[Board] OSGeo and Russia / Belarus

[Brian M Hamlin]

Hello from California Jeroen, Board Members, stakeholders and others

   Here in the US West Coast, next to San Francisco, Seattle and the 
Silicon Valley, there have been tensions and security problems with 
China PRC actions over the networks and elsewhere, and arguably, some 
similar things from the USA itself.  Therefore, sanctions, block 
banning, and prejudicial social methods are regularly proposed, 
privately and also in public forums.

   Meanwhile, individuals and academic teams of all language groups 
continue to learn, excel and make advancement in the Geophysical 
Sciences, use and contribute to Openstreetmap, and study and cooperate 
in the open with maps, mapping and geospatial data.  I am enthusiastic 
that individuals and small groups can invent, learn, and publish in the 
open, facing the serious and worsening Climate and Environmental 
challenges today.

   As a senior editor at #osgeolive, a multi-lingual and inclusive 
publication of Open Source and Open Science, I support learning, 
publishing and software freedoms for individuals in all language groups 
worldwide.

   thank you and best regards

    --Brian M Hamlin    /  MAPLABS  /  OSGeoLive PSC



On 1/10/24 03:27, Jeroen Ticheler via Board wrote:
> Dear board,
>
> With a long war in Ukraine going on, I would like to know if we have 
> had talks in the OSGeo board or community on how we deal with 
> contributions to our software from Russia and Belarus? We have sincere 
> and great contributors that are residents of those countries on one 
> hand, and we have things like international sanctions on the other hand.
>
> In the GeoNetwork community we have active contributions on the 
> language translations from contributors we know and that we don't 
> know. Sometimes with usernames that are generic.
>
> Now I personally have both positive and negative feelings about this. 
> Negative because I dislike the idea that our software could be used 
> for bad things by a hostile government. Positive because contributions 
> coming back to the project improve things for everyone and helps 
> making the world a better place by being inclusive and friendly.
>
> As also described in this article 
> <https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/21/russian_foss_contributions_blocked/> it 
> does not help much to block Russians or Belarussians from 
> contributing; They can still use the software and _not_ share their 
> improvements with the project (a fork is easily maintained outside of 
> our repositories). So my stance at this point is not to take active 
> action. I'm very interested to know what the board thinks about the 
> topic and if other projects have had similar discussions?
>
> Thanks and greetings,
> Jeroen
>
>
> <https://www.geocat.net>
>
> Jeroen Ticheler
> E-mail: jeroen.ticheler at geocat.net
> https://www.geocat.net
>
> Veenderweg 13
> 6721 WD Bennekom
> The Netherlands
> Tel: +31318416664
>
> <#>
>
>
>
>
>
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