Re: Can a foundation member have access to the sponsorship history?

[Ekaterina Gerasimova <kittykat3756 gmail com>]

On 6 June 2014 07:38, Fabiano Fidêncio <fabiano fidencio org> wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 8:20 A
> > > > 3) Check if the values spent are okay
> > >
> > > Here I am unsure what you are asking for.  I published summaries in the
> > > past regarding to GUADEC, for example (Sorry for my English, it was
> > > rustier than now):
> > >
> > > http://calcifer.org/notes/2009/05/status-of-guadecs-sponsorship-requests.html
> > >
> > > http://calcifer.org/notes/2010/04/guadec-status-of-travel-sponsorship-requests.html
> >
> > Also at:
> > http://blogs.gnome.org/kittykat/2013/06/07/sponsorships-for-guadec-2013/
>
> Thanks for the link, Ekaterina!
>
> > > If you are asking for details of how much we have sponsored per every
> > > individual, it was decided at the very beginning to keep that
> > > information private.  It was also part of the announcement (see the
> > > links below):
> > >
> > >     "Any information you send the TC will be private"
> > >
> > > If we provide the names and numbers, there will be missing contextual
> > > information to explain some things.  And this could refrain people of
> > > requesting sponsorship. So, there is a trade-off between transparency
> > > and privacy.
> > >
> > > And this is mostly the case for GUADEC and GNOME.Asia. For hackfests,
> > > you still have the wiki page that has that information.  Something that
> > > might change once we start having a fixed amount for the hackfests
> > > altogether.
> > >
> > > > Although I'm not the one who would like to dig into these data, I'd
> > > > feel
> > > > really more comfortable knowing that I can do this, if I'd like to.
> > > > Does it make sense? Am I asking too much?
> > >
> > > > Please, as I told before, I'm kind-of new here. So, If this discussion
> > > > already happened in the past, please, point me some links and I'll be
> > > > happy
> > > > reading them and trying to understand why this process is not
> > > > transparent
> > > > for all the Foundation members. (Seriously, I'm not trying to put my
> > > > finger
> > > > in anyone's face about how the money is or should be spend. Just would
> > > > love
> > > > to understand how the process works)
> > >
> > > The Travel Committee was proposed and discussed in 2009. You can see the
> > > original proposal in the following link:
> > >
> > > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-February/msg00007.html
> > >
> > > This was lengthly discussed, see for example the archives of February
> > > 2009:
> > >
> > > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-February/thread.html
> > >
> > > And you can see a follow-up on March on a related topic ("Sponsoring
> > > hackfests"):
> > > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-March/thread.html
> > >
> > > And the announcement in April:
> > > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-April/msg00012.html
> > >
> > > > With my thoughts and my doubts, yesterday I approached the Treasurer
> > > > (who
> > > > is also member of the Travel Committee) and asked her about those
> > > > things
> > > > and I'd like to share my disappointment with the answers.
> > > > [comments deleted]
> > > > After that, I was told to raise it with the Foundation, and that's the
> > > > motivation for my email :-)
> >
> > There is indeed lack of context here. You strongly implied that the
> > board and the travel-committee was corrupt, which is an opinion that
> > you have every right to hold. If you do truly think that this is the
> > case, then it is my opinion that you should indeed raise the matter
> > with the membership rather than keeping quiet.
>
> Wait a bit. Asking for information means that I imply that board and
> travel-committee is corrupt?
> If yes, sorry the Board, sorry Travel Committee. I've noticed that I think
> both of you are corrupt!

No, you said "from the place where I come from obscurity helps with a
lot of bad things". I try to assume that people mean well, but I find
it very difficult to read anything positive from that statement.

> Come on, Ekaterina. We know that everyone is equal for GNOME Foundation and
> we know we had problems about decisions being taken differently for the same
> situation and different people. Is it corruption? I don't think so.
> What I do think so is that having every detail opened would help people to
> understand this kind of situation without have to argue with you and hear
> those kind of answers.

If anyone holds my personal information which I gave under the belief
that it would not be shared, then I should hope that they would fight
to keep my information private, regardless of who was asking for it
(government, a company or another individual).

> > Regarding the travel committee issues and taking quotes out of
> > context, I would prefer to be clear on the matter:
> >
> > You asked me where the amounts of sponsorship were recorded, I
> > responded by saying on hackfest pages and in board minutes.
> >
> > You asked me for exact amounts that every individual has been
> > sponsored for, I responded by explaining that you can make an educated
> > estimate from the above two resources.
> >
> > You asked me why the exact amounts of sponsorship for each individual
> > are not published, I explained that one of the reasons is that they
> > would make little sense without context and context is not ours to
> > publish. I also assured you that they are recorded properly, as that
> > seemed to be of concern to you, and the board also has access to them
> > in case the board ever wants to audit them.
> >
> > I believe you when you say that you have no agenda, but you have yet
> > to give me a good reason for telling the world (you were asking me in
> > a public IRC channel) on which service to try guessing a travel
> > committee member's password
>
> Come on. Asking where are those info is "try guessing a travel committee
> member's password"?
> Now I'm really surprised, again!

Please read what I wrote again, I did not accuse you of anything. My
point is to highlight that revealing where the information is stored
makes that information less secure.

> > and where to look for sponsorship details which, as Germán pointed out,
> > the travel committee does promise to
> > keep private.
>
> You could have answered this, right? But you took the non-polite way.

I still prefer to not answer this question as you have still not given
a good reason to do so.

We aim to keep the information within the Foundation and to that
effect use only Foundation infrastructure.

> Best Regards,
> --
> Fabiano Fidêncio