Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo Council vs Umbrella Corp ?

[james]

On 8/29/20 3:47 PM, William Hubbs wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 29, 2020 at 01:15:51PM -0400, james wrote:
>> On 8/28/20 5:10 PM, antlists wrote:
>>> On 28/08/2020 19:10, james wrote:
>>>>
>>>> A council member, from say England, could manage how 1/2 of what they
>>>> raise is spent. It could even "english centric" but must comply with
>>>> USA IRS standards. Our council could be expanded to many members, from
>>>> other countries, with a centic goal of spending Gentoo funds
>>>
>>> WHY? As a Brit I wouldn't want to touch the Americal Legal System with a
>>> barge pole!!!
>>>>
>>>> Truly, there is no other globally recognized tax system
>>>> like the USA-IRS (bad ass && world class open). That's why in times of
>>>> trouble, entrepreneurs world wide flock to the "dollar". Also, being
>>>> in elite standing with the USA-IRS opens many door doors to enhance
>>>> and promote and deploy GENTOO globally.
>>>
>>> And as a Brit, while HMRC may be a pain, I have precious little to do
>>> with them. My employer deals with them, and at the end of the year I
>>> occasionally get a letter saying I've overpaid my taxes and here's some
>>> money back. Do I REALLY want to get involved with some foreign system
>>> that's WAY more complicated?
>>>
>>> Get rid of your rose-tinted spectacles. For the MAJORITY of Brits, our
>>> tax system is way less complicated than yours. You'd be better off
>>> moving the foundation to somewhere that doesn't have your insane mix of
>>> state and federal taxes, and doesn't offload the responsibility onto
>>> people who don't understand the system.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Wol
>>
>>
>> Each group of gentoo users, by legal status of the country they reside
>> in, has to be responsible for keeping their gentoo activities safe,
>> legal and prosperous. You are absolutely correct. I too struggle with
>> American laws; I feel your pain and outrage at the USA government.
>>
>>
>> Never the less, Gentoo is anchored, legally, in the USA?
>> So that is my perspective. My efforts. My area of involvement with
>> Gentoo is centric to and under the auspices of the USA tax codes and
>> other legal requirements. I know that England is a wonderful place, as I
>> have many friends there.
>>
>> I assume we are stuck with the American legal system, as that is where
>> Gentoo, historically, choose. None of that precludes Gentoo from forming
>> legal branches in other countries, except for costs and a mountain of
>> ever expanding legal requirements. So, that is often, the overwhelming
>> reason many global charities choose the USA
>> and all of the legal encumbrances that are required.
>>
>> If you or others wish other legal foundations for Gentoo, make your
>> offers and suggestion to the Gentoo Council?  Gentoo Devs? Besides if
>> the new triumvirate:
>> Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand is successful, then you can
>> compare Gentoo being registered therein, or keeping things in the USA?
>>
>> Sound to me like you are an excellent candidate to join the Gentoo
>> Council?  If so, contact Mgorny for pointers.
>
> The functions being discussed in this thread belong to the
> trustees (the board of directors for the foundation) [1]. Thhey are
> definitely not part of the council's skill set [2].

The Gentoo social contract is fine; as long as folks do not take and 
expanded interpretation of those tenets. That is expansive 
interpretation, going beyond what is clearly stated, is a slippery 
slope. Too often that is the exact problem. I'd suggest a tight, 
conservative interpretation of the Gentoo Social Contract. If not 
clearly delineated, do not expand it's interpretation.

https://gentoo.org/get-started/philosophy/social-contract.html

> mgorny and others are advocating disbanding the Gentoo foundation
> and transfering all of Gentoo's assets to an organization such as the Software
> Freedom Conservancy [3] and allowing the council to exist as it currently does.

The post, at first read, he makes in sound as if "Gentoo" is in some 
sort of trouble. Now that we clearly know, Gentoo is currently 
sufficiently funded, WE should move very slowly. Caveat Emptor.

>
> As a member of the council, I'll be the first to say I don't know
> anything about trustee functions. For me, the question is, do we want to
> control our own destiny as an organization or do we want to have another
> organization control it in some way? To be honest, I do not have that
> answer because I don't know how much control an umbrella organization
> would try to exert, and since they would control our purse strings, I
> don't know what the scope of control they would be able to exert is.

Amen! So let us flush out the clear roles and authorities, BEFORE we 
make any changes.  Thank you for your clear, precise focus, as folks, 
including myself, tend to get very excited when is it presented that 
'gentoo is in trouble'. I've been here since 2002, after selling a large 
ISP (CFTnet) in 1999.  Integrity is everything, in any organization. ymmv.

James



>
> William
>
> [1] https://www.gentoo.org/inside-gentoo/foundation/
> [2] https://www.gentoo.org/glep/glep-0039.html
> [3] https://sfconservancy.org/
>