[amsat-bb] AMSAT Member Mailing list

[Bruce Perens]

The candidate felt that since I wrote the letter, that the return address
should be mine. I didn't ask for it, I especially did not ask for my home
address, which is not in the call book, to be used. As it happens, I found
out about one silent key member in the return mail, which I passed on and
promptly forgot. I work for lawyers all day in my consulting business, and
thus I read the rules, I understand the rules, I follow the rules. These
are not, by the way, Robert's Rules of Order. These are things like what a
director is responsible for, and how to run an election. It really bothers
me that the incumbents didn't know those rules.

Thanks

Bruce

On Sun, Jul 12, 2020, 10:11 PM Kevin <wa7fwf at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well Bruce,
>
>    Something doesn't jive here,  " I didn't do the mailing . I only wrote
> the content "  then it seems the candidate would have been the person that
> was dealing with the bulk mailer and would have had their return address
> listed and it would not have been your home address on it.
>
>    Guess it's time to pick a different bulk mailer.
>
>
> Kevin WA7FWF #19623
>
>
>
>
> On 7/12/2020 9:48 PM, Bruce Perens wrote:
>
> Kevin,
>
> No, I never saw the mailing list . I didn't do the mailing . I only wrote
> the content .
>
> So, why was I involved at all ?
>
> I won't say I'm the best tech evangelist you know, because that is for
> other people to judge. However, if you count the Open Source movement in
> software; the campaign for the elimination of the Morse code requirement
> for Amateur Radio licenses, which among other things I got on the front
> page of the New York Times, above the fold; My work to help elect a new
> ARRL board to end the confidentiality versus transparency debacle; And my
> global appearance for IBM's "Dear Tech", campaign, which got at least 50000
> television and Internet airplays;
>
> If you count all those things, I am probably the person you want
> introducing you as a candidate, and I might be a good person to tell you
> how to run a campaign.
>
> As it happens I wrote my own campaign, which I was going to put out under
> my own name, endorsing those candidates. And then the candidates chose to
> use it as their main campaign statement. This was very flattering and
> entirely their own choice.
>
> As an ARRL member, it was my right to participate in their election, and
> it is my right to participate in AMSAT's.
>
> Thanks
>
> Bruce K6BP
>
>
> On Sun, Jul 12, 2020, 9:29 PM Kevin <wa7fwf at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Bruce,
>>    So hang on a moment, you're telling me that the candidates are allowed
>> to use the mailing list for their campaign (fine), but rather than them
>> doing it themselves they turned the task over to you? So you were in
>> possession of the mailing list and then you turned it over to the bulk
>> mailing center when you authored the mailer?
>>
>> Kevin WA7FWF #19623
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 7/12/2020 9:08 PM, Bruce Perens wrote:
>>
>> The candidates are allowed the use of the mailing list for their
>> campaign. If you read the bylaws, they make it very clear. One of the
>> candidates did all of the handling of the mailing list.
>>
>> Incidentally, the board was not aware that they had to give the mailing
>> list to the candidates. This was something the candidates had to tell them,
>> after I read the bylaws. Had the board run things the way they desired,
>> only a board controlled 200 word statement would have reached you from the
>> candidates, except for the incumbents, who have had free use of AMSAT's
>> official publications to carry their opinions.
>>
>> In a more perfect world, the board would have known their own bylaws, or
>> at least the secretary who was running the election would have read them.
>>
>> But in a more perfect world, two people were trying to reform the
>> organization with not face quite this uphill a battle.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 12, 2020, 9:00 PM Kevin <wa7fwf at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Well how did the bulk mailing company get the AMSAT member mailing list
>>> if AMSAT did not provide it?
>>>
>>> Kevin
>>>
>>>
>>> On 7/12/2020 8:32 PM, Bruce Perens wrote:
>>>
>>> The mailing list was never compromised. But my HOME address, under "Open
>>> Research Institute" was used as the return address. This was a mistake and
>>> I didn't ask for it. I was, however, the author of the mailer, in which I
>>> introduced the candidates. The mailing was done by a bulk Mail company and
>>> did not involve me. I got one returned letter, informed someone responsible
>>> who had a right to see that address, and promptly forgot it.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jul 12, 2020, 7:11 PM Kevin via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>   Hello All,
>>>>
>>>>    In a previous email to the BB I posted the link to the letter we all
>>>> received as members.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20200710_AMSAT_Leadership_Explains_Legal_Expenses.pdf
>>>>
>>>> I was re-reading it and something caught my eye that I had missed
>>>> before.
>>>>
>>>> "AMSAT did not provide a copy of its membership mailing addresses to
>>>> Open Research Institute."
>>>>
>>>>     Just how was our mailing list compromised? This seems like a
>>>> serious
>>>> breech of security, was this a hack? was any other information lost?
>>>> was it ever found out how it happened? is our mailing list as they say
>>>> "out in the wind"?
>>>>
>>>> Michelle could you possibly check from the ORI side and backtrack how
>>>> ORI came into possession of the AMSAT mailing list, was it something
>>>> that was procured online?
>>>>
>>>> AMSAT needs to follow up on this privacy issue and report back what it
>>>> found and any steps that were taken to prevent this from happening in
>>>> the future.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I look forward to an answer
>>>>
>>>> 73 Kevin WA7FWF #19623
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
>>>> Opinions expressed
>>>> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views
>>>> of AMSAT-NA.
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>