> > I think it's reasonable for the Debian maintainer of the package to > > remove the comments from his version; it's really up to him (or a > > General Resolution or other override) to make that decision. > > I think it is unreasonable. That's like saying that the library has a > right to burn books that it finds filthy or innappropriate. If you > modify source code simply to remove the authors remarks, your are > censoring, and are no better than a book-burner.
*Does* the library have the right to censor books it finds filthy or inappropriate? I was under the impression they do indeed have that power... at the very least, I don't recall the last time the library near me carried the latest issue of penthouse... Trying to stir up passions by comparing snipping racist remarks from source to the image of a torch-waving book burning (and the implicit link to nazism) doesn't strike me as a good analogy... the request that the racist material be snipped, or that it be shot off into a -offensive package (a la fortune) is several steps removed from demanding that the author's package be srm'd, following by the shredding of any drive platters it's touched... I may be way off base, but I think it's fair to file a bug request pointing out the offensive nature of the racist material in the package, asking that it be considered for splitting into -normal and -offensive... what the maintainer chooses to do is his own decision, though, and I don't think anything short of a resolution of some sort could force the change upon it (but I would have to look up the rules before I say for certain what can and cannot be forced). ~Warren
