[Foundation-l] EFF & Bitcoins

[Thomas Dalton]

On 22 June 2011 17:25, MZMcBride <z at mzmcbride.com> wrote:
> Ting Chen wrote:
>> Am 21.06.2011 18:15, schrieb MZMcBride:
>>> Thomas Morton wrote:
>>>> As a follow up to the discussion about Bitcoins (during the board elections)
>>>> &  accepting them as donations... I thought this article by the EFF
>>>> explaining why they no longer accept BC sets out some interesting
>>>> arguments: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/eff-and-bitcoin
>>>
>>> Related: if you're interested in buying a Wikimedia Board seat, I believe it
>>> costs about $2 million (USD only, I think).
>>
>> This statement is such a lie that I cannot let it stay here unresponded.
>>
>> You imply the board seat of Matt Halprin. Matt had long left Omidyar, if
>> his board seat was bought, we had had to chose someone else from that
>> Foundation to replace him. As we had explained before many times, Matt
>> is on the board only because his skill and knowledge on board governance.
>
> Sorry, I don't follow.
>
>> Matt had long left Omidyar.
>
> That's not true, Ting. From Wikimedia's press release:
>
>> Omidyar Network today announced a grant of up to $2 million over two years
>> to the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that operates
>> Wikipedia, one of the world¹s top 5 most visited websites. The Wikimedia
>> Foundation has also appointed Matt Halprin, a partner at Omidyar Network, to
>> its Board of Trustees.
>
> http://wikimedia.org/wiki/Press_releases/Omidyar_Network_Grant_August_2009
>
> I think some of your message got lost in translation, as the suggestion that
> Mr. Halprin had left Omidyar before joining the Wikimedia Board doesn't seem
> to be supported by any sources. (Mr. Halprin's own online CV has him as a
> partner at Omidyar from July 2008 to October 2010.)
>
> I don't recall many reasonable people disagreeing in 2009 that this was a
> purchased Board seat. Nobody even bothered trying to make it seem as though
> these two events (the $2 million donation and the seat appointment) were
> unconnected. There was one press release.
>
> Can you clarify what you meant?

I think you are right - someone was lost in translation. Ting means
"has left" not "had left". He's suggesting that if it were a bought
seat then, when Matt left Omidyar (which he has since done) it would
have left the board too an have been replaced by someone else from
Omidyar.

I'm not sure I completely agree - if it were a straight forward
contractual agreement to appoint a board member in exchange for the
donation, then that is what would happen. If it were a less official
arrangement (which seems far more likely - I don't believe for a
moment that the WMF would outright lie to us about a formal agreement
to sell a board seat) then that may not be the case.