translate.fedoraproject.org is requiring contributors to agree to commercial weblate legal T&Cs upon login #45

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opened 2025-11-25 09:02:53 +00:00 by berrange · 6 comments

I've used translate.fedoraproject.org regularly since it was first deployed years ago. Today when logging in, I'm redirected to

https://translate.fedoraproject.org/legal/confirm/

and required to accept these commercial weblate legal T&Cs before I can continue to use the site.

This agreement is unacceptable to require of Fedora contributors, please remove it asap.

weblate-bad-fedora-tc.png

I've used translate.fedoraproject.org regularly since it was first deployed years ago. Today when logging in, I'm redirected to https://translate.fedoraproject.org/legal/confirm/ and required to accept these commercial weblate legal T&Cs before I can continue to use the site. This agreement is unacceptable to require of Fedora contributors, please remove it asap. [![weblate-bad-fedora-tc.png](/fedora-l10n/tickets/issue/raw/files/291b710ff67653f4507bc37a884a93470e37050078c903d1ac5c1bca4940446c-weblate-bad-fedora-tc.png)](/fedora-l10n/tickets/issue/raw/files/291b710ff67653f4507bc37a884a93470e37050078c903d1ac5c1bca4940446c-weblate-bad-fedora-tc.png)
Owner

hi Daniel,
I don't have much knowledge on legal, my honest question: why is it unacceptable?
This pagure repository is really hidden with low visibility
I suggest to open the question on https://discussion.fedoraproject.org to get more visibility and feedbacks from a wider diversity of people, with more experience on legal

hi Daniel, I don't have much knowledge on legal, my honest question: why is it unacceptable? This pagure repository is really hidden with low visibility I suggest to open the question on https://discussion.fedoraproject.org to get more visibility and feedbacks from a wider diversity of people, with more experience on legal
Author

I don't have much knowledge on legal, my honest question: why is it unacceptable?

The use of Weblate in Fedora should be subject to an agreement between the Fedora project & the provider. Once agreed by Fedora the project, Individual Fedora contributors should not be required to individually sign legal agreements to use a Fedora service.

It contains nonsensical terms such as

For the avoidance of doubt, the Parties explicitly confirm that they are business entities and that they are entering into this Agreement within the scope of their business activities.

Fedora contributors aren't business entities and cannot "explicitly confirm" this.

There are a whole bunch of terms about payment and invoicing which no Fedora contributor should be expected to agree to either.

This pagure repository is really hidden with low visibility

This is documented as the placed to report problems on the i18n team page ! https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/localization/#find-l10n

> I don't have much knowledge on legal, my honest question: why is it unacceptable? The use of Weblate in Fedora should be subject to an agreement between the Fedora project & the provider. Once agreed by Fedora the project, Individual Fedora contributors should not be required to individually sign legal agreements to use a Fedora service. It contains nonsensical terms such as > For the avoidance of doubt, the Parties explicitly confirm that they are business entities and that they are entering into this Agreement within the scope of their business activities. Fedora contributors aren't business entities and cannot "explicitly confirm" this. There are a whole bunch of terms about payment and invoicing which no Fedora contributor should be expected to agree to either. > This pagure repository is really hidden with low visibility This is documented as the placed to report problems on the i18n team page ! https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/localization/#find-l10n
Owner

Just for reference and FYI,
a link to the related Fedora Council's discussion summary

I think once the T&C will be removed from translate.fp.o, this issue can be closed...?

Just for reference and FYI, a link to the related [Fedora Council's discussion summary](https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/fedora-council-tickets-ticket-553-translate-fp-org-requires-legal-t-cs-agreement-of-fedora-contributors/175387/2) I think once the T&C will be removed from translate.fp.o, this issue can be closed...?
Owner

related ticket council/tickets#553

related ticket https://forge.fedoraproject.org/council/tickets/issues/553

Hi, any update on this issue?

Hi, any update on this issue?

Hello,
The fact is that Weblate has provided a translation platform to the Fedora community since 2019. Since then, nothing has changed in how we safeguard user data, and nothing will. Weblate is and will be libre software, designed and maintained with privacy as one of its main values.
The Terms users need to agree with exist to put on paper how we as a provider run the service and remain unchanged since 2024, together with the Privacy Policy. The T&C and PP are the same across all Weblate instances provided as a service by the Weblate company. A human mistake is the reason the Terms were not shown for agreement on Fedora Weblate before and are for agreement this year.

We received several e-mails about this to our support, be it from responsible people of the Fedora community or regular contributors. But the Weblate company cannot make changes in this unilaterally; removing T&C from the server entirely is also not a possibility. What base would then exist to ensure careful data handling, service performance, availability, upgrades? We asked the responsible people from Fedora to provide changes to the documents drafted by responsible legal workers (Red Hat). We haven't received anything so far. Once we receive the proposed changes, we will happily discuss them and deploy them to the instance after agreement.

And no, no user will be asked to provide any payment details, as some were afraid; Red Hat pays for the service. But the Terms need to reflect that as well. The wording of legal documents can be changed; as it is requested by the Fedora community, responsible people need to provide how so we all are sure it will serve the community.

Benjamin from the Weblate team

Hello, The fact is that Weblate has provided a translation platform to the Fedora community since 2019. Since then, nothing has changed in how we safeguard user data, and nothing will. Weblate is and will be libre software, designed and maintained with privacy as one of its main values. The Terms users need to agree with exist to put on paper how we as a provider run the service and remain unchanged since 2024, together with the Privacy Policy. The T&C and PP are the same across all Weblate instances provided as a service by the Weblate company. A human mistake is the reason the Terms were not shown for agreement on Fedora Weblate before and are for agreement this year. We received several e-mails about this to our support, be it from responsible people of the Fedora community or regular contributors. But the Weblate company cannot make changes in this unilaterally; removing T&C from the server entirely is also not a possibility. What base would then exist to ensure careful data handling, service performance, availability, upgrades? We asked the responsible people from Fedora to provide changes to the documents drafted by responsible legal workers (Red Hat). We haven't received anything so far. Once we receive the proposed changes, we will happily discuss them and deploy them to the instance after agreement. And no, no user will be asked to provide any payment details, as some were afraid; Red Hat pays for the service. But the Terms need to reflect that as well. The wording of legal documents can be changed; as it is requested by the Fedora community, responsible people need to provide how so we all are sure it will serve the community. Benjamin from the Weblate team
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