Constitution

Dear Group,

Please find attached a copy of the Constitution that was agreed at the last meeting:-

      

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Administrative and Social Meeting - 9th March

The March administrative meeting will be on the second Monday of
the month at the usual time and place:

  * Date: Monday, 9th March
  * Time: 19:00
  * Location: The Waterhouse

The meeting is open to everyone. The meeting normally lasts about an
hour and we stay around for a social meet up afterwards, so it's a
good opportunity to meet up with people and have a chat.

You can find the minutes of February's meeting on the FSF Groups wiki
[1]. The agenda will be published soon, so if there's anything you
think should be added please let us know.

[1] http://groups.fsf.org/index.php/Manchester/2009-02-09/Minutes

Re: "Government changes IT procurement process to boost open source"

New link from the interwebs:
http://opensourcegov.org.uk

Lucy wrote:
> It also doesn't mention freedom anywhere that I saw, just vague talk
> of 'openness'.
This abysmal compared to other world governments.

--

-- 
www.tdobson.net
----
If each of us have one object, and we exchange them, then each of us
still has one object.
If each of us have one idea, and we exchange them, then each of us now
has two ideas.   -  George Bernard Shaw

Fwd: FSFE engages in the EU browser case

FYI.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Graeme West <west@...>
Date: 2009/2/27
Subject: FSFE engages in the EU browser case
To: discussion@...

Dear all,
We at FSFE made the following announcement this afternoon:

>Free Software Foundation Europe today announces that it will support the
> European Commission's antitrust investigation against Microsoft and to this
> effect it has formally requested to be admitted as an interested third
> party.
>
>The investigation began on the 16th of January when the European Commission
> DG Competition reported that it had issued a statement of objections
> regarding Microsoft's abuse of web standards and the tying of Internet
> Explorer (IE) to the Windows Operating System product family. It is based
> on a complaint submitted by Opera, a European company involved in web
> browser development, which FSFE publicly supported in 2007.
>
>FSFE considers anti-competitive behaviour unacceptable, whether it occurs
> through 'tying' products, or in circumventing standards and fair access.
> FSFE will seek to support all processes that ensure competition and enable
> innovation.

For the full details, see here:
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/2009/news-20090227-01.en.html

Re: Constitution

Matthew Morten <mdmorten@...> wrote:
> Please find attached a copy of the Constitution
> that was agreed at the last meeting:-

Given the mess that is currently going on about AFFS over on fsfe-uk,
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.org.fsf.uk/month=20090226
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.org.fsf.uk/month=200903
I'd suggest including some way to dissolve the group and pass any
assets on to a successor with similar aims if the group
fails to function in basic ways (AGMs and so on).

There may be other things imperfect - I only looked at that aspect.

Hope that helps,
--

-- 
MJ Ray (slef)
Webmaster for hire, statistician and online shop builder for a small
worker cooperative http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ http://mjr.towers.org.uk/
(Notice http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html) tel:+44-844-4437-237

[Fwd: BarCamp Apache Oxford 2009]

I understand Barcamp Bournemouth takes places at the same time...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: BarCamp Apache Oxford 2009
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 14:09:45 +0000
From: Ross Gardler <ross.gardler@...>
Reply-To: Ross Gardler <ross.gardler@...>
To: OSSWATCH-ANNOUNCE@...

BarCamp Apache Oxford 2009
4-5 April, University Club, Mansfield Road
(Main event on the 5th; pre-BarCamp party on the evening of the 4th)
http://www.barcamp.org/BarCampApacheOxford

OSS Watch, Torchbox and The Apache Software Foundation are pleased to
announce Barcamp Apache Oxford 2009, an opportunity for people
involved in the computing and technology fields to meet informally and
find about each others' projects. The event is free and open to
anyone, whether from business, academia or neither. It will focus on
open source, not least through the involvement of The Apache Software
Foundation, one of the largest open source foundations in the world.
In particular, we encourage engagement with the following areas:

- Open development techniques and practices
- Web 2.0 style data mashups
- Use of and engagement with The Apache Software Foundation's projects

BarCamps (http://www.barcamp.org/) are informal! , ad-hoc gatherings.
There are no fixed speakers, talks or topics. Instead, they rely on
the participation of attendees. Here are some ways you could

"Intellectual Property" advice for creative industries

I recently noticed this company seems to becoming more active in the 
North West.

What are people's thoughts on it? http://www.own-it.org/

I haven't looked in great detail, but at face value mine are mixed..

Tim

--

-- 
www.tdobson.net
----
If each of us have one object, and we exchange them, then each of us
still has one object.
If each of us have one idea, and we exchange them, then each of us now
has two ideas.   -  George Bernard Shaw

Surveillance Self Defence

Maybe slightly OT here but does anyone know of any UK equivalents of 
this site https://ssd.eff.org/ ?
Could be useful in the future.

Re: Constitution

2009/3/4 MJ Ray <mjr@...>:
> Matthew Morten <mdmorten@...> wrote:
>> Please find attached a copy of the Constitution
>> that was agreed at the last meeting:-
>
> Given the mess that is currently going on about AFFS over on fsfe-uk,
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.org.fsf.uk/month=20090226
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.org.fsf.uk/month=200903
> I'd suggest including some way to dissolve the group and pass any
> assets on to a successor with similar aims if the group
> fails to function in basic ways (AGMs and so on).
>

I think it's adequately covered by section 11 - Winding Up.

Thanks again Matt, I'm happy with everything in there as far as I can
see right now.

Re: Constitution

Lucy <lucybridges@...> wrote:
> 2009/3/4 MJ Ray <mjr@...>: [...]
> > I'd suggest including some way to dissolve the group and pass any
> > assets on to a successor with similar aims if the group
> > fails to function in basic ways (AGMs and so on).
>
> I think it's adequately covered by section 11 - Winding Up.

That's the section that starts
"The group can only be wound up by a vote of 2/3 majority of those
members present and voting at a General Meeting of the Group."

So what happens if the Group can no longer call a General Meeting
because there's no valid Administration Committee because the Annual
General Meeting was inquorate so couldn't elect one?  Essentially,
isn't this group avoidably vulnerable to AFFS-style failure?

I feel you should include an "if all else fails, the Group's assets
and operations will be transferred to a Group with similar aims chosen
by a majority of the members still contactable by a reasonable best
effort" type of clause.  Then if the members screw up and elect a
bunch of muppets who completely drive the Group onto a sandbank, all
is not lost.

Hope that helps,
--

-- 
MJ Ray (slef)
Webmaster for hire, statistician and online shop builder for a small
worker cooperative http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ http://mjr.towers.org.uk/
(Notice http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html) tel:+44-844-4437-237