[okfn-discuss] OKFN and Reset the Net

[Laura James]

Hi Will,

I'd be delighted to hear from others what they think and look forward to
more responses here.

I totally take your point on government surveillance being counter to a
supportive environment for open data action, and of course there's lots of
other supportive environment elements for media and civil society, and we
need to figure out which we actively support *as an organisation* and which
we don't. My sense would be that 'is there an open knowledge element' is
the right line to draw, but that may be wrong if there are other
non-contentious support areas the full open knowledge community would
whole-heartedly back. The level of controversy is relevant because if we
are representing the whole open knowledge community, we need to have a
sense as to whether the whole community would reasonably back it; of course
for specific chapters it's their own call as they are only representing
their constituency.

In the case of Reset the Net specifically, I've seen some opposition online
to the initiative because it has the backing of Google - what do folks here
think about that? Is it a concern?

Laura




On 5 June 2014 16:28, William Waites <ww at eris.okfn.org> wrote:

> Hi Laura,
>
> That is a pretty bizarre position to take and seems to show a
> surprising lack of understanding of the environment in which OKF
> operates. For example, suppose a journalist or civil servant wants to
> use some Open Data in order to draw attention to some problem in
> government. Do you think it is appropriate for the same government
> to be spying on them while they do this and if they are a civil servant
> perhaps dismiss them on a pretext before they can finish and publish
> their research? Do you think when the public sector publishes
> information that it is appropriate to keep tabs on who is using that
> information and for what?
>
> "Does not quite fit within [OKF's] remit" is alarmingly out of step
> with the rest of the 'net. Have a look at the list of which other
> organisations supporting this and ask yourself if it appears to be
> within you understand as their remit.
>
> Please reconsider :)
>
> -w
>
> On Thu, 5 Jun 2014 14:30:40 +0100
> Laura James <laura.james at okfn.org> wrote:
>
> > Hi Will,
> >
> > Reset the Net is an interesting initiative around freedom from mass
> > surveillance by government. We try to focus our Open Knowledge
> > endorsements on projects with a clear open data / open knowledge
> > element. There's lots of causes out there which we might well support
> > as individuals, especially around digital rights and so forth, but as
> > an organisation we feel it's best to focus our support on causes
> > directly related to our work and mission, which most likely means
> > that we can be confident that Open Knowledge folks would support the
> > cause. My sense is that Reset the Net doesn't quite fall within this
> > remit; what do others think?
> >
> > Of course, Local Groups and Chapters may make their own decisions on
> > such initiatives, in consultation with the appropriate local board of
> > directors and community, and to ensure if they do sign that they make
> > it clear what organisation or group they represent - ie the Chapter
> > or the specific Local Group.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Laura
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 5 June 2014 12:19, William Waites <ww at eris.okfn.org> wrote:
> >
> > > It's not too late, and it'd be really good to have the
> > > https://www.resetthenet.org/ banner or splash page up
> > > today on the okfn.org web site
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
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-- 



*Dr Laura JamesCEO  *

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