are we being honest about legal resources?

[Bruce Perens]

Anthony Towns wrote:
> I don't think there's ever been a request from the Debian liaison for
> SPI to do that, has there? If there has, it should be the liaison (ie,
> the DPL) chasing it up with the board, not individual Debian developers
> or SPI members. If there hasn't, individual members should be chasing
> it up with the DPL, who's responsible for working out if it's important
> enough for Debian to spend SPI's resources on.
Anthony,

I would find it a lot easier to believe that SPI and Debian's legal 
resources were precious if there was the slightest sign that any use was 
being made of them. I am running this question past outside counsel, 
which is pretty easy, since there is lots of volunteer counsel 
available. I can name one purpose-built non-profit and three college 
legal clinics that are available to help, and two law firms that want to 
make a reputation in Open Source.

I a,m afraid that the most truthful parts of the answers that MJ and I 
heard were 1) we're not going to listen if you go outside of the 
hierarchy and 2) we're not interested in pursuing new ideas.

    Bruce