[Foundation-l] A PC instead of a VC

Mon Apr 7 13:58:51 UTC 2008

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 9:00 AM,  <daniwo59 at aol.com> wrote:
>  While this seems at first a good idea, it leaves me wondering about
>  liability. If this council represents the interests and needs of the projects,  would
>  its members then be ultimately responsible for the projects? If, for  example,
>  someone wants to sue the Bulgarian Wikipedia or the English  Wikinews, would
>  they direct their efforts to the members of said council who  represent its
>  "interests and needs"? The WMF has always claimed that it is not a  publisher
>  and it is, therefore, not responsible for content. Would the same  defense hold
>  true of a Project Council?

If you follow the premise that some how self-appointed volunteer
"responsibility" (which is so ephemeral as to hardly be an appropriate
use of the word "responsibility") is tied to the legal notion of
responsibility. We're not talking about a legal entity with legal
authority over the projects, we're talking about a group of volunteers
who are interested in helping the projects and communicating with
them.

In all this, you can't forget that the WMF board retains ultimate
legal control over the projects, and nowhere has there been a
suggestion that this legal authority be passed to any other entity,
much less the VC.

--Andrew Whitworth