Fedora account restrictions

[Russell Harrison]

On Jan 18, 2008 5:35 PM, David Woodhouse <dwmw2 at infradead.org> wrote:
> I don't much like the idea of letting some company, even my esteemed
> employer, keep contributors' identities in 'escrow'. Fedora should be an
> independent project, and I have a distinct feeling that the conspiracy
> nuts would go wild with such an arrangement.

One thing I thought was interesting was that he said his name couldn't
be somewhere "Googleable".  I wonder if it would be possible to hide a
minor's real name in the fedora accounts system yet still have it
available to say members of the Fedora Board for accountability and
verification reasons.  Obviously there has to be a level of trust
between the minor, the parrents, the people able to access his
identity, and the Fedora project members as a whole.

While I feel strongly about not allowing anonymous contributions, I
don't want to close out people in similar situations as ffm.  I think
this is a case I think we'll see again and we should be encouraging
participation of motivated minors.  This is a topic that brings up
many difficult issues that may require a great deal of work both
technical, and legal / political, but I'd like to see it resolved in a
way that will allow us to effectivly mentor the future of Fedora.

Besides, I know many a kid out there that's way smarter than me.  ;-)
I'd hate to miss out on the good work they could be doing.  When they
turn 18 we can give them the credit they deserve.

-- 
Russell Harrison
Systems Administrator -- Linux Desktops
Cisco Systems, Inc.

Note:  The positions or opinions expressed in this email are my own.
They are not necessarily those of my employer.