Request for investigation - Mizou Vavoom

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Callipygian
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Request for investigation - Mizou Vavoom

Post by Callipygian »

This request for investigation was received:

I, Mizou Vavoom, as Administrator of the portal, am asking if the SC would please investigate the Chancellor's actions in removing access, changing permissions and removing administrators, without consultation or notification.

In addition a similar request has been received from Sudane Erato whose access was removed, then reinstated with changed permissions.

All SC members are invited to give their opinions here.

Background:

After taking office the Chancellor requested, and was given, administrator level access to the Portal; he immediately removed Editor level access from multiple users (Sudane Erato - Treasurer, Delia Lake - MoCA, Lilith Ivory - SC, Rosie Gray - Guild; I am aware of these, there may be others), and also removed access from one of the Administrators (Arria Perrault); Bagheera Kristan, a member of the Chancellor's staff, was also given Administrator status at some point.

There was no consultation with the Portal Administrators, or with the SC regarding the impacts or legality of these actions on the Portal. In addition, none of those affected were notified of these changes to their access, only becoming aware of the changes when attempting to log in to perform tasks. When the Treasurer's access was reinstated, she still could not perform the necessary tasks - specifically posting the CDS Financial Statements; this suggests that changes were made to the actual permissions attached to Editor roles as well. The Treasurer has notified me that she has now logged in, and the permissions have been changed again allowing her to complete her duties in posting; again, she received no notification of these changes.

As a result of removed access, editors of specific pages were no longer able to access the pages to work on them; while this may be seen only as an inconvenience in some cases, denying the Treasurer the ability to post financial statements, and the SC archivist the ability to comply with SC procedures to update and post information to the Portal, is placing them in a position of contravening their duties and laws related to those duties.

The law related to the Portal is as follows:

CDSL 15-04 CDS Weportal Act

The CDS Webportal is the main channel of communication of CDS. It is equally open to each branch of the government, of each NGO active in CDS and to all CDS citizen.

The Administrator is responsible for accesses, (providing username and password for named redactors ) support and quality management. The Administrator manage the whole portal, the plug ins, theme, widgets, and the picture gallery on the home page. The Administrator name an another responsible if unable to work on the portal for more then two weeks. The Administrator is responsible to provide a regular backup of the portal. The Administrator has access to the blog.

The Editor is responsible for the content of a branch, an NGO, a faction or any activity in CDS. Each organization is responsible to nominate a person who gets the role of Editor and to submit the name to the Administrator who will provide access to the blog for the duration of their term. The Editor has an access to the blog.

The owner of the domain name http://www.slcds.info and subdomain portal.slcds.info assure continued service in collaboration with the Administrator.

Inclusion in the list of CDS bloggers on the home page is open to every citizen who has a blog, as long as the blog is in line with our laws, the LL ToS and the Declaration of Human rights. Bloggers can submit a request to the Administrator.

Passed 30 October 2011

The law clearly states that management of the portal technology and access rests with the Administrator, and with the additional Administrator designated: "... another responsible if unable to work on the portal for more then two weeks." In this case, the Adminstrator is Mizou Vavoom, the designate 'backup' Administrator is Arria Perrault.

The law also states that:

" (The portal) ...is equally open to each branch of the government, of each NGO active in CDS and to all CDS citizen."

The intent of the Portal is to provide a place for all elements of CDS to participate - "..equally open...". This is expanded further in the law where it states: " ... The Editor is responsible for the content of a branch, an NGO, a faction or any activity in CDS. Each organization is responsible to nominate a person who gets the role of Editor and to submit the name to the Administrator who will provide access to the blog for the duration of their term...."

Changes have also been made to at least one set of pages - the Guild - by someone other than the designated Editor.

In my opinion, in removing the access of these Editors and Administrator, the Chancellor and/or his staff at his direction, are in direct contravention of this law.

The Chancellor has referenced NL 7-3 Web Portal Act (included at the end of this post for reference) as his justification for his actions. In questioning the SC Archivist's need for access he stated that: "... the Chancellor manages the web portal in compliance with NL7-3 Web Portal Act. I have changed access from previous administration."

This is a total misinterpretation of the relevance of NL 7-3 in my opinion; and a choice to apply it, while choosing to ignore the subsequent CDSL 15-04 CDS Weportal Act. Had the Chancellor consulted the Portal Administrator or the SC prior to his actions, this would have been pointed out.

NL 7-3 was an act authorizing the then-PIO to develop a plan for the Portal, and a timeframe was attached to propose legislation related to that plan. While transcripts show that the PIO did work towards this plan, with the changes in RA and Chancellor as terms expired,no such legislation was brought forward within the timeframe specified; in fact, the only legislation related to the Portal in the next three terms was a vote to authorize payment for the server - at that time residing with Alexicon, the creator of that version of the portal, with Arria still working on the portal as an administrator.No law related to combining the Portal and Forums, or giving the Chancellor control of such combined areas, was ever passed-as evidenced by the fact that the Forums and Portal have remained with separate Administrators and servers throughout.

The Portal was under-utilized for the next few years. During the 15th RA the Chancellor at the time requested that the Portal be updated and put into active use; that Chancellor did not claim any right to take control of the Portal, since no law authorizing that existed. His request resulted in community committee activity to address the Portal; the outcomes were a change of technology used for the Portal, a change of server and Webmaster/Administrator and the preparation of legislation. Discussion included reference to the Portal Administrator being a position on the Executive similar to the Treasurer role - an ongoing position to ensure stability and technical capability in the holder of the position. The resulting, and current, legislation is CDSL 15-04 CDS Weportal Act.

This Act makes no mention of the Chancellor as having any special role or control of the portal. It clearly identifies Administrator and Editor roles only.In my opinion, while the Chancellor or his designate is certainly entitled to Editor status on all relevant pages - e.g. Land, Chancellor's Office, Events - there is no stated or implied right for the Chancellor to have Administrative access, or the right to limit the access of others.

Based on my opinions as stated here, I make the following recommendations:

The SC authorizes Mizou Vavoom to reinstate access to all those designated to be "...responsible for the content of a branch, an NGO, a faction or any activity in CDS."

The SC authorizes Mizou Vavoom to reverse any changes to permissions made by unauthorized Administrators

The SC authorizes Mizou Vavoom to remove Administrator access from the Chancellor and his staff, and to provide them with applicable access as Editors

The SC requests that the RA consider revising CDSL 15-04 CDS Weportal Act to specify the nature of the Webmistress/Administrator as an Executive position requiring specific skills, knowledge and continuity and identifying any process desired for any future change to said Webmistress/Adminstrator

SC members, please give your thoughts and opinions as soon as convenient so that if there is action to be taken, it can be done so expediently.

Callipygian

For reference:

NL 7-3 Web Portal Act

Web Portal Act
The CDS Website, Forums, Wiki, Colonia Nova Blog and any other
current or future web-based tools so designated or approved by the RA
shall be consolidated into a new CDS Web Portal.
The responsibility for administering and maintaining the CDS Web
Portal lies with the Executive Branch, and in particular with the CDS
Public Information Officer (“the PIO”). The Executive will appoint a
system administrator for the new site.
The new web portal will based on an open-source content management
system (such as Drupal or Plone) and will allow each branch of
government to determine the content of their section of the new site.
The RA hereby mandates the PIO to develop a coherent plan for
consolidating, rationalising, and connecting the CDS Web Portal and
all its individual elements -including a development plan, hosting
options, and a draft budget of initial and yearly costs.
The RA authorizes the PIO to enter into exploratory discussions
with the current legal owners of the various elements of the CDS Web
Portal regarding the transfer of the latter and of all rights related
thereto into CDS ownership.
The PIO shall prepare a report on this matter, including suggested
legislative proposals (if any) and submit it to the RA for
consideration no later than 1 September 2007.
In the absence of a PIO, the responsibility for taking this
forward rests with the Chancellor.
The RA shall consider the report within 2 weeks of receipt of the
report. It shall draft and vote on legislation on this matter no
later than one calendar month after receipt of the report and in no
case later than 1 October 2007

Passed 12 Aug 07

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

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Re: Request for investigation - Mizou Vavoom

Post by Soro Dagostino »

Agreed.

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Re: Request for investigation - Mizou Vavoom

Post by Callipygian »

Arria has notified me that, since she is one of the Portal Administrators affected by this issue, she recuses herself from this discussion and any related vote.

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

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Re: Request for investigation - Mizou Vavoom

Post by Lilith Ivory »

I agree too

"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."
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Re: Request for investigation - Mizou Vavoom

Post by Aliasi Stonebender »

Concur.

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Re: Request for investigation - Mizou Vavoom

Post by Callipygian »

With all voting members of the SC in agreement, and Arria recused, I will notify Mizou of these decisions immediately, to ensure that anyone requiring access to the Portal to perform their duties has it reinstated immediately.

The URL to this discussion will be entered into the record at the next ordinary meeting of the SC.

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

Walter H. Judd
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Correction

Post by Callipygian »

In the background information for this discussion I said that:

"... Bagheera Kristan, a member of the Chancellor's staff, was also given Administrator status at some point. ..."

Bagheera held Administrator status prior to this term, for Portal work unrelated to her role on the Chancellor's staff; therefore, this Administrator status was neither added nor removed by the Chancellor.

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

Walter H. Judd
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