Re: GNU - Principles and Guidelines

[Mark Wielaard]

Hi,

On Sat, Jan 04, 2020 at 12:19:12AM -0500, Mike Gerwitz wrote:
> > Perhaps remedying this is something that could be added to the
> > governance discussion - how the GNU leader is chosen, what powers the
> > FSF is required to cede, and how to enforce those.
> 
> Discussions of how to mitigate potential legal issues related to
> Copyright, the GNU trademark, hosting, funding, etc are certainly worth
> discussion.  Even though I have confidence in the FSF today, maybe
> something will change a decade from now.
> 
> But those issues are entirely separate from governance.

They are separate issues, but we need both. Think of GNU and FSF as
GNU Mes with its Scheme in C and C in Scheme compilers.
Bootstrapping both together will strenghten trust.

The FSF is really important to the GNU project. The FSF is a US
501(c)(3) public charity that has a fiduciary duty to make sure that
their resources are used according to their mission for the public
good. And they are our legal guardian to protect us against some
personal liability (see e.g. the various patent trolls which none of
us could take on individually).

We need each other as close partners and should make sure we have
clear and transparent agreements how we work together.

Cheers,

Mark