Thank you Ben! On Mon, Dec 10, 2018 at 1:09 AM Ben Caradoc-Davies <b...@transient.nz> wrote:
> María, > > thank you for taking the lead on this important issue. While in my view, > the majority of OSGeo participants act with consideration and in good > faith, a single malicious act is one too many. We get the behaviour we > tolerate, and a strong code of conduct helps us prevent behaviour that > we do not want. In addition to a code of conduct, we also need a > complaint procedure to enforce it. > > Did we ever hear back from any other foundations about how they handle > code of conduct enforcement? > > Note that I am not at this time available for any OSGeo roles, but I > have subscribed to the coc-discuss list. > > Here are some of my opinions. In them, I will use words like "must" > solely because I think that these words should be used in the OSGeo > procedure, but please remember that these are just my opinions and I do > not claim to be right or an authority on these matters. I am also not a > lawyer. Whenever I refer to complaints, I mean CoC complaints not > general complaints: > > - Everyone who is expected to handle a complaint must first be trained > in the complaint procedure and the OSGeo code of conduct, have access to > psychological and legal support, and be covered by OSGeo legal liability > insurance. The latter likely includes all OSGeo officers. > > - Natural justice must apply to the complaint procedure. At some point, > the respondent will receive the complaint, including the identity of the > complainant and alleged witnesses. This must be disclosed to the > complainant before they submit their complaint. We cannot act on > anonymous complaints nor consider hearsay. > > - Code of Conduct enforcement is a civil matter and the standard of > proof is balance of probability. > > - Do we ask complainants what redress they seek? This could range from a > private or public apology from the respondent, private or public censure > of the respondent by the conduct committee, or expulsion from OSGeo. > > - Complaints must be handled in confidence, except where the complainant > makes them public. Breaches of confidence must be considered a CoC > violation. Nothing in the procedure precludes the respondent from > responding in public to a public complaint, nor shall either party be > considered to have breached confidence if they seek redress through a > legal authority or the courts. > > - María, you have already stated the need to have identified complaint > handlers so that a complainant knows who will receive their complaint, > and I agree. I think that, on receipt of a formal complaint, any > complaint handler or other OSGeo member must forward the complaint to > all complaint handlers who are not a party to the complaint (where > parties include witnesses). Even with a web site form, expect half of > complaints, especially the most serious ones, to be delivered to trusted > individuals. The list of complaint handlers and the policy on who will > receive a complaint must be prominent on the complaint submission form > and information pages. > > - So, who is going to bell the cat? Consider outsourcing complaint > handling to an independent external investigation, mediation, and/or > arbitration service would remove any appearance of conflict of interest > or bias, reduce harm to OSGeo complaint handlers, and protect OSGeo from > legal liability. > > - We need a better term for complaint handler. "Conduct officer"? This > would clarify their role and reduce inappropriate submission of general > complaints. We need more than one. Conduct officers in their role of > enforcing the code of conduct are acting on behalf of OSGeo and not as > individuals. > > - Any complaint that may constitute a criminal offence must in the first > instance be reported to authorities with jurisdiction unless the > complainant is unwilling to do so. Local legal advice will likely be > required. This may cover online activities: for example, the New Zealand > Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 > < > http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2015/0063/latest/DLM5711810.html> > > < > https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/general-help/consumer-laws/online-safety-laws-and-rules/> > > prohibits online bullying and harassment and has resulted in successful > prosecutions by NZ Police. Criminal complaints will take priority over > but not supersede OSGeo CoC investigations, which can run concurrently; > our procedure will need rules on how to handle this situation and > protect the rights of both the complainant and the respondent. We should > never ever think that we can handle internally something that should in > the first instance be a police matter. > > Thanks again, María. In my view, CoC enforcement is the dirtiest job in > the open source community, and I commend you for your efforts. > > Happy Human Rights Day! Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the adoption > of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948: > <https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/> > > Kind regards, > Ben. > > On 10/12/2018 01:49, María Arias de Reyna wrote: > > Dear OSGeo community, > > > > As you may already know, I have been working for the last months in > > improving our community procedures[1] to make it a safer space. Recent > > events in the community have shown that we have a lot of work ahead. > > > > We all, as OSGeo, must remove the recent bullying and campaigning > mentality > > that is unfortunately gradually become a part of our culture. Disclosing > > private data or hinting threats is not helpful and can only make our > > community less comfortable for everyone. We will work on improving > actions > > on harmful behavior. > > > > This has been a slow task, but there are some actions taking place: > > > > CoC committee members have become inactive. I volunteered to pick up the > > task and lead a new CoC committee. Right now I am the only CoC member, > but > > I am looking for more volunteers. If only, to make sure that if I am > > involved in any CoC incident, someone else can take care of it properly > as > > mediator. > > > > I want to change also the way incidents and violations of the CoC are > > reported. I noticed there are reports being done on person and on private > > email, but never through the official channels (which right now is a > > mailing list).To improve this, I will ask the SAC to replace the mailing > > list with an alias and a form on the website. Also, there will be a > public > > list of who receives those emails so people reporting incidents will > have a > > clear understanding of who is receiving the information and decide to > > contact privately only a subset of the team. Replacing the mailing list > by > > an alias that sends the data directly to the inbox of the CoC team is > > important, as sometimes incidents are not reported just because the > person > > reporting is scared to leave a trace of the report or is not sure who > will > > be reading the report. > > > > Another action I am going to propose is a change on the CoC itself. Our > > community has grown a lot both in diversity and in numbers, and we need a > > strict code of conduct that makes sure marginalized or harrased people is > > always covered by it. We can't rely anymore on just common sense and good > > faith. > > > > Once the new board is settled, I am going to propose to change the > current > > CoC for another like the Contributor Covenant[2]. As it is a CoC shared > by > > many communities, this has the advantage of receiving the upgrades and > > experience from other communities. As you can see, it fixes some of the > > bugs from our CoC, like the assuming good intent and good faith[3] part > > that made the current CoC useless on most cases. I will propose to add > some > > foreword to adapt to specifities for our community, but in my opinion, > the > > latest version of the Contributor Covenant is easy to read, simple, and > > cover most of what we need. My hope is that this new CoC can be adapted > to > > all OSGeo Projects and Events that don't already have a CoC, so we have > > full OSGeo universe covered by default. > > > > I hope this actions will prove useful in the medium term and we don't > have > > to see more members leaving the community. We should remember to be > > empathic and kind. We are all seeking the same goals and we should > > encourage cooperation, not hinder each other. I know that developer > > communities are very used to these bad behaviours, but I'm confident we > can > > grow better. > > > > Have a nice day! > > María. > > > > > > [1] https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2018-August/011640.html > > [2] https://www.contributor-covenant.org/ > > [3] > > > https://thebias.com/2017/09/26/how-good-intent-undermines-diversity-and-inclusion/ > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > Discuss@lists.osgeo.org > > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > > -- > Ben Caradoc-Davies <b...@transient.nz> > Director > Transient Software Limited <https://transient.nz/> > New Zealand >
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