[Community-Discuss] Gratitude

[Noah]

Owen,

On Tue, Jun 4, 2019 at 8:39 AM Owen DeLong <owen at delong.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Jun 3, 2019, at 21:32 , Noah <noah at neo.co.tz> wrote:
>
> Owen
>
> Selective Memory………
>
>
> Not deliberately so, but I will admit that from the vague and ambiguous
> description below, I am unable to reassemble a memory of what you are
> referring to.
>

I still insist selective memory........


> If we are going to throw around the narrative of folks on the board acting
> acting in bad faith, may I remind some of the members castigating the board
> in defense of a respectable employee who chose to resign from their
> position for reasons unknown to all of us but are now using the specific
> board minutes to go after the board for suspiciously other unknown
> reasons,  about the history of the so called mighty NDA.
>
>
> Can you translate this out of doublespeak and into facts?
>
> The specific board minutes are being used to castigate two specific board
> members which have been named (Serge Ilunga and Cristian Bope) because they
> acted in bad faith bringing two motions to criticize fellow board members
> for disclosing information which was already public, allegedly because it
> violated the NDA since the board had (possibly ex post facto, though the
> timeline is admittedly not 100% clear from the minutes) decided (for
> reasons passing understanding) to delay publication.
>
>
You realize 100% of issues discussed in board meetings tend to refer to
already publicly available information right. Therefore It’s the context of
the discussion and once the board deems to release a statement in future
all board members become bound to that decision period.

If we remember correctly recent events dating back a couple of years ago
> when the whole breach of NDA issue surfaced before members and the
> community,  you will realize that one of the vocal members here used the
> NDA to defend what I would probably call the most unethical boardroom
> behaviors and tactics a few years ago from what we learned as a community.
> In fact the board chair at the time had reducted board minutes and
> presented to the community what was purely misinformation in the name of
> the NDA.
>
>
> If you’re referring to Andrew’s various tirades claiming he was unable to
> disclose details due to board NDA, then I will let him answer for that
> alone. While I have found myself agreeing with Andrew about many things, I
> have never supported his particular style of communication, nor have I ever
> supported his unsubstantiated rants.
>

My reference dates back to the events of the meeting in Tunisia a couple of
years ago when the then board members Badru and Paulos had to resign from
the board over NDA related matters.


> Two Board members at the time acted against this and released the
> unreducted minutes to the community.  A number of board members called for
> the two to resign so as to make a statement to the community which they did
> and years  later we came to learn that the same folks who led the call for
> resignation of directors, years later did exactly the same thing of
> releasing information that the board had not yet decided to release.
>
>
> In this particular case, the board members in question released material
> that WAS NOT PUBLIC prior to their disclosure.
>

Again back to the Tunis meeting, If you listen to the meeting discussions
in Tunis on the floor the day before all issues had been discussed and
vigorously denied by the then board member Andrew and the Board chair on
the floor.  The community then asked for the said minutes which had not
been released and the board then were asked to release the info.  So the
issue was already public.



> Do you not see the difference between material that is not already public
> and a document which is by definition a matter of public record? Is it
> really so hard to make this distinction?
>

Again please go and review the Tunis discussions for your answer.


> If you will recall, many of those same community members also called for
> the resignation of Sunday Folayan on the same basis. I won’t speak for the
> others, but at least in my case, I had to agree that selective enforcement
> is an unacceptable path.
>

Your memory seems to be failing you my friend.  I was referring to the
resignation of Badru and Paulo way before Sundays resignation which was
based on a far different issue.  Please read through the emails including
your own at the time.


> The issue of the information being public should therefore not be used
> here because the community had been told that the information was public
> and they should be able to find it. As some have mentioned already, we all
> work or belong to communities where some rules are outwardly out of tune.
> But we work to change them and not to manipulate them.
>
>
> Once the information is public, the NDA specifically excludes it from any
> limitations of the NDA. Read the NDA… To whit:
>
>
> I understand that certain information about AfriNIC is confidential, which
> is information not previously published or otherwise disclosed to the
> public and which relates to but is not limited to the following:
>
> (a) the operations of AfriNIC
>
> (b) the customers of AfriNIC; and
>
> (c) the financial, legal, technical and strategic matters relating to
> AfriNIC.
>
> 2. I understand that AfriNIC receives from other organisations detailed
> information; for example, about the internal network infrastructure,
> customers and development plans. Such information is provided to AfriNIC
> for the purpose of enabling AfriNIC to properly carry out its business; an
> organisation providing information to AfriNIC may consider much of that
> information to be of a confidential nature and that unauthorized disclosure
> of that confidential information to the public or its competitors could be
> harmful to the business of the organisation or its customers or to AfriNIC.
> Therefore such information is also considered by AfriNIC as confidential.
>
>
> The very first sentence includes the clause “…which is information not
> previously published or otherwise disclosed to the public…”
>
> This makes the fact that the information was already public relevant
> because it is specifically excluded from the NDA at that point.
>


I read one of the directors was concerned about the Mauritius data
protection laws and when I first read that court document after being
published by the board,  it had been redacted.  Could it be that the board
was being careful before publishing the public document on the AfriNIC
website and as such there was no need to rush it?



> I have not read anywhere why the current CEO decided to resign and I
> obviously have no idea about his reasons.  It is not the first time an
> AFRINIC CEO has resigned and I can't seem to understand all these attacks I
> have seen towards the board as I catch up with all the emails that have
> been flying all over the place.
>
>
> I have no knowledge of this, nor has it been a point in any of my
> arguments. You’ll have to ask those discussing that matter.
>
> PS: The role of the CEO is not a lifetime role nor is the role of board
> member.  We have prescribed processes of changing these roles with AfriNIC
> continuing to stand tall.The outgoing CEO is a highly respected member of
> this community and instead of us celebrating his tenure, members are
> looking at board minutes to taint his work for their own reasons.
>
>
> Again, I don’t see any relationship between this comment and anything I
> have said.
>
> I will point out that we also have a process for removal of board members
> who fail to meet their fiduciary responsibilities or otherwise act in a
> manner contrary to the good function of the company. These bad faith
> accusations are just such an example of a perfectly valid reason for the
> community to call said board members to account.
>
> It's as if every year as we head into the AGMM for the past couple of
> years, we see the same members of the community come in to attack the
> institution of the board with the worst attack from the same members of
> this community in Senegal last year.
>
>
> I don’t recall personally making any attacks on the board last year other
> than criticizing their decision to reject the hearing of a particular
> motion at the AGMM.
>
> I believe that the board acted against the interests and desires of the
> community in doing so and I raised it as such. I would not call that an
> attack on the board, I would call that an argument in favor of good
> governance. I honestly am not sure whether the motion had merit, but I
> believe that the members should have been allowed to make that decision
> rather than having the board reject the idea of giving said members the
> opportunity to do so.
>
> I really ask that we cease and desist…………….
>
>
> When I see the board or members of the board acting in a manner I feel is
> inappropriate to their roles and responsibilities, I will comment on it.
> Members of the community have a duty to hold the board accountable for its
> behavior in discharging the duties entrusted to them by the membership and
> by extension the community. I do not take this obligation lightly.
>
> I am not making personal attacks on particular board members because I
> favor or don’t favor the election results. I am commenting on malfeasance
> as I see it conducted by particular board members in this case based on the
> facts. You may like the board members in question or you may be tired of
> the community criticizing the board’s behavior. So be it. I am tired of the
> board’s consistent failure to live up to reasonable standards of conduct. I
> ask that the board cease and desist in so disappointing the community and
> violating our trust.
>
> I will assure you that when the board ends its campaign of misbehavior, I
> will stop vocally criticizing the board.
>
> My 2 bit coins
> Noah
>
>
> Hmmm… The original saying was “My 2 cents”, value “USD$0.02”.
> Two bitcoin are currently valued at approximately “USD$15,889.64”.
>
> That’s quite some inflation you’ve built into your signature there.
>

Times changes and what makes you think its inflation :-)


> Owen
>
>
Noah
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