Re: Digital Bazaar corporate position on upcoming election

I appreciate this note. However, I do think one of the benefits of
community groups is the ability to more directly represent the
needs/interests of its members. If our membership list reflected extreme
overrepresentation of certain companies that would cause suspicion of the
integrity of the vote, I think we might have considered a different
approach. And note that because we have not codified the election process
in the charter, future chairs may be able to change this if the situation
changes.

Digital Bazaar has been an excellent leader in the CCG, and I personally
trust its employees to make a decision that balances the needs of Digital
Bazaar and their own opinions on what's right for the community. So even
though Digital Bazaar standards to benefit most from 1 vote per member, vs
1 vote per company, I trust its employees to make a thoughtful and informed
decision.

This extends to all members of the CCG. Our strength has been our
community, and I want the outcome of the vote to reflect their interests.

I'm not speaking on behalf of the chairs, but I am speaking as someone with
a lot of skin in the game -- as someone who will be working closely with
the winner, and as someone committed to the ongoing success of this
community (even after my year is up).

On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 10:57 AM Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
wrote:

> Dear W3C Credentials Community Group,
>
> I'm sending this email as a representative of Digital Bazaar based on
> our concerns related to allowing multiple individuals per company to
> vote. As some of you know, W3C Member voting polls (a different process)
> limit voting to one vote per company. This ensures that organizations
> cannot pack a room with employees and skew the outcome of a vote. The
> CCG has chosen to do individual votes, which we believe is a fitting way
> for a community group to pick its leaders.
>
> This triggered an internal ethics discussion at our company, which we
> are sharing in the spirit of being transparent about the guidance that
> we've given our employees.
>
> The question raised in the company was whether or not we were voting on
> our personal behalf or on behalf of the needs of our company. We
> explored voluntarily restricting our organization to one vote, which
> almost immediately led to concerns around vote suppression among
> employees. We explored voluntarily restricting our organization to only
> the people that are actively involved in the work here, which led to
> concerns around inclusion.
>
> Ultimately, we decided that the only choice aligned with the morals of
> our corporate culture is to publicly state that Digital Bazaar (the
> corporation) will not be participating in casting a vote in this
> election. Our employees and contractors, however, are urged to make
> their own decision on whether or not to vote and, if they choose to
> vote, to do so according to their personal conscience, with no direction
> from Digital Bazaar.
>
> We are stating this on this mailing list to ensure that it is in the
> public record. I realize that this may come across as being overly
> concerned about a simple community vote. Nevertheless, this vote is
> setting a precedent and we want to make sure that we are being
> upstanding citizens in all communities in which we are involved. We also
> recognize that other corporations in this group may not choose to do
> this, and that is their choice.
>
> On behalf of Digital Bazaar in my capacity as CEO,
>
> -- manu
>
>