Open Source Initiative (OSI) Culture of Censorship Necessitates More Speech
Published yesterday: Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant and Kryptonite/Garlic to Vampires
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Last month we began a recap of problems at the Open Source Initiative (OSI). It's important to remind people that the scandals don't boil down to some election controversy. The OSI wants people to forget about all those other things, which are connected to it.
Today we'd like to quote a redacted version of input from a reader (it's redacted only to protect people from reprisal):
I don't think I had that many browser tabs open in a long time. Here is a summary of my research.The credibility, reliability and accountability of the Open Source Initiative comes into question, again.
1. Election issues in 2021
2. Banned ESR
3. Censored and banned members
4. Lobbying accusations
5. Taking corporate sponsorship
6. Inconsistent time zone information
While my journey in this community started as an outspoken freedom advocate, I see so much censorship today. See this post by [redacted] for more information.
https://galaxy.ai/youtube-summarizer/the-paradox-of-open-source-a-closer-look-at-censorship-and-free-speech-ueoYTPnxPMk
Recently, I noticed on Linkedin, I was tagged by [redacted] about the status of an application rejected for the Affiliate election. After being tagged by [redacted] on LinkedIn, I thought first "Oh no, my identity as an OSI member has been compromised! Thanks, OSI." I was a member during the election debacle in 2021 because I wanted to vote. It's embarrassing, yes, but, I wanted to do my part as well as get a first hand account of the election process at OSI.
Then I wondered, "What is going on over at OSI this time?!" When I started chatting with [redacted], I realized the answer was, a lot.
An article by Christine Hall described a situation where Luke Faraone applied to run for the Affiliate election.
According to the article, OSI did not accept the application due to missing the deadline. However, according to several sources and research, there was no indication of time zone publicly available on the website.
Some believe this was a way to exclude Luke because of his OSAID opinions.
However, it also could be seen as inconsistency, incapability with no accountability on the part of OSI.
Take for example the deadlines listed now online for the OSI election.
Individual and Affiliate are based on the "community's votes". Well, the paid community, that is.
[redacted]'s suspension notice image. [shown before, but redacted]
During the course of our conversations, he let me know that his account was suspended. Indefinitely.
[redacted] then requested a student account which he had heard of, and was in contact with someone who had a student account.
I went searching for the Student Membership on the OSI site and could not find one but what I did find was interesting. There is a basic account for $0.00. More research indicated, in order to vote, you must have a paid membership. These range from $50 to $300USD. Only pay to play members can vote. According to https://opensource.org/about/board-of-directors/elections/individual. Basic membership is free but does not offer the ability to vote. But wait, there's more!
I found this information from the OSI forum regarding [redacted]: [redacted]
Stefano's response to discussion topic where a member discloses the fact [redacted] reached out on Linkedin.
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"Hi Andrew, I’m sorry that this happened to you. We’ve received other complaints about his behavior recently, related to that post and others. Unfortunately we don’t have control over his behavior. All we could do is ban him from these forums after we witnessed multiple occurrences of his abusive behavior."
- This states all the OSI could do was ban him from these forums... after we witnessed multiple occurrences of his "abusive" behavior. I was tagged as one of the members on the OSI list. I did not find his behavior abusive at all. The way I saw this was a concerned member of our community reaching out for assistance.
"I don’t know how he managed to associate your name to an OSI membership: that information is privately kept by OSI on a secure server. We’re not aware of any unauthorized access to the server or the application that manages members data. Regardless, I’ve asked our IT person to investigate."
- They don't even know how did the list of members was accessed. The list of members is publicly available using the election 3rd party vendor Helios. While OSI may have "privately kept" the member list on a secure server, the list was shared with the 3rd party who did not keep the information private. After all, information wants to be free! The IT people might take a while, so to the OSI IT department - here's a cluestick - THIRD PARTY VENDOR for elections. No reason to spend a lot of time figuring that out...
"There may be another explanation (thanks for capturing evidence, too). From the list of contacts mentioned by the individual, I get the feeling he may have been keeping tabs of people who have commented on OSI’s posts. I see there names of current and former board members, names of people who work for current and past sponsors, people I know personally and (IIRC) made comments on posts I wrote on LinkedIn…"
- There is no other explanation and this type of speculation is offensive. I understand wanting to understand how, but anyone can access the list. OSI cannot even steward their member list much less the Open Source Definition.
"Do you remember writing in support, reposting or commenting about the Open Source AI Definition? Maybe that’s why he considered you a person of interest… Sorry again for that."
- That is an assumption and in my opinion, far reaching and incorrect. I never posted anything to the forums or emails regarding (the joke and miserable failed attempt) of an Open Source AI Definition attempt by OSI.
Keep this in mind, the "stewards" claim to protect your privacy, but they failed at that also.
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Time Zones
There are various time zones indicated on the website now with regard to membership sign up deadlines and voting deadlines. Here are some examples. One additional problem to stating UTC and GMT is there is no PST on March 17.
"Sign up before March 7 to become a full individual member (Supporting or Professional) and vote. Voting ends on March 17 at 5:00 pm GMT (10:00 am PST)."
https://opensource.org/blog/osis-board-of-directors-in-2025-details-about-the-elections
"If you’re not already a full member (Supporting or Professional), there’s still time to become one and participate in the discussions and vote! Sign up before March 7th at 11:00 am UTC (4:00 am PST)."
https://discuss.opensource.org/t/meet-the-osi-candidates/832
So what is the standard time zone for OSI. Is it GMT, UTC, PST or PDT? This is one insight as to the OSI and their "standardization".
Members per bylaws
So, what happened next as I entered the rabbit hole in a search for anything on the website about student memberships was "interesting".
- Basic membership did not include the "privilege" of voting.
- There is a student membership but no application.
- The application system did not even require confirmation, passphrase, or key. Anyone could apply and receive the basic membership.
And then, I read the bylaws which were updated in August 2023.
The OSI posts their bylaws. OSI is a California corporation and bylaws are meant for internal governance inline with state law. There have been questions about lobbying. See this post for more information. [redacted]
Lobbying aside, take a look at the bylaws.
https://opensource.org/bylaws
Article IV Members.
According to the posted and updated bylaws:
ARTICLE IV MEMBERS
Section 1. MEMBERSHIP. This corporation shall have no members.Wait a second. I had to read this 3x because I could not believe my eyes. According to the publicly available list of members, there were 589 members in 2021. So, if the bylaws state no members, but the OSI is taking paid and free membership, what is going on?
I am sure we will not be disappointed in the drama around OSI, the elections and failed attempt at defining Open Source AI.
Election information:
https://opensource.org/about/board-of-directors/elections
"We look forward to a vibrant and informative election process!"
One thing, when it comes to OSI election drama, at least they don't disappoint!
The OSI bans dissent or people who merely point out that the OSI is abusive. As the OSI is a front group for Microsoft et al (originally it was not), its motivations aren't hard to figure out. █