• Arbitrations
• a20190420.1

• Case Number: a20190420.1
• Status: closed
• Claimants: President and Secretary on behalf of CAcert Inc.
• Respondent: -

• initial Case Manager: BernhardFröhlich

• Case Manager: BernhardFröhlich

• Arbitrator: Mario Lipinski
• Date of arbitration start: 2019-07-22
• Date of ruling: 2019-09-01
• Case closed: 2019-09-27
• Complaint: Allow mailing to the whole community about the state of CAcert
• Relief: TBD

Before: Arbitrator name arbitrator (A), Respondent: - (R), Claimant: CAcert Inc. (C), Case: a20190420.1

History Log

• 2019-04-20 (issue.c.o): case s20190420.3426
• 2019-06-06 (iCM): added to wiki, request for CM / A
• 2019-07-22 (iCM): Mario has volunteered as Arbitrator, I well act as Case Manager.
• 2019-07-22 (CM): Sent initial mailing
• 2019-07-30 (A): Asked for clarification about the intended audience of the mailing
• 2019-07-30 (C): Replies that the mailing ist intended to every member, due to the grave impact of the topic.
• 2019-09-01 (A): Ruling given
• 2019-09-10 (CM): This case is closed now

• Link to Arbitration case a20190420.1 (Private Part), Access for (CM) + (A) only

EOT Private Part

Original Dispute

• Dear Arbitrator
  
  The situation at CAcert is tense. The Board has done a great deal of
  preparatory work for the future, both in terms of financing and strategic
  direction over the past one and a half years. However, this is only
  worthwhile if there are still active volunteers and a public. Therefore,
  the President and the Secretary would like to address all members of the
  community in a joint letter (approx. 340,000 persons). In it, they point
  out the current situation and also say what is necessary for CAcert to
  continue. Wytze of the critical team is ready to take over the technical
  part of the mailing. We need the agreement of an arbitrator that he is
  allowed to do this. On the basis of the feedback (donations, active
  participation) the board and the members of the AGM can decide whether it
  is worth going this way into the future or not.
  
  Since the discussion has already been launched on the Board Public List
  (not by us), we are somewhat under time pressure and send the request
  without the letter in the attachment. Until an arbitrator has taken up the
  case, it should (in the middle of next week) be available in the revised
  final version and we can submit it directly to the responsible arbitrator.

Discovery and Deliberations

Board wants to send an email to all members of the CAcert community. As this email also addresses important details regarding their membership and the future of the whole community, all members shall be addressed, overriding the members subscription of announcements.

Generally it is fine for CAcert to address its members regarding their membership from time to time. Reasons may be the change of policies relevant to the membership, changes of other details regarding the usage of CAcert services or also on general purposes of the organization.

Also the frequency of such mailings was taken into consideration. With being a member at CAcert a user can expect to hear from CAcert from time to time. Since CAcert members get such mails just every few years, sending such an email now seems appropriate. As a rule of thumb it should be fine to address members up to a very few times per year.

CAcert Community Agreement and Privacy Policy contain no details on the usage of the users email address. Especially regarding the European GDPR, the policies may need an update and may also include permissions for CAcert to send information regarding the membership so that such emails can be sent without arbitration.

The email will contain a call for donations, and therefore can be categorized as commercial mail.

As the email addresses members that signed up for CAcert, such an mailing should comply with common applicable Spam acts. However, I do not see the responsibility for complying with such regulations with the arbitrator, but with the board of the association.

Users may have requested to delete their account, but the request may have not been executed when sending the mailing. Such users should be excluded from the mailing.

Also involved parties should be aware, that such a mailing can trigger unsubscribe/account deletion requests. Such requests will have to be handled timely.

Ruling

As CAcert arbitator I have no objections to send an email to the whole CAcert community about the current state of the organisation. I authorize board and other persons required to deliver that email to all CAcert community members to take the necessary actions.

The contents of the email are not part of this case and can decided on by the board. It is also the responsibility of the board to comply with applicable spam regulations.

Users who have requested to delete their account up to three days before the mailing may not receive the email.

Braunschweig, Germany, 2019-09-01 Mario Lipinski

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