Re: Debian contributor Register of Interests
]] Ian Jackson
> Tollef Fog Heen writes ("Re: Debian contributor Register of Interests"):
> > Indeed. I also think there's a hang-up about financial conflicts of
> > interest in the discussion, but for at least me (and I suspect others),
> > money is a pretty weak motivator. I generally have enough that it's
> > something I don't need to spend much mental energy on.
>
> That makes sense.
>
> But these things can change. If you don't have enough money then it
> can be a very powerful motivator. Worry about (say) losing one's job
> can be pretty significant. For me, being employed to work on free
> software means an inevitable tension between the interests of my
> employer, and my own views. Indeed such difficulties contributed to
> my need to depart from Canonical.
Absolutely, I'm not saying they can't be, just that they're not that
powerful motivators for everyone (and while I don't have data about it,
I know that IT generally pays ok to well, and the importance of money
goes down as you get more, so it's a reasonable conclusion).
> From Debian's point of view: I think that anyone who takes prolonged
> employment with an organisation which takes an active interest in
> their Debian work, to the extent of taking an interest in what they
> say about Debian and Free Software, ought to declare that.
My employer pays for me to go speak at Debconf. I'm not sure if that
passes that bar or not. (I've declared who they are in the context of
the CTTE, which I think is in a somewhat special situation when it comes
to being very clear about conflicts of interest.)
> > An example of what I do think could cause conflicts of interest is
> > where I'm part of some community (free software or not) and my
> > interest is in ensuring I have a good standing or status in that
> > community and this colours judgements I make in Debian.
>
> Most of the communities like that I am part of, are either
> sufficiently remote from software that they wouldn't care, or are
> themselves technology projects.
>
> In the latter case, most of the information is already public. It
> would be impractical and pointless to ask everyone to collate it.
Isn't that what the wiki page is about? Else, you're saying I should
put nothing on there, since it's all public already.
--
Tollef Fog Heen
UNIX is user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are
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