The debian-private mailing list leak, part 1. Volunteers have complained about Blackmail. Lynchings. Character assassination. Defamation. Cyberbullying. Volunteers who gave many years of their lives are picked out at random for cruel social experiments. The former DPL's girlfriend Molly de Blanc is given volunteers to experiment on for her crazy talks. These volunteers never consented to be used like lab rats. We don't either. debian-private can no longer be a safe space for the cabal. Let these monsters have nowhere to hide. Volunteers are not disposable. We stand with the victims.
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Re: summary of non-free/contrib policy

Manoj wrote:
> 	Are we going to have a similair policy for the second largest
>  market? if the US economy goes into a tail spin, will we change
>  policy? This is getting silly. I still think that the Debian Policy
>  should determine what the main Debian Distribution is, and Debian
>  policy should not be dictated to by local parochial rules.

I agree totally.  Perhaps I can help clarify a few things:  

Debian != contents of master.debian.org

 The "entire" Debian distribution can consist of multiple ftp
 servers (as it does now) - so we aren't restricted by the
 regulations of any one nation.  It probably isn't a good idea
 to require the entire distribution to be on one server anyways
 - since that server has to reside somewhere, and would be subject 
 to the laws of that particular nation.  And those laws can change
 due to political/economic pressure - especially where software 
 isn't recognized as a form of protected free speech.

 Maybe the Cayman islands would be agreeable to everyone?  :-)

Debian Policies != Debian Principles (ie. DFSG)

 Our policies must pay particular attention to US regulations - since 
 our master server is in that country.  But this should be on a
 pragmatic "where do we store the files" level - not codified
 into our principles as defined by the DFSG.

Debian Principles and Local Laws

 Intellectual property rights (copyright, patents, licenses, etc.) can 
 vary dramatically from country to country.  The DFSG is based upon
 an idealized version of those rights.  In some countries, there
 are no intellectual property rights - thus all software is
 essentially "free".  Alternatively, in some countries, there are 
 regulations on almost all types of software (and free speech too) -- 
 so no software is "free". 

 The intellection property laws that the DFSG is based on are those 
 common in a modern society:  tort law (licensing), Berne convention 
 copyright law, freedom of speech + other human rights. 

 I guess that I am arguing that the "idealized" software laws that the 
 DFSG is based on should not include encryption regulations.

Debian Policies and Local Laws

 The users/developers/distributors in each country can pick and
 choose from the entire set of Debian files to come up with a
 set of files that is legal in their country.  If enough people
 in a country want to make an "official" CD image with a certain 
 fileset - then we can do that.

 But we can't ignore the fact that saying the wrong thing, or using
 the wrong type of software, can get you in serious trouble in some
 countries.  Our policies should reflect that (ie. what server to 
 upload software too) - but not our principles.

I hope this helps the discussion out...

(I apologize for starting this non-US discussion - I didn't realized
 it would generate so much discussion)

Cheers,

 - Jim

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