Freedom of speech in the Debian community, First Amendment and Debian Social Contract
The latest WIPO censorship documents specify a jurisdiction for the domain registrar but the content on the web sites needs to be viewed through the perspective of different jurisdictions and cultural conventions.
Creation of the Debian software commenced in the United States.
The Debian co-authors today come from a range of different countries each having their own legal and cultural expectations about matters such as copyright, privacy and abuse.
There is a widespread understanding that the free, open source software community values freedom of expression in the sense of the first amendment to the US constitution / US Bill of Rights.
Adam Borowski via debian-project, 2018-12-20:
I agree with you wholeheartly. Censorship is at the root, or very close to the roots, of pretty much any violation of freedom I can think of.
When people look at the Debian Social Contract, which includes the clause (3) We will not hide problems, there is an expectation that we have all agreed to collaborate under an American regime of transparency and free speech about organizational issues.
The role of Debian Project Leader has been performed by people from a range of different countries where norms differ from one country to the next. For example, Chris Lamb, who started the current vendetta in 2018, is from the UK. It has been quite normal for the British press to publish information about the former Mayor of London trying to help girlfriends get jobs in the public service. Asking similar questions about women who won internships in proximity to Chris Lamb feels entirely compatible with the convention followed in British society.
In other European countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, there seems to be far more emphasis on protecting the reputations of those who are party to such affairs such that the whole affair is often hidden from view. There is a perception that people from these countries want to have their cake and eat it too. They demand privacy for themselves but they still lurk on the debian-private mailing list and chat channels spreading rumors about the rest of us. They want to download and use the software without paying for it and they don't even respect the principles of the developers. The FSFE is even using a name derived from the American FSF, it is feels like a case of identity theft, but at the same time they are snubbing freedom of expression.
Content that appears to be inconvenient for an entirely German online community is quite valid in an online community claiming to adhere to an American style of discourse.