Bonum Certa Men Certa

Leak: FSFE and OSI Coordinate Rubbing Off Free Software by Saying “Open Source” is the Same (It's Not, Same False Argument From 20 Years Earlier)

Many men in table football



Summary: Three years ago the 20-year anniversary of an attack on Free software (which an OSI founder and high-profile boosters said was a plan to dethrone Richard Stallman) was secretly exploited by the FSFE in coordination with OSI leadership

TODAY we present an E-mail which exposes coordination between OSI/"Open Source" (and OSI President Simon Phipps) and the FSFE, undoing much of the work of the FSF while painting the FSF as unreasonable or even radical. We let the readers decide for themselves, but we're adding some thoughts of members of ours, who saw the E-mail prior to this publication.



This happened months after the trademark dispute (FSF demanding that FSFE stops misusing the "FSF" name). "For most practical purposes," Ryan explains, "Free and Open Source mean the same thing, but Open Source doesn't emphasize in making sure it stays available under the same terms. So any changes made under a proprietary license are simply useless to everyone else and lost forever if it gets discontinued. It can also be turned against the user in all sorts of horrible and twisted ways, like Apple did to create macOS and iOS."

“...call it Hegelian brainwashing, or hermetic mergers for purposes of deception, not limited to software licenses...”
      --Anonymous
"The FSF used to say if it's trivial," Ryan continues, "as in <150 lines of code, or implements something that is an open specification that we're trying to encourage adoption of, or there's already lots of proprietary implementations out there, sometimes a more permissive license does more good than harm."

Matthias Kirschner, who recently accepted money from Microsoft, sent the following message, alluding to the OSI's President at the time (Simon Phipps), showing how they coordinated statements on "Free Software and Open Source Software" (if they mean it, FSFE should just rename/rebrand as OSIE, or maybe replace the O with an M now that it's partly Microsoft funded... to became MSIE). Here's the E-mail in question, citing a blog post from Phipps, published 5 days after the FSF had sent a message concerning the FSFE's violation of the 2005 agreement:

Subject: Joint Statement about "Free Software and Open Source Software" Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2017 15:55:17 +0100 From: Matthias Kirschner <mk@fsfe.org> To: team@lists.fsfe.org

Hello all,

after a discussion on the legal network mailing list, which resulted in my blog post http://k7r.eu/2-percent-discussion-free-software-or-open-source-software/ and then in longer discussions on https://lists.fsfe.org/pipermail/discussion/2017-November/011994.html and individual follow-up, Simon Phipps and I had the idea to use the upcmming 20th anniversary of the term "Open Source" on 9 February 2018 for a joint statement.

We would clarify for newcomers that it is the same software. Encourage everybody to work with others although they might use another terminology. Show them that even organisations which use different terms can work together. Simon is positive that he gets support by others in OSI about that, and I thought that we will also agree on this, as it it will be mainly a repetition of our official statement: https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/basics/comparison.en.html (we might add some arguments from my blog post above + parts of Simon's articles: https://webmink.com/essays/causality/ https://meshedinsights.com/2017/06/07/free-vs-open/ ).

I would continue to discuss that idea with Simon Phipps so we could get such a statement ready in time, and get other organisations on board, too. I'll share any text drafts here before.

Best Regards, Matthias

-- Matthias Kirschner - President - Free Software Foundation Europe Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany | t +49-30-27595290 Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 | (fsfe.org/join) Contact (fsfe.org/about/kirschner) - Weblog (k7r.eu/blog.html) _______________________________________________ Team mailing list Team@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/team


The better informed Free software proponents will immediately understand what's going on here. They are, in effect, doing exactly the opposite of what the FSF would do. Under the guise of 'peace' of whatnot they sort of bury the original brand. No wonder not too long after that an FSF Board member (Ben) said that they need to further distance themselves from this "Open Source" lunacy, which was already opening up to proprietary software giants, including Microsoft.

As one person has just put it in IRC, "they do seem purposely trying to muddy the waters... call it Hegelian brainwashing, or hermetic mergers for purposes of deception, not limited to software licenses... I think it's used for many many many things..."

“Permissive licenses harm the Free Software Movement in general...”
      --Ryan
"Show them that even organisations which use different terms can work together" is the part he was alluding to. They're basically trying to paint the FSF as irrational, hostile zealots. When it is in fact the FSF that's under attack, along with the term Free (as in freedom) software. The person argues that "his [Kirschner's] "different terms" strikes me as disingenuous, i.e. trying to convince people [that] different terms are actually the same... people might think I'm too harsh, but to me, there's no other word except attempted brainwashing, also known as EEE of course..."

The merger is even broader than the above, as we shall show in a separate leak.

"Permissive licenses harm the Free Software Movement in general," Ryan notes, "although sometimes that harm is outweighed by the benefit of solving a bigger problem. If Microsoft swallows FLAC and Opus and AV1, more people will use it. That helps us if they grab it and use it. In general, just giving them software to pick over that would make Windows or Office or Azure work better sets us back."

“...whether you are pro or against something, when the waters are muddied it's difficult to even have a conversation... after things get warped.”
      --Anonymous
The move was explained as follows in IRC: "embrace a word, extend its meaning to what you want it to mean, extinguish the original definition, destroy by "merging" with something of [a] different meaning [...] it annoys me to no end, because whether you are pro or against something, when the waters are muddied it's difficult to even have a conversation... after things get warped. If successful, it means future people are both just attacking or praising straw men basically [and] it destroys any possible debate..."

Not only the OSI and the FSFE 'colluded' in this agenda, as future leaks will show. That helps explain why particular statements were made one year ago when media shifted attention from a Gates/Epstein MIT scandal to a bogus RMS/MIT scandal (over a misquoted/misinterpreted E-mail).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Taking Stock of a Good and Productive Week
We shall now be taking a break, unpacking the new hard drive (8 TB), and making backups of everything
Ageism in Tech
Your protocol is "old"...
In Norway, Android/Linux Has Just Hit All-Time High (First Time Since 2020), GNU/Linux Already Very Prevalent
Despite its small population size, Norway gave us Qt and many other things
Microsoft's Mass Layoffs Very Wide-Ranging, Media Focused on Gaming Though Microsoft Mass-Firing Lawyers and "AI" Staff (Contradicting Its Supposed "Investment" in "AI")
Microsoft plans to fire almost half a thousand people in legal roles
2012 Article About the Free Software Foundation Blasting Canonical/Ubuntu Over Adoption of "Secure" Boot (Microsoft's Remote Control Over GNU/Linux Since PCs' Power-on)
By Katherine Noyes (article has since then became 404, not found)
 
Links 20/07/2025: More GAFAM Lawsuits, Layoffs, and SLAPPs
Links for the day
Nice Recovery (From Actual Fire) by PCLinuxOS, New Version of PCLinuxOS Released, Now Top of DistoWatch
PCLinuxOS is a community-driven distro
More Microsoft Shutdowns That Mostly Slipped Under the Radar
Remember what happened to books 'sold' by Microsoft?
Microsoft Lunduke Still Fighting Cancel Culture With... Cancel Culture
There will be no "winners" in such 'debates'
The History of Daily Links and Politics
"I support Wayland, but I also support abortion..."
Microsoft is at 0% "Market Share" in Most Areas
Depending on the taxonomy chosen, there may be dozens of categories other than desktops and laptops
"The moment MSFT stock fails to start tumbling, that’s the beginning of another corporate giant going under."
There are far more layoffs at Microsoft than at Intel, but you would not get this impression based on Wall Street media
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 19, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 19, 2025
Gemini Links 19/07/2025: Git For Authors and Filtered Antenna
Links for the day
UEFI 'Secure' Boot Abuses by Microsoft to be Brought Up in the UK High Court in 3 Months
we'll seek compensation
Russia Set to Ban Facebook?
If WhatsApp is made to "leave", that means Facebook or "Meta".
Next Year It'll Be Half a Decade Since the Fall of Freenode (and IRC is Still Doing OK)
Our IRC network is still accessible using the exact same software that ran in Windows 3.x
Lupa Will Soon Know of 3,100+ Active Gemini Capsules
And some people in the "Small Web" try to tell us that Gemini is dying?
The Slopfarms Are Taking Real News Articles and Replacing Them With Lies Generated by Machines
Bluntly speaking, Fagioli is nothing short of an online scammer
Links 19/07/2025: Techtarget to Cull 10% of Staff, New Threats to Free Press in the US (Home of Dangerous and Violent Stranglers From Microsoft)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/07/2025: "Climate Justice” and Forking Programs
Links for the day
What Wayland and Microsoft/IBM systemd Have in Common
focus on what IBM (Red Hat) is pushing while running over critics.
Linux Already Has About 60% of the "Market"
"When mentioning the client side," opines an associate, "it is essential to recite the list of other markets where Microsoft is negligible or a no-show. It is repetitive to do so, but it needs saying -- often."
Finland (and NATO) Must Move to GNU/Linux and Dump Microsoft Even Faster
"Microsoft is not a technology problem, it is a staffing problem."
The Microsofters We Sued Helped Microsoft Make GNU/Linux 'Expire' This Year
"Linux and Secure Boot certificate expiration"
linuxconfig.org Joins linuxtechlab.com and Others, Becomes a Slopfarm With Fake Linux 'Articles' (LLM Slop)
They contain "linux" in their domain names, but they are just slopfarms
Links 19/07/2025: Microsoft Cuts in China and Wall Street Journal Sued for Reporting on Jeffrey Epstein
Links for the day
Debian Can Dump Blind Users Because I am Not Blind
the sort of mentality we're up against
Fascistic Policies Got 'Normalised' in 'Public Office'. Let's Not Let the Same Happen in 'Tech'.
Political discourse typically guides what's "normal" and what "good citizens" should believe/feel
The European Patent Office Cannot Attract Proficient Patent Examiners Who Master Their Domain
They are enablers and facilitators of corruption
Yes, Your Mastodon Instance Will Also Shut Down
Few people run a one-person instance in the Fediverse
The Demise of GAFAM Necessitates Greater and Broader Awareness
Morale at Microsoft is really bad
Free Software Foundation Reaches 75% of Funding Goal
Not bad for this "Fosschild"
Slopwatch: 7 New Examples of Fake 'Linux' Slop Pieces (Plagiarism With Misinformation)
Serial Sloppers need to be shunned
Links 19/07/2025: Kapo-berg Settles, Software Patents Challenged
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 18, 2025
Links 18/07/2025: Peace With PKK and Connie Francis Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/07/2025: Alhena 5.1.8 and Bornhack 2025
Links for the day
How to Top Up a "Limited Liability" With Even More Limitations (Dodging Accountability in the UK)
Some people call it a "shell game". Sometimes it's done for tax evasion purposes.
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF) Inches Towards 75% of Fund-Raising Target
Will the cutoff date be extended again?
Gemini Space (or Geminispace) Grows, But Usage of Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Drops Further
Ideally, all Gemini capsules should use self-signed certificates
Links 18/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs in Activision, The New Stack (Sponsored by Microsoft) Complains About Openwashing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/07/2025: OCC25 Gnus for Reading Usenet and RSS Feeds, Small Web Updates
Links for the day
[Meme] 9AM Meeting at Brett Wilson LLP
Brett Wilson LLP in space
Listing as Staff People Who Left the Company More Than Six Years Earlier
There are apparently no laws against that
Brian Fagioli Shovels Up LLM Slop (Plagiarism) Onto Slashdot, Then Uses Slashdot for Affirmation or as Badge of Honour
Notice how some of his latest slop is presented ("as featured on Slashdot")
Social Control Media Productivity
Snapping photos of the bone
The Law Firm SLAPPing Us For the Microsofters Lost 72% of Its Tangible Assets in the Past Year, According to Its Own Reports
That might help explain why they're willing to tolerate serial stranglers from Microsoft as clients
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity.com Slopfarm and Slopfarms Propped Up by Google News
"As LLM slop is foisted onto the WWW in place of knowledge and real content, it now gets ingested and processed by other LLMs, creating a sort of ouroboros of crap."
Links 18/07/2025: Weather Events and Health Hazards
Links for the day
Microsoft's All-Time Low in Finland
Microsoft is in a freefall
Security: Shane Wegner & Debian statement of incompetence
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 17, 2025