[maemo-community] maemo.org infra safety - HiFo action URGENTLY needed.

[From: Craig Woodward]

> On March 11, 2014 at 1:07 PM Ивайло Димитров <freemangordon at abv.bg> wrote:
> I don't think it is strictly an alienation what is going on here, rather
> a "bit" of misunderstanding.

And a series of nasty temper tantrums, threats and more, primarily from one
person.


> My take on the discussion so far is that HiFo tries to redefine its role
> as a community accountant(lawyer?, negotiator?) and nothing more. It
> seems to me that HiFo wants more "power" over the decision-making
> process. And I really think such a redefinition should happen only if the
> community finds it necessary and approves it.

FMG: Those on the Board have *legal responsibility* for upholding agreements
made to keep things going.

For example if any of the following were to happen:
Were the user list from Maemo/TMO to be published and someone went to sue over
it.
If anything containing proprietary information is found on the servers (say, a
Flash 10 package)
If Nokia/MS takes umbrage at Neo900 using software they believed to be
proprietary.

All of those would land in full or partially on HiFo.  Not Joerg, not Falk, not
"techstaff", but HiFo would be listed as the defendant of the suit, which would
fall on the Board to handle.  Joerg protesting "I'm responsible" or "it's all
public domain and open source" won't prevent any of them from suing, or move a
single bit of legal responsibility to him.

Those holding *legal responsibility* for what happens are going to want some
input on what's going on.  If you plan on not giving that to the Board (or those
in positions of responsibility in the new .e.V.), then you're going to have a
damn hard time finding people to volunteer for those positions.  Would you take
on legal liability for something that you had NO control over?  Now throw in
someone having fits, who could do things directly that would impact you
legally.  Looking to sign up yet?

Say what he will, Joerg holds NO legal rights or responsibilities when it comes
to Maemo.  You'll note, he's also offered NO proof that he's liable for
anything.  Where's the NDA he signed when "taking over servers" from Nemien? 
None, because WE negotiated that.  Where are the legal documents he signed to be
held accountable for the servers and their contents?  None, same reason.  What
is his liability if someone goes to sue for something found on the website? 
None.

My signature is:
On the founding documents for Hildon Foundation (along with Robs and Ivans).
On the IPHH contract, where the servers are running and being maintained.
On the bank account holding HiFos funds, as primary account holder.
On several other preliminary agreements and CR issued by the Board (as well as
other past/current members).

All but the last of those are all matters of public record, as legally required
by US law.  Some of the agreements (esp any that may involve Nokia) may be under
confidentiality agreements, and thus are not public.  Divulging those publicly
could be grounds for either side to terminate negotiations and end any existing
agreements that are on-going.

So ask yourself again: Who's holding the bag, legally, if this all goes bad? 
Who has the clearest understanding of what's going on here, legally?  Do you
honestly think that the 10 people who have held the position of Board Director,
all but 2 being a past Maemo Council, were all out to screw the community?  How
likely is that?


Right now you have ONE person spreading FUD, saying things like:
HiFo wants to take over Maemo, and run the servers. 
HiFo is negotiating removal of CSSU from Maemo servers.
HiFo is "conspiring against him" by implementing a viable/free backup service.
HiFo holds no legal rights or responsibility for Maemo servers, just him.

None of these are true.  Simple fact checking:

HiFo is currently *trying* to create an .e.V. to have the political and
financial center closer to where everything else is.  If all goes as planned,
within a month that .e.V. will have all legal rights and responsibilities
leveled on it, HiFo will then begin the process of legally dissolving.  You
should also note that all but one of the current Board has already clearly
stated they do NOT intend to hold a position in the new .e.V.  So no "power
grab" going on there.

I personally stepped down from HiFo months ago, and asked Falk to remove my
login rights to all Maemo servers.  Super "power grab" there, right?  Clearly
all a clever ruse so I can piss away the over $1,500 I've spent of my own
personal funds, between starting up HiFo and funding various things (including
Joerg), all non-reimbursed.  How power hungry I am...

Nobody on the Board wants to be a sysadmin.  What most Board members want is
very simple: To have a clear process where they can request things from tech
staff that are legally required and have them done.  They want a clean paper
trail, where services rendered and products purchased are properly billed, and
there is limited chance of legal repercussions down the road.

This particular mess started because I (and others on the Board) were not
comfortable with Joerg "requesting" (or demanding, depending how you read it)
funds for providing a backup service for Maemo.org.  Between a few projects he's
involved in there was concern that HiFo writing a check to him personally could
be seen, legally, as collusion in or support for those projects.  And I'm not
even talking about nefarious things here... The Neo900 project, which Joerg is
clearly part of, if handled improperly even months from now, could result in
problems with Nokia/MS.  If Nokia/MS then came after HiFo for something Neo900
related, pointing to those checks in a court battle, it could cause
complications and legal/financial issues for Board members.  How likely is
that?  Slim.  But it was/is a potential risk, and one we didn't want or need to
take.

Understand, this was not me or HiFo simply saying "no".  We proposed several
other solutions.  I even offered to again wire personal funds, but that was
apparently not an option.  Joerg insisted it be from HiFo to him.  He insisted
it be his way, or he would terminate the "service", and went right to spreading
FUD on IRC.

The kicker for me was that part of this involved me asking a direct question,
the answer to which he lied blatantly about.  That was a large part of why I
resigned from the Board.  If I can't trust someone who is on Council and
techstaff, and in charge of handling issues that I can be legally held
responsible for, I sure as hell didn't want to stay in that position any
longer.  Who would?

-Woody