Pavel Richter mail@pavelrichter.de wrote:
[…] 3.
So think hard before you grant confidentiality If someone asks you to keep something they are going to tell you confidential, think hard before you agree to it. In the case of James Heilman (or any other board member), their obligation is towards the WMF, and they can not step away from this in order to keep certain information confidential. So, in my opinion, no board member is able to grant confidentiality to a staff member, because there is a good chance that they are obliged to disclose this information under their obligations towards the WMF.
[…]
Is that true? Apparently James Heilman withheld information from the board that was given to him confidentially, and ad- vised by both internal and external legal counsel the board did not force him to disclose that information. That looks to me more like that board members' obligations to the WMF can be met (at least most times) while maintaining confiden- tiality.
There are probably cases where for example a confidential reporter is the only witness to a crime against the WMF and thus his identity must be revealed to others but I don't see why board members would need to disclose who suggested to them to take a closer look at something.
Tim