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Re: Ballot Group Confidentiality

Geoff:

I don't know what prompted all this, but you are correct - the Sponsor
Balloting Group does not appear in any reflector in any form of balloting
that we currently conduct.

For the "non-electronic" ballots, the names reside solely in our database
(although a roster is sent to the Sponsor Liaision and Working Group Chair
prior to the ballot opening).

As regards the 802.3ab electronic ballot, this also was not done on a
reflector.  The e-mail was sent out by Denise using a "distribution list"
maintained only her laptop.  Although she assures me it was sent with
"distribution list suppressed" enabled, apparently the names appeared in the
e-mail anyway.  This was not the intent, and appears to be the result of a
computer glitch.

I have requested that she have our IT people look into why this happened,
and to fix it for the future.

FYI, however, regardless of our past conduct in this area, I don't know of
any requirement or policy that balloting group membership be kept
confidential.  Moreover, a list of the entire balloting group is contained
within the standard itself, therefore the information certainly isn't
confidential once the standard is published.
--------------------------------------------------
Michael J. Binder
Manager, Balloting Center
IEEE Standards Dept.
tel: 732-562-5540
fax: 732-562-1571
-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Thompson <gthompso@nortelnetworks.com>
To: Roger B. Marks <marks@boulder.nist.gov>
Cc: stds-802-sec@ieee.org <stds-802-sec@ieee.org>; ckm@mickgroup.com
<ckm@mickgroup.com>; d.pribula@ieee.org <d.pribula@ieee.org>;
m.binder@ieee.org <m.binder@ieee.org>
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 1999 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: Ballot Group Confidentiality


>Roger-
>
>Right bark, wrong tree.
>
>What we are speaking about here is the Sponsor Balloting Group. This is a
>list that is owned by the IEEE and probably does not appear in a reflector.
>On the other hand the electronic ballot process for Sponsor Ballot is
>immature and who knows how it will turn out.
>
>In the electronic Sponsor Ballot that was conducted for 802.3ab an e-mail
>message was sent as notification of the opening of ballot. Each person who
>was a member of the Sponsor Balloting Group was fingered in public. Their
>e-mail address showed up in the "To:" field of the announcing message.
>
>We should probably get that fixed.
>
>Geoff
>
>At 10:44 PM 4/12/99 -0500, Roger B. Marks wrote:
>>Geoff wrote:
>>>
>>>I don't think I agree with Bob on this. I don't think that everything
that
>>>I do in life should subject me to having my contact information posted on
>>>the equivalent of a telephone pole. There have been mailing list
businesses
>>>in business for quite awhile who sell people's names and addresses and I
>>>don't feel particularly obligated to generate more fodder for them.
>>
>>
>>Perhaps you guys realize this, but, in many cases, it's easy to get a list
>>of reflector subscribers. If private_who=no, all you have to do is to ask.
>>If private_who=yes, then you have to subscribe first.
>>
>>Many of my people prefer to keep their email addresses private. I would
>>like to accommodate them. Therefore, I'd like to turn off "who" to
everyone
>>except the list owner. I've asked IEEE, but I received only the
noncommital
>>response below.
>>
>>Roger
>>
>>
>>
>>From: "IEEE Postoffice" <postoff@ieee.org>
>>To: "Roger B. Marks" <r.b.marks@ieee.org>
>>Subject: Re: request for modification of stds-802-16
>>Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 17:12:01 -0400
>>
>>Good day,
>>
>>    Oh hand, with the current version of majordomo that we are running we
>>may not be able to turn "who" off one way or another for just one list.
>>However,  we are still researching.  If we are successful in finding a
way,
>>I will e-mail you and let you know.  We are also looking to upgrade our
>>majordomo server to a later version that may support such things.  There
is
>>no time frame as of yet as we are still in the planning/testing stage.  If
I
>>may be of further assistance, please let me know.
>>
>>
>>Thank you,
>>
>>IEEE Postmaster
>>postoff@ieee.org
>>
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: Roger B. Marks <r.b.marks@ieee.org>
>>To: <majordomo-owner@majordomo.ieee.org>
>>Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 16:03
>>Subject: request for modification of stds-802-16
>>
>>
>>
>>As the owner of "stds-802-16", I'd like to request a modification:
>>
>>I'd like to turn off the "who" command so that no one, even the list
>>members, can get the subscriber list.
>>
>>Can you help?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Roger
>>
>>
>>
>|=========================================|
>| Geoffrey O. Thompson                    |
>| Chair IEEE 802.3                        |
>| Nortel Networks, Inc.  M/S SC5-02       |
>| 4401 Great America Parkway              |
>| P. O. Box 58185                         |
>| Santa Clara, CA 95052-8185  USA         |
>| Phone: +1 408 495 1339                  |
>| Fax:   +1 408 988 5525                  |
>| E-Mail: geoff_thompson@baynetworks.com  |
>| Please see the IEEE 802.3 web page at   |
> http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/3/index.html
>
>