
Wayland Pains in Community-Led Distros of GNU/Linux
Few people and companies use Wayland; there's hardly any technical or practical reason to choose it
IBM Still Conflating Microsoft With 'Security'
As a meme
Sanctions Cause Fragmentation in Software
some Chinese Linux developers are already subjected to restrictions similar to Russians'
Web Failing With Slop, Even in 'Linux' Sites (LLM Spam)
Add SEO prompting to the mix and the Web becomes a pool of slop, not knowledge
[Meme] State of the World Wide Web and Online Journalism
Technically a failure (DRM) and cannot even get basic things right
Trump's signature policy, building a wall, copied from Irish-Australian student politician
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linus Torvalds' self-deprecating LKML CoC mail linked to Hitler's first writing: Gemlich letter
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] Turning 18 in One Day
just one more day
Birthday Tomorrow
Many cakes and drinks are ready; we're one day away now
The Internet is Failing to Protect Democratic Processes and Human Knowledge
Amplifying lies, rewarding plagiarists
Links 05/11/2024: Criminal Referrals Regarding Patent Trolls and Disinformation About the Election Process (Already)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/11/2024: 'App' Needed for Parking, NNCP, Gomphotherium
Links for the day
How Voting Does Not Work
You cannot vote from an "app"
Saving the Planet With Honesty, Transparency, and Sharing (Not Only of Computer Code)
GAFAM is destroying the only habitat humans and other animals have and it'll only get worse
Disinformation About Election Outcomes Even Before Any Election Outcomes (or Election/Voting!)
seeding doubt about election outcomes
Links 05/11/2024: Bluesky and Enshittification, Pugad Baboy, and Lots of Disinformation Flooding the Web
Links for the day
[Meme] Sweaty Under the Belly
"OK, my critics are 'spam'"
Microsoft Bribing Canonical (to Stop Competing) and Bribing Users to Shun the Competition
Canonical is worth shunning
[Meme] The 2024 'Info Bros'
And prehistoric googling
Computers Getting Worse (for the User) Over Time
This is like Windows-ism coming to "Linux" through the hardware
[Meme] How NOT to Vote
Another form of (mostly-unspoken-of) election interference
An LLM Inside a 'Search' Engine Means That Companies Tell You What They Want, Not What Web Pages to Visit
The future of 'googling' things might be as unreliable as using Social Control Media as a source of information
Google's Debt Has Increased and 'Cash on Hand' Fell by 22.27% This Past Year
These are the numbers that the corporate media intentionally leaves out
Against Outsourcing of Sites and E-mail
Software Freedom is great, but it is not enough if you let someone else do it 'for you'
Drew DeVault: People Talking About My Attack Site (Against the Founder of GNU/Linux) is "Spam"
"Spam on sr.ht mailing lists"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 04, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 04, 2024
There's a Reason Why Techrights is Turning 18 and Tux Machines Will Turn 20.5 Next Month
I started advocating GNU/Linux when I was a teenager
"Oppose the Fascist"
what the founder of GNU/Linux said
Techrights Has a Long History of Fighting to Expose 'Team Mono' or Microsofters Inside GNOME
Never downplay the malice of Microsoft and its operatives
Halloween, All Saints Day & Swiss citizenship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 05/11/2024: Halloween Over, Intention and Implementation, Bookmark Syncing
Links for the day