• kattfisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    13 days ago

    Yes, the sanctions against Russia, as mentioned by Linus. The change also said the maintainers “can come back in the future if sufficient documentation is provided”.

    My guess is that the Linux Foundation must ensure that none of the people they work with are in any way associated with any organisation, person or activity on the sanctions list. And that they preemptively removed all maintainers that might risk violating the sanctions while they work with them to establish whether they might be covered by the sanctions or not.

    Regardless of what you or they think of the sanctions, they are the law, and I don’t think anyone wants the Linux Foundation to have to spend their money on lawyers and fines because they had a maintainer who also worked on a research project funded by a sanctioned entity. (If that is how it works, IANAL)

    • proton_lynx@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      OK, that’s the first reasonable explanation I’ve come across. I wish Greg Linus didn’t reply in that kind of “angry” tone, because for some of us it’s not that obvious.