GitHub, proprietary services and Save Code Share (was Re: Is there any hope for FSFE?)

[Mirko Boehm]

Hello,

> On 6. May 2019, at 12:37, Paul Boddie <paul at boddie.org.uk> wrote:
> 
> On Saturday 4. May 2019 13.42.51 Nikos Roussos wrote:
>> On 03/05/2019 19:00, Paul Boddie wrote:
>>> So, in the case of the Copyright Directive, where much fuss was made about
>>> keeping code sharing platforms free of copyright filters, it seemed that
>>> the FSFE was acting to defend GitHub and various proprietary services on
>>> the basis that they help people share Free Software.
>> 
>> That doesn't sound like a logical conclusion. Sure Github is one of the
>> affected platforms, but code sharing platforms also include Free
>> Software initiatives (eg. sourcehut) or even self-hosted instances of
>> Gitlab, Gitea, etc.
> 
> Of course. But what I object to is a prominent position being given to a 
> centralising, proprietary service provider in a campaign about how copyright 
> legislation will affect Free Software. I would much rather the FSFE supported 
> and promoted genuinely open code-sharing platforms and let the proprietary 
> service providers do their own lobbying.

there is a simpler, less flattering explanation. More likely to be correct under Occam’s razor: Most of the ground work on this issue was done by Openforum Europe. Github is one of their member companies. FSFE piggy-backed on their work. Which means the interests of the free software community where much less present in the process than is commonly assumed here. This also explains the dopey wording on the Twitter message that exploded.

Best,

Mirko.
-- 
Mirko Boehm | mirko at kde.org | KDE e.V.
FSFE Team Germany
Qt Certified Specialist and Trainer
Request a meeting: https://doodle.com/mirkoboehm

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