Re: Question on the draft constitution

[Peter Eckersley <pde@cs.mu.OZ.AU>]

On Thu, 28 Jun 2001, dtell wrote:

> 
> I disagree that the extra wording is required for the ATO.  What the ATO
> wants is clear statements of humanitarian purpose and I am convinced that a
> form of words can be found to express that objective without forcing the
> fundamentals of the constitution FORCING everyone to endorse the politics of
> open source or otherwise and/or Linux in particular.
> 

Oh dear, I smell a barbecue coming on....

The vast majority of computerbank's technical workers (I can only refer to
those I've met, most of whom are Victorian) feel that the politics and
philosophy of Free Software are crucial to their involvement in
Computerbank.  Like it or not, if you get involved in issues of
"humanitarian purpose" and social welfare, "political" questions enter the
picture rather quickly.

So our constituion mentioning free software is a way of saying "we are a
Free Software charity, this is why Free Software has an important role to
play in addressing the digital divide".

--
Peter Eckersley
(pde@cs.mu.oz.au)
http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~pde
http://www.computerbank.org.au/

-
ComputerBank Australia -- http://www.computerbank.org.au/