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h3. Announcement
*WHAT:* Steering Group Teleconference
*WHEN:* Monday, April 21, 2008 at 21:00 - 22:00 GMT
* San Francisco: 2pm
* Boston: 5pm
* London: 10pm
* Berlin: 11pm
* Hong Kong: 5am (April 22)
* Tokyo: 6am (April 22)
* Sydney: 7am (April 22)
*WHO:* Open to any contributors
*WHERE:*
* *Skype:* _conference dial-in details removed_
* *Back Channel:* [http://snipr.com/dp_steering_skype]
*PROPOSED AGENDA:*
* Introductions
* Chris Saad Background on Legal Formalization
* Do we need to legalize the project status?
* If so, should we do it ourselves, or under another banner?
* If we do it, what is the process and who will shepherd it?
* If we hook up to another entity, how will we select it?
*MEETING OUTPUT:*
* Process Shepherd / Facilitator
* Next Steps
* Milestone Dates
h3. Minutes
*Attendees:* |
... Christian Sholtz (herrtopf)
Ben Metcaffe (dotben)
David Rudin (drudin)
Brett McDowell (myidiym)
Nancy Cole ()
Daniela Barbosa (medanielabarbosa)
Mary Trigiani (mtrigiani)
Brady Brim-DeForest (bradybd)
Elias (elias.bizannes)
Phil Wolff (evanwolf)
Drummond Reed (drummondreed)
Robyn Tippins (duzins)
*Minutes:*
*A. Introductions*
*B. Chris Saad Background on Legal Formalization*
\+ TechCrunch donating money sparked need for structure to accept it.
*C. Do we need to legalize the project status*?
\+ We need a way to accept funding
\+ Need to protect possible IP assets
\+ Rough consenus is that some legal entity is needed.
\+ The questions are the what/when/how about it.
*D. If so, should we do it ourselves, or under another banner?*
*E. If we do it, what is the process and who will shepherd it?*
*F. If we hook up to another entity, how will we select it?*
\+ Are we needing to accept donations as a charity (eg. 501.c.3)? Consensus: we need to be able to accept donations, but the jury is still out as to whether or not we need to be a 501(c)3 charity to do so.
\+ Nancy: there are ways to accept money to cover costs other than a legal charity, possible project within another entity (eg. "Tide Center" [http://www.tidescenter.org/services/fiscal-sponsorship/overview/index.html])
\+ Brett: If the community agrees that we cannot leave the financial administration to the sole dominion of a single volunteer then we do need some kind of legal umbrella to serve these functions. But we don't have to wait until DP incorporates or chooses its long-term host organization to function (see Liberty Alliance proposal).
\+ David: Possibly set up a D.B.A. entity to put some legal teeth around a person as a short term solution.
\+ Ben & Chris: Not sure it's a good idea to put one person in charge.
+ Brett: Proposed that Liberty Alliance can direct IEEE-ISTO to act as the association management host for DP's financial and IP needs in the short-term. This comes at no cost to DP. It is just a good faith offer from Liberty Alliance to support the DP movement. DP might want to be a program of IEEE ISTO (501.c.6 organization) in the future but accepting this administrative solution in the short-term does not in any way lock DP into that outcome.
\+ David: Need to look into the particulars of Brett's proposal to comment.
\+ Brady: Should we explore other type of incorporations?
\+ Nancy & David: 4 to 6 month process for incorporation, plus fees (eg. filing costs, legal, etc.)
\+ Brady: Where we incorporate has various additional pros / cons.
\+ Chris: Could we convey rights (eg. copyright, IP) to IEEE ISTO for holding, too?
\+ David: Copyright IP is one thing, but patent IP is another.
\+ Brett: Clarifying that the option is a short-term solution, simply a place to park funds for now. But yes, even under this short-term solution DP could have IEEE-ISTO hold IP on its behalf and IEEE-ISTO will be contractually bound to allow DP to move all that IP somewhere else if it wishes to at a later date.
\+ Ben & Chris: Just want to clarify a need to be cautious.
\+ Brady: Brought up Harry Halpin's proposal to join the W3C ([http://wiki.dataportability.org/display/dpmain/Relationship+to+W3C])
\+ Brett: DP becoming a W3C Working Group has various pros/cons, too and should be explored. But DP becoming a W3C Working Group is more of a long-term solution vs. a near-term solution that can easily be changed at any time.
\+ Elias: We've formalized a Governance / Workflow Taskforce that will solve financial dispersement issues. ([http://wiki.dataportability.org/display/dpmain/Workflow+taskforce])
\+ Nancy: Parking funds in the interim is OK, but may be a problem getting the funds back out without DP being formalized (ie. process is called an "equivelancy document")
\+ Brett: The Equivalency issue doesn't apply to IEEE-ISTO since it is not a charity. But one thing that is an issue is DP having a clear way to identify appropriate decision makers for the disbursement of funds.
\+ Nancy: Proposes an education opportunity to explain the options to the group.
\+ Brady: Would need to be formalized as a "non profit" to receive "donations" from the web site.
\+ David: If we agree the ultimate goal is to become a separate entity, we might consider biting the bullet and doing it rather than doing a stop-gap.
\+ Brett: IEEE-ISTO was designed to be a host to industry groups who need a legal framework and other administrative services, even those who might choose to incorporate at a later date. So IEEE-ISTO is well practiced at turning over all cash and IP to their programs if/when they stop using IEEE-ISTO has a host.
\+ Drummond: Identity Commons is another possible solution.
\+ Elias: Points to research: 1) types of entities 2) potential costs (and non-financial costs)
\+ Chris: Set up [http://groups.google.com/group/dataportabilityorg]
*Action Items:*
\+ Creation of an Organization Evaluation TaskForce
\+ Taskforce chairman: Brady Brim-DeForest
\+ Will shepherd research and report back to the Steering Group with options fleshed out.
\+ Postings will be made to all groups about process to illicit wide involvement.
\+ Next milestone: Monday, April 28th, 2008 Steering Call with process update.
\+ In the interim, Elias will continue with the Governance Taskforce
h3. Conference call recording, back channel transcript
* *Listen:* [MP3|http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DataPortabilityPodcasts/~5/275015666/dp_steering_call_20080421.mp3]
* *Subscribe:* [iTunes|http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=275687823] \| [Feedburner|http://feeds.feedburner.com/DataPortabilityPodcasts]
h3. Next meetings
* Monday, April 28th, 2008 - 21:00 GMT
h3. Feedback on the meeting itself
* |