Re: Conflict of interest in Debian
On Fri, 17 Oct 2014 08:06:11 -0400
Henning Follmann <hfollmann@itcfollmann.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 02:08:47PM -0400, Rob Owens wrote:
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Marty" <martyb@ix.netcom.com>
> > >
> > > It seems like free software employment and market share come with
> > > increasing risk to objectivity and technical quality. It's my main
> > > concern as a Debian user, as I consider recent trends.
> > >
> > > I hope that Debian members consider an amendment to restrict
> > > voting rights for members who have a financial interest in Debian
> > > or in any project used by Debian, to promote and protect the
> > > public interest.
> >
> > Conflicts of interest are not just financial. Even an unpaid
> > developer should probably not be voting as a technical committee
> > member on whether to make his project the Debian default. He could
> > vote for his project because of the glory that comes with being the
> > Debian default. Or maybe he truly believes it is the best. But he
> > knows his project better than any of the alternatives. He is
> > invested in it. He should be the expert petitioning the
> > decision-makers, but he should not be one of the decision-makers.
> >
> > I really think this concept is obvious and was really surprised
> > that Debian allowed a vote for default init system to occur in a
> > technical committee whose members have vested interests in one init
> > system or another.
> >
> > Avoiding perceived conflict of interest is just as important as
> > avoiding actual conflict of interest, because it undermines
> > confidence in the leadership. Most conflict-of-interest
> > regulations that I know of (USA-based) reflect this. (But let's
> > not start citing examples of government officials who have violated
> > these principles -- we all know there are plenty).
> >
> > Anyway, regardless of how impartial the tech committee members are
> > believed to be, the upstart guys and the systemd guys probably
> > should not have participated in the vote for default init system.
> >
> > -Rob
> >
> >
> >
>
> There was no conflict of interest. Every voter has some interests and
> the outcome of a vote determines the common interest. But there is no
> conflict of interest during a vote.
You're a man after former Chicago Mayor Richard J Daley's heart!
> A conflict happens when somebody is entrusted by a group to guard a
> common good and he/she has her/himself interests in that good.
Or, when his paycheck or bribe might cause him to vote a certain way.
>
> This thread is about the inability to accept a outcome of a democratic
> process. Now they claim to own "the right debian" way and to protect
> that some "un-debian" persons have to be stopped. I have seen that
> before...
Keep telling yourself that.
SteveT
Steve Litt * http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training * Human Performance
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