Hi Bob.

The information in my article is factual.

It is a fact that the principles were created over email exchanges among some of the Snowbird participants in the weeks following that gathering.

Scrum defines a process. I understand that it is a framework, but by defining specific events and roles, it defines a process.

"The agreement says a CST can't teach for other certification bodies that are competitors (that makes sense doesn't it?"

No, it does not make sense: it shows that the Scrum Alliance considers Scrum to be closed, instead of open. In contrast, the Agile 2 book says that it is expressly open and incomplete.

"There is NOTHING stopping people from using various processes within the Scrum framework."

You are right. But for people whose livelihood is based on their Scrum certs, there is strong psychological pressure to remain consistent with Scrum. And in fact, that is what I have observed spanning 20 years.