Re: [Libreplanet-dev] Code Of Conduct: ideas/suggestions

[Peter]

On Wednesday 18 March 2009 21:50, dotcommon wrote:
> Hi all
>
> To me (and, I am sure, many many others) LibrePlanet seems to be THE
> project I was waiting.
>
> I am very happy that the mission of LibrePlanet is "to raise awareness
> of free software as an issue of ethics and freedom" and that "Libre
> Planet groups aren't primarily about promoting the technical advantages
> of free software like GNU/Linux. They are about raising the profile of
> freedom and ethical concerns."
>
> I appreciate the emphasis is on *ethics* and *freedom*! It should means
> LP is focused to a wider perspective than just free software: digital
> freedom!!!
>
> That is very important! And should be well and clearly declared and
> explained to all the people, inside and outside LP or FSF.
>
> So i think Mission and Emphasis in the Code Of Conduct *shoud be more
> specific*, giving at least directions or suggestions about what libre
> planet groups are expected to do: free software, free-hardware, free
> firmware, no-drm, no-tc, "digital" privacy, net neutrality, ... , all
> the things related to digital freedom!

My view is groups do four things, which is a Code of Conduct:

1- Promote the Free Software Movement
2- Recruit members
3- Create groups
4- Teach members to do 1 - 4

The Rules (for 2 and 3) are something like this:

A) A group consists between five and ten members.
A-1) Two groups of less than five can merge into one group.
A-2) A group of more than ten can split into two groups.
A-3) Every group has one parent group and zero to ten child groups.
A-4) The parent group should be in the same area as its children.
A-5) Each group may decide how members join/leave and start a group.

B) A member can be either 'normal' or 'associate'.
B-1) Normal members do not have their own group.
B-2) Associate members have their own group.
B-3) Associate members may swap their child groups.
B-4) A parent group member is not counted as a child group member.

The logistics of this method is that you can have about 6 million members and 
access every one through at most six people. The Libre Planet group need only 
have ten members to run the network. When the network fragments, there will 
always be a 'root' group to manage each fragment. Each group is responsible 
for passing info up and down the network, so control is decentralized, but 
the information is centralized in the Libre Planet group. Only one operation 
manual/package is needed for all groups, so network maintenance is minimal.

The network information consists mainly of local socio-political conditions 
relating to free software and various methods to improve them. Libre Planet 
should be able to map the conditions geographically and provide recommended 
actions/resources to regional hot-spots. It needs to understand the 
objections to free software in cultural contexts and provide suitable 
responses to affected groups. Furthermore, it should co-ordinate media 
campaigns using cultural and traditional attitudes to include free software 
ethics in their technological environment. For example, we may associate free 
software with a 'green environment' as technologically friendly, and 
proprietary software as 'hazardous waste' to the technology environment.

Fund raising can be controlled via Libre Planet using a distributed financial 
package, similar to the way multi-nationals do. A group receives reports from 
its child groups, consolidates them, and prepares its own report to its 
parent. Budgeting may also be done in a similar manner. Group transactions 
may be posted to the parent group's summary account in real time, so Libre 
Planet should always have a fairly recent overview of the groups' financial 
standing. Some financial guru will have to decide whether thousands of group 
bank accounts is more manageable than a few centralized ones and who has 
access to them. Again, when the network fragments, each fragment should have 
a 'root' financial group to access funds.

Promoting free software requires a differentiated, or multi-channel, approach. 
The most successful way to raise awareness is the TV, but as an alternative, 
we may provide internet video and audio streaming using the group network. 
This requires collaborative group effort, where the content is a mix between 
religious broadcasts (for the ethical content) and infomercials (for delivery 
methods). The audience is ultimately directed to a local group, or the Libre 
Planet website, to join or order printed/CD material. The material forms the 
tangible part of the ethical aspect of free software, and may be anything 
from games to political protest manuals. I expect groups should spend a great 
deal of their time working on media content and ensuring a continuous supply. 
Some marketing gurus will need to analyze FSF's current socio-political 
position and figure out what marketing strategies will work best.

As can be seen, we require leaders, accountants, advertisers, announcers, 
playwrights, entertainers, and artists. So, we should initially focus our 
efforts on recruiting people who have these skills and motivation to provide 
the promotional resources. They, in turn, can use the resources to generate 
the group network. Clearly, the developers among us will work to provide the 
necessary software, but only as a small part of Libre Planet. For me, groups 
regard free software as a side-effect to advocating software freedoms, not 
their purpose. In fact I'd go so far to say that when a member is asked about 
software, they respond, "Oh we don't do software, check out GNU or Savannah 
and join a mailing list". We may, of course, list several developer sites on 
Libre Planet, but only as an aid to prospective members.

Peter