Legal Working Group (LWG): REACTIVATE! (tasks for the Organizing Circle)

• Past discussions:

  • https://www.loomio.com/d/qk32LA6y/time-to-revive-the-legal-working-group-

  • https://www.loomio.com/d/k4ShMRes/remove-the-governance-legal-working-group-

  • https://www.loomio.com/d/sdmJuypO/legal-volunteers-please-get-your-new-working-group-started-

Nathan Schneider has begun a chat thread over Social.Coop located here: https://social.coop/@ntnsndr/112995776199463880.

excerpt: ""We in the #SocialCoop Finance Working Group feel strongly that it is time to build out a serious Legal Working Group. This has been an ongoing discussion, but we need support on:

- Incorporation
- International membership
- Liability protections
- Emerging regs on social media

And this doesn't fall under the banner of any existing working group."

AND: As reported elsewhere, @Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group has done a lot of work about our fiscal hosting this year, and he is taking the lead on next steps right now.

At a recent Organizing Circle (OC), I mentioned that Finance Working Group (FWG) could serve the functions of the Legal Working Group (LWG) but my thinking has changed. We should separate this important function out and use LWG to explore the future of social‍.coop with our current fiscal host Platform6‍.coop and perhaps Innovation‍.coop in the future — or perhaps continue independently (for example, as a 501c3 coop in the US, an incorporated coop in Canada, or a Community Benefit Society in the UK). That is just the start of the work before an LWG.

@Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group

Yes... we changed our thinking. The work of an LWG has been picked up by FWG and other working groups in various efforts -- most recently, Andrew's efforts to secure our fiscal host. ... Actually, Andrew is there somewhere where you might summarize, perhaps using Loomio links, this effort? I don't know if this thread is the place for it. ...

I do not have the bandwidth for a full update this month, but my notes are on Loomio (search terms: “fiscal host”, P6, “Platform 6”, Innovation, Innovation‍.coop)

I think this is important and would be happy to step in and facilitate but I do not have the domain expertise needed for this group.

TOPIC: OC/FWG/TWG/LWG ..This topic is fiscal and legal and technical. @Flancian @Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group and I met with Shaun Fensom at Innovation.Coop on Sept. 6.

For fiscal hosting, we collect and distribute money (using Stripe) via Open Collective, https://opencollective.com You pay your Social.Coop dues on Open Collective (which is transparent/public).

Platform 6 Development Cooperative was our fiscal host (but maybe they didn't view themselves as a legal host). However, Platform 6 voted to disband and may be merging with a larger organization called Innovation.

Innovation.coop/ (Innovation is based in UK; it operates under UK law)

https://platform6.coop/ OR, shorter description: https://opencollective.com/platform6-coop#

For a summary, in all the glorious details, here is my current understanding:

The Domain name for Social.Coop is registered with Innovation.Coop

The registrant is in the name of Innovation.Coop

The registry is “.coop”

Domain Registrar is Gandi (which is Amazon-owned)

The registrant is the one who owns and controls: Innovation.Coop

[Our original registrant was FairCoop under Enric Duran]

The servers are in the name of Nicholas Stoke (who is a Social.Coop member)

Payment for the servers are being invoiced monthly by Noah Hall (who is a Social.Coop member and serves on the Tech Working Group) [Aside: Noah is reimbursed: he makes the payment personally, then he submits an invoice to Social.Coop, which the Finance Working Group approves.]

FWG/We propose to put our servers in the name of Innovation. Tech Working Group would do it. @Flancian

Innovation would provide or become: fiscal host, governance host, technological host...

The alternative is for Social.Coop to incorporate as a legal entity based in a particular country.

The implications for these decisions are about how we take control, how we make payments, and who can get sued. (Right now, can an individual in the OC or TWG get sued on behalf of Social.Coop?)

I will edit this document, as I learn of corrections and changes.

Shaun (at Innovation) requests that we at Social.Coop identify our legal liabilities and relay them to Innovation for drawing up a contract. One of our weak spots right now is that the server is held in the name of an individual (associated with Social.Coop). We can change it. What are our other legal liabilities?