Pirate in 'Open Source' Clothing: How an FSF Patron Turned Into Thief, Stealing Money From Free Software People
THE crimes of Sirius Open Source will be tackled one way or another. Sirius Open Source was originally not an Open Source company, but it rebranded as such later on and even funded the FSF for a couple of years (for marketing and recruitment purposes).
Let's ask it politely: did the FSF sponsorship money (for real people) get taken from other people without them knowing? Is that how it works?
The cautionary tale here is instructive. One must assess the beliefs and principles of one's employer based on deeds, not words. If your boss says "Open Source" but does not use it (or rarely uses it), does that mean that openwashing or opportunism is at play?
As a reminder, the CEO of Sirius lied about the genesis of the company and used false credentials for himself - to the point where, according to people I met, he nearly got sued for libel (that happened again years later).
Serial liars are often likely to engage not just in perjurious behaviour but also fraud. They would even chronically lie to their own workers.
As noted some days ago, Sirius has many victims (both men and women) and they will pursue justice. At the very least we wish for the public to know what happened and to learn a lesson. It's a lesson not just for past and present Sirius people; the patterns are universal. My wife and I were in the company for 21 years (combined), so we know those patterns and learned the lessons. Some of these lessons are more applicable to companies which describe themselves as "Open Source".
The company might in fact be too broke to recover the stolen money and pay it back to the people who were robbed, but setting the record straight is immensely important to victims.
We're still not naming the perpetrators. To victims it is a personal matter; to the rest of the world it is not. █