Mitchell making excuses for abusing private member info

Bruce Silverman's confession

I am the person who made a copy of the Volunteer Contact List. I did not think I was doing anything wrong, as I will explain.

I suggested to a group of friends, who were thinking of ways to campaign for Board candidates, that the volunteers are "likely voters", as compared to the members, only about ten to twelve percent of whom vote. I said this twice in meetings at which 15-20 people, most of whose own names are on the list, were in the room. My suggestion is probably in the minutes of those meetings, which have been posted widely. The point is, if I thought it was a breech of policy, I wouldn't have done it, and, for those who think I would willingly breech security, if I still wanted to do it, I would have done it surreptitiously, wouldn't I?

The volunteer list is in an unlocked place, easily accessible to anyone, and many, many volunteers know it is there. Since KBOO is so protective of the Membership List, but treats the volunteer list the way it does, I assume the question has been discussed before, and the decision has been made to leave it as it is, and had been for at least 20 years. If anyone can cite a law, federal, state or local, that precludes the use of telephones for such a use, I invite you to do so. If anyone can cite a regulation, federal, state or local, which precludes such a use, please do so. If anyone can cite a KBOO by-law which precludes such a use, please do so. If anyone can cite a KBOO policy which precludes such use, please do so.

The Membership List and the Volunteer Contact List are not the same thing. Most members are not volunteers, and some volunteers are not members. The security of the Membership List has not been violated, not in any way.

Telephone numbers are not copyrighted information, nor are they proprietary. This issue was settled decades ago when the first independent telephone directory publishers challenged Ma Bell and won. Many of the volunteers' numbers are published in the DEX directory. The numbers of almost everyone in America are easily obtainable on the Internet.We were authorized to use the Membership List; if we are savvy enough to match that information to other information that is legally and widely available, we have done no wrong.

The phone companies make a distinction among published numbers, non-published numbers, (which are available by calling Directory Assistance), and non-listed numbers,(which are neither published not available from Directory Assistance).

I would like to make an analogy with the Federal Do Not Call List. It's not exactly they same situation, no analogy is, but looking at it is useful. The policy governing that list makes an exception for calls from a company or institution with which the person being called has, or has had a relationship. In the present case, KBOO volunteers were calling KBOO volunteers about a topic related to KBOO. It also makes and exception for political calls. I'm on the Federal Do Not Call List myself. Maybe you are, too. I still get calls. I do what you probably do, too: I hang up. When I get a postcard that I don't want, I toss it, just as you do. When I get an email I don't want, I delete it. It takes a second.

Even so, as soon as I heard that someone objected to being called, I approached the Volunteer Coordinator. She informed me that one or more of the volunteer's phone numbers might be unlisted. This was news to me. To avoid any inconvenience to any such person, I immediately shredded my copy of the list, and the calls have stopped.

My first information that someone objected was an email from a volunteer, who said his friend objected. The email did not specify whether the friend objected to the use of the Volunteer List for this purpose, or to the nature of the call. I acknowledge that real politicking is rare ate KBOO, but if the friend or anyone else is shocked...shocked that a democratic election at a place like KBOO includes campaigning for candidates, they just need to re-read the list of values in our Programming Charter. I defend the practice.

If the KBOO community wants to change from current practice with regard to this list, or to establish a policy with regard to this list, to create a by-law, it certainly can do so, in the usual ways it takes such actions. Meanwhile, if it is determined that I violated a law, regulation, bylaw or policy, the Volunteer Coordinator is empowered to deal with me.