[Foundation-l] bylaws
Ray Saintonge
saintonge at telus.net
Wed Aug 16 08:42:39 UTC 2006
Michael R. Irwin wrote:
>Ray Saintonge wrote:
>
>snip
>
>
>
>>My first general observation about this set of by-laws is that they
>>should not contain what does not need to be contained. By-laws are
>>about establishing a structure that allows an organization to function.
>>Beginning with the first section, what's the purpose of showing the web
>>address in the by-laws? References to any websites should not be in the
>>by-laws since these are subject to often daily change. A look at the
>>edit history of [[Wiki]] will be enough to substantiate that.
>>
>>The Statement of Purpose needs to be greatly simplified. Many of the
>>details here can be expected to change over time. Why not simply say
>>something like:
>>
>> * The purpose of The Foundation is to promote and institute the
>> universal free access to all knowledge based on the principles of
>> mutual respect of editors, neutral point of view and respect for
>> copyright.
>>
>>
>Perhaps "all knowledge" should be amended to "all free knowledge" or "
>the entire knowledge commons of humanity" or something with similar
>implications.
>
"All knowledge" is fine. The fact that certain knowledge is not free
now does not imply that that will always be the case.
>Surely we are not intending to publish proprietary trade secrets or data
>classified as national secrets such as the design or performance
>specifications of the highly rumored B-3 project?
>
Before that question can be meaningful someone needs to have access to
the material. Bringing military secrets out into the open would help to
create a level playing field on the road to general disarmament.
Ec
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