Discussion of SVWUX Charter in SBAY.ORG

This discussion is intended to capture and maintain the traditions of SVWUX for its charter under the SBAY.ORG By-Laws. This is not the actual charter, but just a discussion and note-taking area for it.

In some places this refers to SBAY.ORG's By-Laws, which can be found at http://corp.sbay.org/

Purpose

The Silicon Valley Wireless Users & Experimenters (SVWUX) is a technical hobby club of individuals based in Silicon Valley, California interested in wireless networking.

SVWUX is a Special Interest Group (SIG) of the South Bay Community Network, Inc., a California non-profit corporation, also known as SBAY.ORG or SBAY (hereinafter "the corporation"). SVWUX is organized under Article 12 of the corporation's By-Laws.

Definitions

A simple majority vote is a vote where the minimum number to pass must be greater than a fraction of the total votes that were cast. If no other fraction or percentage is specified then the vote must be greater than 1/2 to pass.

An absolute majority vote is a vote where the minimum number to pass must be greater than a fraction of the total eligible voters. If no other fraction or percentage is specified then the vote must be greater than 2/3 to pass.

If a member abstains from a vote, that vote is not counted in the total votes that were cast.

SVWUX Officers

The following is the list of executive positions in SVWUX:

• SIG Coordinator

Each position is described in the sections below.

SIG Coordinator

The SIG Coordinator is responsible for overseeing the general affairs of SVWUX and managing all officers and volunteers in the best interest of the SIG. The individual is elected for one-year terms by the SVWUX membership each calendar year. General requirements for the SIG Coordinator are defined in the corporation's By-Laws.

The SIG Coordinator is granted the authority necessary to implement the following requirements of the office:

• Supervise and manage the affairs of SVWUX;
• Represent all external activities of SVWUX;
• Appoint, delegate or remove volunteers to/from any position in SVWUX;
• Insure that SVWUX complies with all laws, policies, and rules including, but not limited to, the following (as organized from highest to lowest precedence):
  • applicable federal, state and local laws
  • the corporation's By-Laws
  • the SVWUX charter (this document)
  • the corporation's rules and policies
  • SVWUX's rules and policies

The SIG Coordinator shall represent SVWUX to the corporation. Therefore, the SIG Coordinator must meet the following requirements:

1. The individual shall be a member in good standing of the corporation.
2. The individual shall be a participant in SVWUX.
3. The individual shall be at least 18 years of age.

Premature removal of the SIG Coordinator can occur either through the rules set forth in the corporation's By-Laws or by an absolute majority vote of the SVWUX members. Grounds for premature removal include:

1. Failure to carry out the duties of the office;
2. Failure to remain meeting the requirements of the office; and
3. Failure to abide by federal, state and local laws; the corporation's By-Laws; the SVWUX charter; the corporation's rules and policies; or SVWUX rules and policies.

Succession of Officers

In the event that the succession procedures in this charter fail to cover a scenario, the corporation's President shall be authorized to hold a special election to replace any vacated offices within 30 days. In the interim, the corporation's President or his or her delegate may assume the minimum powers of the SIG Coordinator needed such that the regular day to day business of SVWUX is handled.

Procedures for Election and Removal of Officers

At the beginning of each calendar year, the members of SVWUX shall elect all officers. If there is only one unopposed candidate for a given position, he or she assumes the office by default. If there is more than one candidate, an election by electronic voting shall be performed.

The electronic voting system to be used for election and removal of SVWUX officers shall meet the same requirements as in the corporation's By-Laws in Article 5.

The previous year's SIG Coordinator shall be responsible to implement the election process for the new calendar year's SIG Coordinator. This task may be delegated to one or more SVWUX members. No candidate shall be involved in the nomination or election process. In the event that the previous year's SIG Coordinator is running for the new calendar year's SIG Coordinator position, the task of implementing the election process must be delegated to one or more SVWUX members.

Domain Names

To aid in a public presence for SVWUX, the corporation shall reserve the following domain names for dedicated use by SVWUX:

• svwux.org
• svwux.com
• svwux.net

Day to day management of the domain names may be delegated by the corporation to the SIG Coordinator. If the corporation does not choose to delegate management to the SIG Coordinator, any updates to the SVWUX domain name system required shall be fulfilled by the corporation within 7 days.

The DNS records for all domain names reserved for SVWUX shall implement the following properties:

• The responsible person for all second-level domains shall point to hostmaster@svwux.org;
• The default time to live value for all second-level domains shall be at most 1 day; and
• No HINFO records shall exist in any domain for any record.

The host defined as ns1.svwux.org is the authoritative (master) DNS server for all domain names reserved for SVWUX. All other DNS servers used by SVWUX shall be configured as non-authoritative (slave) DNS servers. Zone transfers between the DNS servers shall be encrypted using TSIG Transactions.

All other properties of DNS records may be defined further via policies of SVWUX or the corporation.

E-mail Lists

SVWUX shall maintain e-mail lists for discussion. New e-mail lists may be created with the approval of the SIG Coordinator. All e-mail lists shall be archived and available to SVWUX members upon request.

SVWUX shall adhere to the corporation's e-mail list policies including e-mail etiquette. SVWUX may make its own policies according to the Policies and Rules section below.

Incoming e-mails to these lists may be filtered if approved by the SIG Coordinator, but must be monitored from time to time to ensure that the filters do not block more than 1% of "false positives" (e-mails that are real and proper but which were flagged as needing filtering).

Policies and Rules

A proposal for a new policy may be made by any SVWUX member. A draft of the policy shall be posted to SVWUX's mail list for a minimum of 7 days for review, unless cancelled by its author.

SVWUX may adopt proposed policies or remove existing policies of the organization by a simple majority vote of the SVWUX mail list subscribers.

If a policy or rule conflicts with any existing rules or laws, the order of precendence is as follows: federal, state, or local law; the corporation's By-Laws; the SVWUX charter; and the corporation's policies and rules. A policy or proposed policy found by the SVWUX officers or the corporation to be in conflict or violation shall be cancelled and returned to its author with recommendations as a new proposal.

Qualifications for membership in SVWUX

SVWUX is a private club, with membership subject to approval by the rest of the SVWUX membership.

Some activities are open to the public, including, but not limited to, the regular monthly SVWUX meetings. Non-members may participate at these activities as a condition for being invited to join SVWUX. A SVWUX member in good standing may nominate an individual for membership based on the following conditions:

• The individual possesses skills deemed useful by the SVWUX officers; and
• The individual must have contributed to a SVWUX project in a meaningful manner.

Voting on an individual's inclusion into the SVWUX membership should be held open for at least 7 days. Membership requires approval by a simple majority of the SVWUX membership. If an individual is declined membership, that individual may not be nominated for membership again for 90 days. An individual may only be nominated for membership a maximum of 5 times.

Individuals who are subscribed to the announce@svwux.org mailing list on the day this Charter is ratified are considered to be the initial SVWUX members, with no additional approval needed.

Members of SVWUX must meet the following requirements:

• 18 years of age or older or less than 18 years of age with parental permission;
• Subscription to the announce@svwux.org e-mail list (directly or indirectly) hosted by SVWUX; and
• Attendance of 25% or more of the regular monthly SVWUX meetings per annum.

There are no dues for membership.

Becoming a member of SVWUX does not mean automatic enrollment in the membership of the corporation, and vice versa. Members of SVWUX are not required to be members of the corporation. However, support of the corporation by joining its membership is encouraged.

Sensitive Information

SVWUX may at times be entrusted with information that requires restricted access. Examples of sensitive information include, but are not limited to:

• Confidential information about a person or organization which provides equipment or resources for an SVWUX project;
• Private information about members and participants, including, but not limited to, telephone numbers, mailing addresses, medical information, or any other uniquely identifying characteristics; and
• Information designated to SVWUX officers as confidential by a person or organization who hosts or participates in an SVWUX activity or project.

All dissemination and discussion of sensitive information within SVWUX shall include handling instructions whenever possible regarding restrictions and proper usage of the information. These instructions may be updated by the owner or source of the information at any time. Examples of handling instructions include, but are not limited to:

• Need to Know - All SVWUX officers and specific individuals approved by the SIG Coordinator; and
• Project Participants - All SVWUX officers and only those individuals, as determined by an SVWUX officer, who actively participate in the specific SVWUX project related to the information.

Sensitive information may not include any information which is illegal, unreasonable, or in violation of the privacy of SVWUX officers, members, or project participants.

Removal or Suspension of SVWUX Members

Any SVWUX member found by the SVWUX officers to have committed behavior contrary to the SVWUX charter or endangering the reputation of SVWUX or the corporation, including, but not limited to, inappropriate disclosure of sensitive information entrusted to SVWUX, shall be subject to disciplinary action.

If the individual is an officer, the remainder of the officers shall decide based on an absolute majority vote what action is required.

If the individual is an SVWUX member, the officers shall decide based on an absolute majority vote whether the degree of the offense warrants an apology and temporary suspension of some or all membership privileges or, in the most severe circumstances, expulsion from SVWUX.

An SVWUX member shall not be considered in good standing while a suspension of any membership privileges is in effect.

Decision-making procedures and conflict resolution

Decision-making procedures of Article 6 of the corporation's By-Laws shall also govern decisions within SVWUX.

It shall be the responsibility of the SIG Coordinator to ensure that these procedures are followed and to perform or delegate the role of arbitration when necessary.

Amendments to the SVWUX Charter

The SVWUX charter may be amended when a proposed amendment is announced to the SVWUX members and approved by an absolute majority vote of the SVWUX members and ratified by a simple majority vote of the corporation's Board of Directors.

Comments

E-mail lists

ChrisVerges suggested several RFC-defined mail lists. He also asked on the mail lists if there were any objections, to raise them by Wed May 10. There were no objections. In prepration to implement this, the list of e-mail lists has been moved to SVWUX:EmailLists.

Clarification of majority definitions

A simple majority is a majority of those present, not a majority of members in the club?

An absolute majority is a (by default) 2/3 majority of those in the club, not just those present?

-- TrFullhart - 20 May 2006

Changed membership model to a meritocracy

That's it ... just read the subject of this section.