Re: Links to javascript-based websites from orgmode.org: Paypal and Github

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

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[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
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  > It seems odd that our embrace of software freedom should keep us 
  > from collaborating as fully as we'd like.

It's not odd at all.  As we see various activities pushed into unjust
computing, which requires nonfree software and online dis-services,
remaining free sometimes becomes difficult.  You may have to refuse to
do certsin things "everyone" does.  If one of those things happens to
be useful for working on GNU, that's not surprising as tyranny marches
on.

The GNU Project, as part of the free software movement, condemns those
systems and calls them illegitimate.

How does this relate to what GNU contributors say and do about those
systems?  Mostly it doesn't.  What each contributor privately does
with computers isn't the GNU Project's business.  We have never tried
to make any rules about what computing contributors can or can't use.
But we do have rules about what computing they should promote publicly
in connection with GNU.

For instance, if you want to buy train tickets and maintain your
freedom, you need to pay cash at a station.  If you buy them by
internet, running nonfree JavaScript and identifying yourself, that is
a loss to your freedom, which we consider unfortunate.  But it doesn't
oppose the GNU Project's work, so we don't need rules about that.
It's up to you.

However, if the web pages for a GNU package were to suggest people buy
train tickets via internet, that would creste a moral conflict:
promoting, in a GNU web site, the very practices that the GNU Project
aims to put an end to.

This is what we have rules about.  Not rules about whether you or
anyone can run a nonfree program.  But rules, yes, against publicly
legitimizing, or steering people toward using, nonfree programs, in
direct connection with the GNU Project.

You can say whatever you like if you do it in another context with no
visible relation to GNU.  The point is that you shouldn't give the
wrong idea of where the GNU Project stands on this issue.

Meanwhile, we have a potential solution for donating money: GNU Taler.
It shows promise, for the long term: even national banks are starting
to get interested in it.  (See taler.net.)  But banking systems are
not set up to interact with it today.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)