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Since Alex forwarded the original to -nfp, I'll forward my response as |
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well. I didn't reply on -nfp originally because it started on -core. |
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|
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Regards, |
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Ferris |
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|
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-------- Forwarded Message -------- |
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From: Ferris McCormick <fmccor@g.o> |
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To: Yuri Vasilevski <yvasilev@g.o> |
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Cc: trustees <trustees@g.o> |
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Subject: Re: [gentoo-core] Software in the Public Interest |
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Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:50:22 +0000 |
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|
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Yuri, |
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Thanks a lot. I think we have looking for some of this information. |
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All, I've added a couple comments. |
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|
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|
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On Sun, 2008-08-10 at 23:32 -0500, Yuri Vasilevski wrote: |
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> Hello, |
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> |
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> I am currently at DebConf in Argentina, and today there was a BoF |
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> by Bdale Garbee about SPI [1] with another 5 members of the SPI board |
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> present and participating. And that reminded me about the discussions |
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> that where happening on this list some time ago, so after the BoF I |
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> approached Luk Claes (one of the members of the board and a friend) to |
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> ask him about the doubts regarding how SPI could work and what could |
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> be the advantages and the disadvantages of Gentoo having a relationship |
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> with SPI. |
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> |
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> From what we talked, SPI could provide three services to Gentoo: |
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> |
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> 1) Helping to take care of all the paperwork regarding legal status, |
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> trademarks, copyright and such. |
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> |
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> 2) Offering legal advice and helping in court for free. And if they can, |
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> that's not only limited to USA, but also to other countries. |
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> (As an example he told me that there was a case where someone |
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> registered a domain name in Spain with debian in it and they managed |
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> to contact a Spanish lawyer and he arranged a settlement for that |
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> case.) |
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> |
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> 3) Gentoo can accept (in some cases tax deductible) donations through |
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> them in the USA. For this they accept four ways making the donations |
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> (two electronic ones, checks and wire transfers), as well as, they |
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> provide ways to channel this money where it's needed (like in the |
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> case of DebConfs that some of Debian's money that came from donations |
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> in the USA was made available for use in this conference in |
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> Argentina). |
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> |
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> And the good part is that the tree options are completely independent, |
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> so Gentoo, or any project for that matter, can join with any subset of |
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> the three options mentioned above. |
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> |
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> I also asked whenever they were in a position to accept a project the |
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> size of Gentoo and I was told that they should be able to accept Gentoo. |
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> |
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|
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I would think so. Debian is a member, I believe. So also is the IRC |
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OFTC network. |
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|
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> Also being, us gentoo developers, part of a big free software project |
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> makes us by default contributing (aka voting) members of SPI in case we |
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> (as individual developers) join it, so we should be able to have some |
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> influence on how things are run within SPI, as well as, if some people |
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> are interested they should be eligible for being a member of the |
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> board. |
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> |
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> So, After this very long preamble I would like to express that I think |
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> we should seriously consider joining SPI with, maybe, just a subset of |
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> the options they provide. And I'll go option by option (in reverse |
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> order) now: |
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> |
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> 3) This one I'm unsure, if I am not mistaken, Gentoo Foundation has the |
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> right status to be able to accept tax deductible donations. So for |
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> me it would make sense to join if the SPI method is more flexible and |
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> makes it easier and friendlier for the donor to make the donation. Or |
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> else it might also make sense to have it as a completely parallel |
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> channel and see how it works so in case it works well, Gentoo will be |
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> able at some point to free itself from dealing with the related |
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> paperwork. |
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> |
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|
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We are a registered not for profit with the State of New Mexico, but we |
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do not have 501(c)(3) Federal tax status (well, I don't think we are |
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501(c)<anything>). So this is useful. |
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|
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> 2) I think this one is very good to have, as well as, it is a good way |
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> to get to know SPI better and to see if later we should outsource |
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> more responsibilities to them. So for me, this reason alone is good |
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> enough to join it and then see how open, trustworthy and efficient |
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> they are so we can make a qualified decision on whenever to change or |
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> not our status within SPI. |
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> |
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|
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This is *extremely* useful. We do not have international law expertise, |
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and lawyers who do are in high demand and so expensive. This could also |
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come in handy if someone actually takes the IRC/Freenode grumbling |
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beyond the grumbling stage. |
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|
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Also most useful when we start talking about licensing others to sell |
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Gentoo-branded mugs and such outside the US (such as in Russia). |
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|
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> 1) This is the most delicate one and the one I have no clue about. I |
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> don't know what is involved in keeping all the paperwork done, nor |
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> how much time and energy it consumes. So I can not say how much sense |
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> does it make to do it in house as apposed to outsourcing it. |
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> |
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|
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We're legal at this stage, and so far as New Mexico is concerned, the |
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paperwork for that costs us about 10 minutes and 10 dollars / year. The |
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money goes to the state, so it is a fixed expense anyway. |
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> So, I would like you to consider my proposal as well as to offer you my |
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> services as proxy for any questions you might have for the SPI board |
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> members here at DebConf, or, you can always contact them directly [2] |
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> |
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> Here is also some info on guidelines for the projects wanting to join: |
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> http://www.spi-inc.org/treasurer/associated-project-howto.html |
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> |
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> Kindest regards, |
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> Yuri. |
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> |
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> [1] https://penta.debconf.org/dc8_schedule/events/223.en.html |
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> |
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> [2] http://www.spi-inc.org/contact |
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|
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Thanks again, |
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Regards, |
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Ferris |
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|
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-- |
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Ferris McCormick (P44646, MI) <fmccor@g.o> |
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Developer, Gentoo Linux (Devrel, Sparc, Userrel, Trustees) |