[gentoo-nfp] Agenda item: Contacting Eben Moglen

[Daniel Robbins]

All,

I'd like to propose an agenda item of having a trustee reach out to Eben
Moglen of the Software Freedom Law Center. He is a fantastic lawyer.

I believe that Eben and the SFLC are fully capable of addressing all of the
Gentoo Foundation's outstanding issues in a timely manner. I have
personally been assisted by Eben and have found him to be an amazing lawyer
and found the SFLC to have my best interests at heart. I was never pushed
to donate to the SFLC. World-class legal assistance was provided
immediately by Eben himself.

Robbat2 has raised some concerns about how assistance might be provided on
an ongoing basis, like would help from the SFLC continue to be free? Or
would they expect payment of some kind? A fair question.

They do get funding from other large corporations that are in a better
position to donate so they don't absolutely need to be compensated, but
based on my experience, they do mention the possibility of donating very
gently -- and without imparting any guilt upon the recipient of the message
-- suggest it in passing, *after* the assistance is provided. That is all.
I have heard Eben's very polite and gentle suggestion for support after
very significant legal service was provided for free, with no questions
asked, after the legal matter he handled on my behalf had been completely
resolved, so I can give you a feel for how that goes.

When Eben did mention it, he actually recommended I *not* donate any funds
at this time, but consider it some time in the future if my situation
allowed it. I consider that to be a very ethical stance and one that I
appreciated, since it would have been financially difficult. He of course
needs to raise money for the SFLC but his primary mission is to help
people. He is very much devoted to helping not-for-profits and just random
free software people with various legal issues. The stuff that seem like
unsolvable, intractable legal issues to geeks like us are things that he
can handle with ease.

For not-for-profits, I would guess that after providing a significant
amount of gratis legal work to the Foundation, he would also similarly
suggest a donation from the Foundation to the SFLC. I would imagine no
actual dollar amount would be mentioned, it would be up to the Foundation
to decide what it might be comfortable donating. Frankly I think Eben's
strategy is to jump in, save the day, and at the end of it all you have
such a high opinion of the services provided and are so relieved that if
you have some ability to make a donation, you will, because you are so
thankful for the assistance and see the value that the SFLC provides to the
free software community. That has been my experience.

Please, reach out to him. Let's get these chronic Foundation issues fixed
once and for all. If we end up making a donation to the SFLC as part of
this process, I believe it will be an excellent use of Foundation funds.

Best,

Daniel