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On Wed, Jul 12, 2017 at 10:59 AM, Francisco Blas Izquierdo Riera |
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(klondike) <klondike@g.o> wrote: |
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> |
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> No, of course not. Here is one of the "I still lack the experience at |
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> the Gentoo Foundation to make promises" parts I referred to. I don't |
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> know who are all the donors of the Gentoo Foundation nor where they are |
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> based. So if most are based on the USA and attaining 501c3 status is |
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> considered feasible this would be a good reason to either be based there |
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> or having a subchapter. |
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> |
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Could Gentoo attain 501c3 status? Maybe. |
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Is it likely or worth it? Questionable, honestly. IMO we'd be better |
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off pursuing the umbrella org solution and just leaching off of |
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somebody else's status (and hopefully benefit from the economies of |
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scale on overhead). |
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If we ever started turning over a lot more cash it would probably help |
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to have this status. |
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> Still, if I have to make a choice between money and community I suspect |
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> I'll go for community. |
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Oh, no argument there. I don't know what we'd even do with a lot of |
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donations. To really make the money work you end up having to build |
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out more of an org (Apache/Mozilla Foundations come to mind). I'm not |
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saying that those orgs don't do good things, but it really is a very |
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different mindset than what we're all used to. At some point you end |
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up having to put the suits in charge. |
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> |
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> Well, keep in mind that in order to exert such pressure, organizations |
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> like the RIIA perform lobbying as a way to make their interests appear |
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> the US interests. I doubt (and also hope) the Gentoo foundation will |
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> never be on such a bad position and that hopefully we'll be able to work |
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> around such issues by using the currently available legal frameworks |
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> without having to resource to more unethical measures. |
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> |
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I don't know that outright lobbying is needed since the RIAA and such |
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are already doing it. |
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However, what it does require is a willingness to actually employ |
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these kinds of measures. |
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If somebody was abusing our copyrights beyond a firm but polite |
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letter, would we REALLY want to deal with legal action? We barely can |
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muster up the willpower to file our taxes. When it comes to paperwork |
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a lawsuit is a gift that just keeps on giving... |
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Sure, you can hire lawyers and they do most of the lifting, but you |
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can hire accountants too, and yet we struggle just to make that happen |
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(this isn't to diminish all the recent progress on that front - but it |
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has taken fairly heroic efforts by a few people to get to where we |
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are, which isn't even where we want to be quite yet, though if we keep |
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it up I think we'll get there). |
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So, in some sense the Foundation exists in part to wield a power we |
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don't actually care to wield. |
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The flip side is that having our IP registered in the US is probably |
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useful defensively, so that those who are more willing to resort to |
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those measures are less able to use them against us. Of course, if |
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defense was our main concern maybe it would make sense to not have all |
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our bank accounts in the US only, where the US doesn't even need to |
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try to export its laws to seize them. We're not a ripe target for |
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such things though - while I could see somebody benefiting from |
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ignoring our IP, I doubt anybody would bother to try to co-opt it. |
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-- |
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Rich |
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