Re: Proposal: Recall the Project Leader
Julien BLACHE <jblache@debian.org> writes:
> Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> wrote:
>> What's the difference between my employer trying to get me to do
>> something unethical that violates an agreement with Debian or someone
>> else trying to get me to do the same? Are you focusing on the
>> increased difficulty of telling one's employer no? If so, remember
>> that you can resolve a conflict of interest by refusing *either* party;
>> if I can't resolve the
> This is quite an easy statement to make; it's actually far harder to
> do in real life if/when the need arises, you know.
>> non-Debian issue creating the conflict of interest, I would resign the
>> Debian position. This is a distinction that doesn't interfere with
> Resigning the from the Debian position may very well get you nothing
> else but a pink slip from your employer.
It sounds like you're postulating an employer who wants a Debian developer
to do something unethical and will fire them if they don't. Since we're
now talking about employers who would be doing things that border on the
illegal, couldn't we agree that this isn't likely to be a common problem
(to say the least)?
I feel like this thread is missing the forest for the poison oak. This
sort of problem with that serious of consequences is so rare that I can't
think of a single example, whereas I can think of hundreds of companies
that have gladly donated portions of their employees' time to help
innumerable free software projects without any unpleasant strings
attached, or at most requiring some minor negotiation of priorities.
Furthermore, Debian has been dealing with such employers for years; we're
now no longer talking about the original topic of the thread and now
talking about whether the employment relationships of at *least* dozens of
Debian developers are too dangerous to be permitted near anything
important.
I think everyone understands where I stand now, so I'll stop posting about
this, but my agenda in this is to ask people not to be so worried about
employment conflicts as to force strict barriers between Debian and the
rest of life. I spend a fair bit of effort trying to break down those
barriers in my own life. That direction would be the exact *opposite*
direction from what I think is healthy and most productive for me, and my
position on issues of this sort is far from unique at least among people
who work for universities (those being the people to whom I've talked the
most about this).
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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