[Foundation-l] Concerns for Safety

[Dan Rosenthal]

Nathan: We brought our concerns up repeatedly during jury selection.  
They were dismissed and ignored by the Alexandria team every time.

As for talking about lawsuits, it's not a scare tactic, and I'd be  
afraid for the foundation if the mere mention from a first-year law  
student can pressure Mike Godwin. But the difficulties that you claim  
are not there. The foundation is a US organization, and thus could be  
sued by a US citizen for negligence in planning that occurred in the  
US. Who knows whether that would win on the merits, but the  
possibility does exist.

It's getting a bit tiresome to hear "Anyone who feels endangered  
should, well, not go". We shouldn't have to. We should be able to go  
to these events without worry and risk. That's the whole point.   
Wikimania in Alexandria hurts both those that attend AND those that  
stay behind. Saying "if you feel endangered you shouldn't go" directly  
contradicts the Foundation's mission of being a source of knowledge to  
everyone, and Wikimania being available to everyone. Everyone should  
be able to attend, anyone who wants to, and part of doing so is the  
requirement that the Foundation ensure the security and safety of  
everyone who attends.

-Dan



On Mar 7, 2008, at 9:41 AM, Nathan wrote:

> The chosen location has been Alexandria for some time. Nothing has  
> changed
> about Alexandria since before the jury selection, and yet these  
> issues are
> being raised now rather than when they could have been considered in a
> timely manner. The likelihood of canceling the Alexandria Wikimania is
> rightfully slim. It should not be canceled, and I agree with Gerard  
> that
> people who go should not expect their safety to be absolutely  
> ensured by
> WMF. There may be steps that the Foundation can take, within limits  
> based on
> funding and timing, to mitigate any threats uncovered by the threat
> assessment. More importantly - there are definitely steps that  
> individuals
> can take for themselves.
>
> Talking about lawsuits and arguing indefinitely about Alexandria is  
> not
> helpful. Half the new posts about this topic are people finding ways  
> to be
> insulted or nitpick the posts of others, without responding  
> substantively.
> It would surely be difficult to file a lawsuit in your home country  
> about an
> event in Egypt, when you  went under your own  power and with no  
> guarantees
> of anything except admittance to the conference. Mentioning it is a  
> scare
> tactic, intended to  pressure the foundation into canceling  
> Wikimania. How
> about we just say that anyone who feels endangered should, well, not  
> go? And
> if many feel too unsafe, it will be a small Wikimania. If you are  
> really so
> worried about the safety of those who themselves are not worried,  
> well its
> very kind of you but sort of strange.
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