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diff --git a/www/gnu.md b/www/gnu.md deleted file mode 100644 index 0fac2078..00000000 --- a/www/gnu.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,381 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Libreboot left the GNU project on 15 September 2016 -... - -A [transgender](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender) employee at the FSF -was being bullied by another transphobic employee. When the transgender -employee filed a complaint, they were fired because the complaint was seen as -troublemaking. - -It didn't seem to even matter to them that the individual in question was a -hard worker at - and a huge supporter of - the organisation for many years. - -There are transgender libreboot developers who denounce this discrimination as -disgusting. As such, libreboot left GNU (funded by the FSF) in protest. - -The FSF lied in response to allegations ----------------------------------------- - -The FSF issued this [public -statement](https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-statement), -denying all allegations and wishing their former employee well. This is to be -expected to save face -- regardless of the truth. - -Statement from another former FSF employee ------------------------------------------- - -**This is not the trans person that was fired, but left the FSF shortly -before the event occured. There were closely involved with other staff -members at the FSF and witnessed what was going on** - -This is based on private IRC conversations with them, during the -incident. - -The individual, who also left the FSF, said it's unsettling that this -was permitted to go on, having been aware of the disputes between the -fired trans person and Stephen Mahood, the transphobic bully. They -agreed with Leah that Stephen is transphobic, and had been aware of -Stephen bullying the fired trans person after discovering (somehow) that -they were trans. Types of abuses included humiliating the trans person -during work hours, consorting with other employees to try and find their -old name, misgendering them, saying bad things about them to management, -etc, until they were fired. He said: In most organisations, there are -ways to mediate disputes. At the FSF, there is no middle management, no -HR and the board of directors more or less only communicates with the -executive director. Individual staff members are never consulted about -anything. There is little or no oversight of employee morale by the -board of directors; instead, employees are left on their own to manage -everything. The fight between Stephen and the trans person who was fired -had been going on for a long time, before John Sullivan finally looked -into it, months too late. This sort of mismanagement is unacceptable at -an organisation like the FSF. In most organisations, there are ways to -handle situations like this and prevent them from happening. Stephen is -toxic to the FSF and extremely negative. **Why doesn't the FSF keep a -closer eye on its own internal affairs, especially relations between -staff members? Why does the FSF not have a department for managing -disputes?** - -The trans person who was fired had also found an old HR record from the -FSF, regarding another transgender person who was *not hired* at the -FSF, because according to the FSF, they *looked weird* in their job -interview. This must have been someone who was early in their transition -and therefore didn't pass well in their desired gender role. -Transphobic and sexist discrimination at the FSF is rampant, and has -existed long before Stephen Mahood, John Sullivan and Ruben Rodriguez -joined the organisations; in other words, those three people are merely as bad -as those who came before them, in this regard. The FSF has long had issues -internally with equality issues, regardless of safe space policies that they -have at their conferences. - -The FSF needs better policies for its staff, to prevent situations like this in -the future, and that needs to be something that is discussed by the board of -directors. It is completely unacceptable that situations like this are -permitted to occur, even more so that policies in place to protect transgender -people are not enforced within the organisation. - -Refusal to let go ------------------------------ - -In the worst act of insult and contempt possible, the GNU project wrongly made -the claim that Leah Rowe herself had now forked GNU Libreboot, and that -libreboot was still a GNU project. They wrongly claimed that Leah had merely -*stepped down as GNU Libreboot maintainer*. - -This is false. Leah is still Libreboot's maintainer, and still does -most of the work, including on managing the project and handling -releases. The GNU project decided to insult her by claiming otherwise, -that somehow the GNU project had a moral right to keep libreboot under -its umbrella. - -The discussion happened on the gnu-prog-discuss mailing list, which is -not open to the public (authentication is required to view the archives -online). We therefore make the discussion available for people to see. - -Leah Rowe sent this message to the GNU Prog mailing list, asking for the -mailing lists to be deactivated because libreboot was setting up its own -mailing lists instead. It also generally asks GNU to formally drop -libreboot from its umbrella: - - Please delete my "lr" account on the GNU Savannah website. I do not want - this account anymore. - - Please keep the mailing list archives for libreboot@gnu.org and - libreboot-dev@gnu.org - but disable people from registering on the - mailing list, and disable any new posts from being sent to the mailing - list. I want the archives of the mailing lists kept for historical - purposes, because there's a lot of technical discussion and history in - there, and I want this preserved for the time being. - - I'm currently working on setting up my own server, as and when I can, to - self-host a mailing list directly on libreboot.org infrastructure, which - is under my own control and expense. - - Once I have this fully setup, what I would like is for a 301 redirect on - the HTTP HTML archive pages to redirect to the new one that I create, - once it's online, and, further, for an email forwarder on libreboot& and - libreboot-dev& to redirect to the new mailing list. However, I have not - yet set up the new lists so such a redirect at the moment would not make - much sense. I'll contact the FSF and GNU project at a later date once - I'm ready for this redirect to exist. - - Further, if possible, can someone send me a dump of all data and - configuration for the libreboot& and libreboot-dev& lists? This will - make it easier for me to simply import everything into the new list, - including subscriptions and so on (otherwise, I have a list of all - currently registered members on the list, saved locally). - - Please note that I do not resent the GNU project, just certain people at - the FSF. Those people have huge influence there and since the FSF funds - GNU.... https://libreboot.org/gnu/ explains why libreboot has left GNU. - The requests above are part of libreboot's departure from GNU. - - I also ask that libreboot be removed from gnu.org/software/, and for the - libreboot page on the FSF free software directory to no longer say that - libreboot is a GNU project. - - I further request that the GNU project does not fork libreboot, nor - accept any forks of libreboot into GNU, as this would be an even bigger - insult on top of the existing one where the FSF lied publicly in - response to libreboot.org/gnu - -Several GNU maintainers then replied on the list, claiming that libreboot was -still a GNU project and that Leah had merely *stepped down as maintainer* and -that they would appoint a new maintainer for GNU Libreboot. They further -insulted the libreboot project by stating that RMS has the ultimate say, and -that Leah had *forked her own project*. This is false. - -They even asked Leah to stay on as Libreboot maintainer, and they asked -Leah to keep Libreboot inside the GNU project! - -Here are some of GNU's responses, starting with Thien-Thi Nguyen -<ttn@gnu.org> - - Under this pov, injustice is destined. The Libreboot project, - once placed under the aegis of GNU, cannot be removed. - - You are free to step down as its maintainer, however. I think - that would be an injustice against you, mostly. I understand - it's difficult to hold on to the root and let go of the rancor - (from personal experience), and sometimes it's all or nothing. - - If you stay, perhaps you could find a co-maintainer. If you - were to choose me (for example), you would find a lot more to - complain about on those mailing lists -- no need to upscope to - GNU and gnu-prog-discuss. It could be fun, perhaps. - - BTW, i like the domain name -- reminds me of glug.org of yore. - -Alfred M. Szmidt <ams@gnu.org> said this: - - That is not for you to decide, but for the Saint IGNUcius to decide. - You are free to step down as maintainer for GNU Libreboot, but we are - free to appoint a new maintainer for GNU Libreboot to take over the - task. - -Gavin Smith <gavinsmith0123@gmail.com> - - AFAIK libreboot is itself a fork of another project called coreboot. - In my opinion, it would be perfectly valid for the GNU project to - continue to sponsor a project that did what libreboot did and was - based on the source code of libreboot and/or coreboot. - - I see no reason (moral, legal or otherwise) why the libreboot name - could not continue to be used. It's not a trademark, and using that - name wouldn't misrepresent who the people who created it were. (To - take a contrary example, if someone forked "GNU Emacs", they shouldn't - call it "GNU Emacs Plus" because that would imply it originated from - GNU. If libreboot were called LeahRoweBoot, a similar argument might - apply.) - -John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> said this: - - I think you hve misunderstood the relationship between GNU and its sub-projects. - - If you wish to step down as the maintainer of libreboot you should send a mail - to maintainers@gnu.org and ask to be de-listed. - - If that is what you decide to do, typically GNU would look for a new maintainer - to take your place. - - If you do decide to step down, AND you continue to work on the project outside - of GNU. Then YOU will have forked libreboot - not GNU. - - I'm not sure about deleting accounts on savannah, you would need to contact - the savannah hackers about this. - - Personally I hope you will decide to stay as libreboot's maintainer. You have done - a good job. - - I have also had greivances against people in GNU/FSF but if I walked away - whenever that happens, I would be a very lonely person. - -This next one says "her" referring to Leah -- it is unclear if this questions -authority or gender. Simon Sobisch <simonsobisch@web.de> writes: - - I'm perfectly fine with Leah forking "her" original project after - stepping down as a GNU maintainer. Time will show if the fork is more - active as the GNU project. - Whoever takes the burden as a new maintainer: best wishes to you and - also best wishes to Lea. - - I still hope to be able to get a libre laptop for coding GnuCOBOL - someday (I know of the options existing it is just a cash issue) and am - fine which whatever libre bios/firmware will be used for producing it then. - - @Leah: Thank you for the work you've already done to make this goal more - likely. - -David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> writes: - - If you were actually speaking for the project, it would be completely - irrelevant. It would only have an actual effect on active developers - preferring to work with GNU rather than you, given the choice. - - I don't know the project well enough to evaluate your claims about it. - But if your claims are correct, nothing the FSF or GNU project may - choose to do will affect your work and version in any manner. - - So what's with all that rage? - -nysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> writes: - - Am Samstag, 24. September 2016, 13:09:36 CEST schrieb David Kastrup: - > So? I have no moral problems applying the laws of gravity in spite of - > Newton not likely sharing my political persuasions. Of course you are - > free to release future versions of your code base, assuming that you can - > assert the agreement of all other contributors, under licensing terms - > incompatible with the GNU project. - - Unlikely, as libreboot is a fork of coreboot, and Leah does not have ownership - of that. Coreboot is GPL, and despite they don't mind binary blobs (which are - distributed in a separate tarball) and claim their project is "Open Source" - (where RMS would suggest to rather not use this term), it's already compatible - with the GNU project with the exception of the binary blobs. And the mission - of libreboot is to remove (done) and replace (work in progress) these binary - blobs. Coreboot also takes back from libreboot. - -Conclusion ------------- - -After 4 months, RMS finally -[honoured](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2017-01/msg00001.html) -our decision and formally announced that libreboot is no longer a GNU project - -Consequences ------------------------- - -- Boycott FSF conferences. Do not show up to their conferences. -- Boycott the FSF. Stop promoting them, stop donating to them. -- Spread the word about this injustice -- Other GNU projects should also leave GNU - -Libreboot has left the GNU project, and will probably never re-join. We will -consider whether to re-open communications with the FSF, if and when the -organisation resolves this blatant corruption. She will no longer be donating -to the FSF; Leah had donated \$6120 USD to the organisation since 2015, before -making this announcement. - -Lessons Learned -------------------------- - -### You lose control over your project - -Libreboot witnessed this only when it left GNU. The GNU -project resisted it. Had libreboot stayed and integrated with GNU even -more, then it would have been very difficult to leave. Thankfully, the -GNU project did not yet have much influence over libreboot, and most of -the infrastructure for it was still on libreboot.org, outside of the -control of the GNU project. The only GNU infrastructure used were -mailing lists, which are easy to replace. - -GNU can appoint new maintainers for any program that is part of it, even -against your will. If you disagree with GNU practises and want to do -things different, there's the possibility that you can simply be -removed and replaced as maintainer of your project, even if you are the -founder and main developer. - -RMS will take credit for your work, on behalf of the GNU project, and -will try to assert authority by asking for features which you may not -want to implement. RMS will further attempt to dictate how and when -releases should occur. - -If the GNU project or FSF does something which you disagree with, and -you want to withdraw your project, they will try to claim that the -project is theirs, and that you are now forking your own project. -**There are no formal procedures for a project to leave GNU, if a -project chooses this path. By joining GNU, you are relinquishing \*all\* -control over your project.** - The only reason Libreboot successfully -left GNU was because we got out before it was too late. - -The GNU project is undemocratic. Individual projects have very little say over -it, and the FSF is very much the same. All you are doing by putting your -program in GNU, is to help the organisation grow. - -### GNU Non-free Documentation License - -The GNU Free Documentation License is the main license recommended for -documentation by the GNU project. This license is non-free, because it -allows for so-called *invariant* sections to be added to your -documentation which cannot be modified or deleted without express -permission from the copyright holder of that invariant section. - -The GNU project mandates that all projects joining it must use this -license. The Libreboot project recommends avoiding this license at all -costs, and has since switched back to Creative Commons for all -documentation. - -### The FSF and GNU project is a cult - -There is a huge cult of personality around Richard Stallman, which you -may or may not want your project to be associated with. - -Many FSF followers are fanatical, to the point of extremism. Your project will -become associated with all of this, even if you personally do not agree with Richard -Stallman. - -Leah Rowe is not a hero ------------------------- - -This is a personal statement from Leah Rowe. Leaving GNU was the correct -decision. The Free Software Foundation really did fire a trans person -for discriminatory reasons, and they really are guilty here. They do not -deserve libreboot to be a member of their community, and the FSF -deserves every bit of negative publicity and public shaming that they -received. However, there is something that I need to publicly confess to -the community, because my own conscience is not clean at all in any of -this. - -I accidentally made several mistakes which ended up outing the trans -person that was fired. This person was *stealth*, which meant that they -did not want to be outed. I have potentially cost them opportunities for -a new job, in the process of exposing what the FSF did. - -For this, I'm deeply sorry. I screwed up, big time, and I don't -deserve to be praised as much as I was, even if I otherwise did the -right thing in exposing the Free Software Foundation for their -corruption of social justice. - -I lost 2 friends, when I made this announcement. And I deserved to lose -them. One of them was the person who was fired, and the other was -friends with both me and that person. *These people were the 2 people -who I first came out as transgender to, before anyone else, and they -helped me a lot during my early transition, when I was unstable.* The -trans person who was fired, I had already lost as a friend, and was -deeply upset at the time. I had started to say nasty things to this -person, over a disagreement, which was also my fault. I thought that -exposing the FSF for their discriminatory practises would redeem me and -possibly make that person be my friend again. Basically, I was trying to -be supportive, but I ended up making things potentially much worse for -that person in the process. I'm not a hero at all. I apologise to all -of those in the community who congratulated for my "courage" after the -announcement, because the truth is that I'm a coward. I was hiding -behind a wall of false heroism. I'm actually a terrible person, and I -did something terrible. - -To my 2 friends (who I will not name), I apologise. You are both -wonderful people, and I really hope you both thrive in life. You both -deserve to be happy, and I wish you both well. I still regard both of -you as friends, and still think fondly of both of you, even if I don't -deserve either of you as friends. - -This is my only regret. |