This is a letter sent today to RMS and the GNU Project.
Given the gravity of the Epstein situation, I am shocked and appalled that you could even consider one second defending a perpetrator of sexual abuse. I’m not even trying to understand what motivates you to engage in this disgusting story of a large international sex trafficking network for the male elites of this world.
If the power circles are doomed with inhuman behavior, it may be time, on the contrary, to denounce them and turn your back on them, rather than trying to find any justification to their horrible behavior. It’s sad to see that despite your visionary embrace of software freedom, you have not been able to deal with the corrupt power structures around you. Why did you not follow the example of Joi Ito who resigned in protest of the revelations of the extent of corruption among MIT scientists and other elites?
Instead, this move to correct other people’s emotional understanding of a horrible situation makes you – and all people associated with you – look like supporters of the sexist operating system of the dominant elites of the world, and dismissive of accusations to engage in sex with sex traffic victims.
In your political notes related to Epstein’s suicide, you posted this Summer that “Some of his victims were legally adult. Some were teenage minors. I don’t think that makes any moral difference. I don’t think rape is less wrong if the victim is over 16.” This contrasts so much with intervening in support of – not to say rapist – a consumer of a large sex trafficking ring. There’s absolutely no doubt that Minsky knew where he put a foot. Whatever achievement he may have reached, he still abused the weakness of a young woman to his own selfish advantage, looking away from the reality of the situation. And what you did commenting on this, trying to dismiss the gravity of his actions was no better.
This might be what will kill the GNU project. Unfortunately because I see nobody here able to take your succession, and also because too many people have been taking too much of your awkward behavior towards women. This is the drop that breaks the camel’s back.
I’m hereby requesting to be removed entirely from the GNU project, I wish not to be associated with you anymore. It won’t be any loss for the project since I have been doing stuff behind the scenes with very few technical consequences. I don’t even think it will do me any good since I was, since 2010, associated with the GNU project, long after you already shown support for child rape – there’s no other situation for an adult having sex with a child, since the child naturally shows respect for the adult. It’s something I cannot let go since Epstein’s human trafficking network is one of the larger issues in the occidental power circles, spanning the elites of many countries and industries. Not taking a strong stand against it is unacceptable, and reading through your history of commenting on sexuality in general and gender in programming circles, I now understand that my politics and your politics are incompatible. I even have doubt that you personally did not know anything about this situation, but this is another matter.
I’ve been promoting free software for change, but the change I want to see does not relate to what you mean and I regret not having looked into this earlier.