conspiracies and character assassination in the name of Debian?
On 21/12/18 09:25, Jonathan Dowland wrote:
> I agree with Russ that your framing of this is absolutely abhorrent.
> Your continued justification of it is digging a bigger hole. I beg you,
> please take a step back and reconsider your approach here before
> continuing along these lines.
>
There is clear evidence of character assassination. I'd like to thank
all those who responded after my cash bounty offer. Once again, I
regret that we are in this situation where such methods are necessary.
The purpose of the culprits is to promote fear, exert control over
others, induce self-censorship, damage relationships around a developer
during a time of acute personal tragedy and coerce somebody to explain
what went wrong in a project by releasing details about their private
life or punish them for not disclosing those details.
The intention to induce self-censorship is particularly disturbing as it
was timed immediately before the FSFE annual meeting (AGM).
In fact, Matthias Kirschner at FSFE had already tried to have the
elected representative, myself, removed in an obfuscated motion in May
2018. That vote failed. He spread a malicious lie about me as a way to
have another vote. He circulated the libellous accusation to many other
people. He threatened to expel me from FSFE without any evidence. He
set a deadline for 20 September for me to respond, just before the AGM
on 7 October. The series of abusive emails from people in Debian
commenced just hours before the Kirschner / FSFE deadline. Under this
overbearing abuse, I felt I could not go on in my role at FSFE and
resigned in disgust. Long live democracy.
To remove any ambiguity, I resigned in disgust, not in disgrace.
Resignation in such a situation is an act of protest and defiance.
Kirschner continued to send me threats even after my resignation, that
reveals everything you need to know about FSFE's culture.
Given the circumstances, the smell of conspiracy is like that of a dead
animal who's long dead carcass we will imminently discover. I'm already
contemplating the size of another cash bounty, this time, for somebody
in FSFE to talk. Would it be worth it now that the FSFE fellowship has
imploded, is FSFE a dead duck anyway?
Chris Lamb, would you be willing to sign an affidavit, swearing on risk
of perjury, that you never had any conversation with anybody at FSFE
this year about the elected fellowship representative, myself?
FSFE censored communications of the elected representative, including my
blog and mailing list posts, well before I actually resigned. That was
one of the things that immediately came back to me in December when I
saw Norbert's blog vanish. Is Debian now following FSFE down that
slippery slope?
I'm not the one putting these presents under the Christmas tree, I'm
just the one opening them up.
I understood the attacks I received since September were a veiled threat
to attack my reputation and thereby exert control over me. It is
character assassination++
Also, the similarities with Khashoggi are increasing: even though there
is no bone saw, the culprits acted with great arrogance, they left a
trail that has been a little bit too easy to pick apart and they take us
all for fools with public denials and lies.
The most striking legacy of such plots are not the empty chairs, it is
the fear in the community. Whether the abuse is delivered by physical
or electronic means, the perpetrators want to send a message that the
next person to speak up will have nowhere to hide, deterring them from
speaking at all. I make no apology for this analogy, if any of you had
been put through hell by such intimidation you would be equally outraged.
On 25/12/18 17:13, Norbert Preining wrote:
> There are more disturbing things going on where I suspect that members
> of Debian have taken unduly influence on procedures concerning me, but
> since I don't have proofs I cannot raise them here.
Norbert also appears to suspect that he is a victim of libel and
character assassination.
Such things are always abhorrent. But when somebody uses a leadership
position to conduct such behaviour it is extraordinarily reprehensible.
For the victims, it makes us feel like the weight of the whole
organization is being weaponized against us when a leadership figure
behaves like this. It also means the damaging effects of the lies are
felt a lot further away and it is harder to undo them. It forces us to
expose the person who spread the lies for their complete lack of integrity.
People raised concerns privately about why this is being brought up at
Christmas. That is because the hole was already dug in September when
Chris Lamb sent an email to people, the name of a developer in the
subject line. It caused some alarm for people. They are not native
English speakers and some naturally assumed the worst. The email
contained private information from DAM, breaching the trust of DAM. It
was clear that this email would cause harm and it is unfortunate that a
developer would feel the effect of that at this time of year.
I recently decided to make a personal trip to the Balkans to visit some
of my great friends in the region (they are also great friends of
Debian) and was unfortunate enough to trip on this hole at Christmas. I
regret that, but the hole is not of my digging. As already noted, the
perps started this abuse on the eve of my wedding anniversary, insulted
me on planet on the eve of my birthday and this is what they left under
the Christmas tree, a landmine.
I would urgently request that Chris Lamb, in his role as Debian Project
Leader, issues an apology on behalf of the project and ensures that keys
are restored to the keyring immediately.
I would also request that DAM privately furnish each developer concerned
with copies of all correspondence from Chris Lamb. Should they fail to
do so, I will call a GR demanding they do so.
In September, DAM suggested that any developer in this situation could
call a vote to correct bad decisions. In July, I told Chris Lamb
privately that serious and extraordinary personal circumstances impacted
my participation this year, that communication never should have gone
any further. But asking me to put the full details in front of the
community for a vote is abhorrent and will bring the whole project into
disrepute. I will announce the vote on 28 December, the third
anniversary of Ian Murdock's death. Continuing to debate or vote on a
developer's private life could be the death of the project.
If anybody else has concerns that they feel they can't discuss publicly
or with the official leaders of the project, I am happy to try and
discuss them with you privately, either by email, phone call or a
meeting and I commit to show a higher level of respect for your privacy
than what has been extended to me.
Regards,
Daniel
--
Debian Developer
https://danielpocock.com
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