[TriLUG] META - Red Hat Censorship? (was: TriLUG Venue)

[Matt Frye]

> > On 8/13/07, Magnus <magnus at trilug.org> wrote:
> >> What about the Google speaker that they did not want to have at RHT HQ?

> Matt Frye wrote:
> > It was actually Red Hat who refused to allow a Google speaker.  They
> > don't want what is effectively a Google recruiting event in their
> > building.


On 8/13/07, Mark Turner <markt at siteseers.net> wrote:
> Whoa, whoa, whoa! Red Hat vetoed a speaker from Google?  Isn't Red Hat
> supposed to be a company that values freedom of speech?
>
> Am I the only one who has a problem with this?

Dude, you're way off base.  Consider the following:

1) Red Hat is nice enough to sponsor our meetings every month.  They
don't have to.  We don't pay them.  They just do it because it's nice.
 It's basically a donation.  Red Hat has every right to say "No,
thanks."
2) This wouldn't have been a regular meeting.  It would have been a
Google sponsored event complete with schwag, etc.  Google sees this as
a recruiting opportunity for Lenoir.  Again, Red Hat has every right
to say "No, thanks."
3) Google has essentially dropped the ball on this event, so it looks
like it's not going to happen anyway.
4) Red Hat has no editorial control over our content.  Remember the
Jeff Waugh meeting?

MPF