Re: [Xen-devel] [RFC] Code of Conduct

[Rich Persaud <persaur@xxxxxxxxx>]

> On Aug 9, 2019, at 13:48, Lars Kurth <lars.kurth@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,

Hi Lars,

> 
> Following the discussion we had at the Developer Summit (see 
> https://wiki.xenproject.org/wiki/Design_Sessions_2019#Community_Issues_.2F_Improvements_-_Communication.2C_Code_of_Conduct.2C_etc.
>  for notes) I put together a draft for the Code of Conduct which can be found 
> here as well as inlined below
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NnWdU_VnC1N_ZzxQG6jU9fnY2GPVCcfPJT5KY61WXJM/edit?usp=sharing
>  
> 
> It is based on the LF Events CoC as we agreed on (the diff is attached). I 
> took the scope and enforcement sections from 
> https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct.html and 
> simplified it rather than inventing something new.

Is there precedent for applying a legal contract (Code of Conduct) that was 
designed for physical space (conference event) to an online context?   Is there 
an existing Code of Conduct that was legally designed for a similar, online 
open-source community context, e.g. operating system or hypervisor or other 
systems-level software dev?


> You can provide feedback by commenting on the google doc or by replying to 
> the in-lined version below. 
> I expect it will some more discussion to get consensus. 
> 
> Note that I am not very attached to some of the terms, such as "Xen Project 
> CoC  Team" and in some cases "participant" should probably be replaced by 
> community 
> members. 
> 
> But I felt, we should have something more concrete to discuss compared to 
> previous discussions.
> 
> A Code of Conduct is a project wide policy change: thus, all subprojects 
> lists are CC'ed
> 
> Regards
> Lars
> 
> Here is the actual text
> ---
> # Our Pledge
> In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as 
> community 
> members of the Xen Project pledge to making participation in our project and 
> our 
> community a harassment-free experience for everyone.
> 
> We believe that a Code of Conduct can help create a harassment-free 
> environment, 
> but is not sufficient to create a welcoming environment on its own: guidance 
> on creating 
> a welcoming environment, how to communicate in an effective and friendly way, 
> etc. 
> can be found <here>.
> 
> # Scope
> This Code of Conduct applies within all Xen Project project spaces, and it 
> also applies 
> when an individual is representing the Xen Project or its community in public 
> spaces. 
> Examples of representing the Xen Project include using an official project 
> email address, 
> posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed 
> representative 
> at an online or offline event. 
> 
> # Expected Behavior
> All Xen Project community members are expected to behave in accordance with 
> professional standards, with both the Xen Project Code of Conduct as well as 
> their 
> respective employer’s policies governing appropriate workplace behavior, and 
> applicable laws.

In the x86 community call where this was first discussed, I suggested that we 
try to define desirable behavior, which we would like to incentivize and 
promote.   In this current draft, we have a single sentence on positive 
behavior, with inclusion-by-reference to:

- professional standards
- corporate policy
- city, state and national/federal law

If it is sufficient to define acceptable behavior by reference to external 
governance institutions and cultural practices, can we do the same for 
unacceptable behavior, i.e. anything that violates the above?

If incorporation-by-reference is not sufficient, e.g. if we will maintain a 
blacklist of unacceptable behavior for collaborative, online open-source 
development, do we also need a whitelist of acceptable behavior?  Within Xen 
source code, we have been moving away from blacklists towards whitelists.


> # Unacceptable Behavior
> Harassment will not be tolerated in the Xen Project Community in any form, 
> including but not limited to harassment based on gender, gender identity and 
> expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, 
> race, 
> age, religion, ethnicity, nationality, level of experience, education, or 
> socio-economic status or any other status protected by laws in jurisdictions 
> in 
> which community members are based. Harassment includes the use of abusive, 
> offensive or degrading language, intimidation, stalking, harassing 
> photography 
> or recording, inappropriate physical contact, sexual imagery and unwelcome 
> sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, publishing others' private 
> information such as a physical or electronic address without explicit 
> permission

Picking one item at random:  would a conference-originated blacklist 
prohibition be appropriate for online open-source development?  E.g. if 
someone's email address were included in a xen-devel thread (on the cc line), 
without obtaining explicit permission, would that be unacceptable behavior for 
a Xen developer?  That could disqualify much of the current development 
community.


> Any report of harassment within the Xen Project community will be addressed 
> swiftly. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to 
> comply immediately. Anyone who witnesses or is subjected to unacceptable 
> behavior should notify the Xen Project’s CoC team via conduct@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
> 
> # Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior
> If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the Xen Project’s CoC team 
> may 
> take any action it deems appropriate, ranging from issuance of a warning to 
> the 
> offending individual to expulsion from the Xen Project community.

This is an enforceable action in the physical world, e.g. conference event, but 
may be more difficult online.  As the existence of spam, bots, robocallers and 
cyberattack attribution forensics have shown, digital identity is not as clear 
cut as physical identity at a conference.   It may be better to look for 
precedent CoC legal clauses that were designed for online contexts.

Let's assume that digital identity can be proven and a person can be expelled 
from the Xen Project community.  Would this action apply only to the person's 
digital identity at Company X, or also to their new digital identity at Company 
Y?  i.e. would behavior and enforcement be scoped to the individual, the 
company or both?  

The "Acceptable Behavior" clause includes individual, company and nation-state 
in scope of governance.  If the "Unacceptable Behavior" clauses would lead to 
economic harm for a company, e.g. impacting a company's ability to ship a 
commercial release of  product with Xen Project components, would the company 
be given an opportunity to improve the behavior of their employee, within the 
employment context of their work in the collaborative, open-source development 
of Xen?  What would be due process for such improvement opportunity, in 
compliance with nation-state labor laws for employee termination?

If the "Unacceptable Behavior" clauses would lead to blacklisting of a person's 
digital and physical identities from the online, collaborative, open-source 
development community of Xen, would this have a material impact on the ability 
of that human to find employment in any company or nation-state?  If so, would 
such a public employment blacklist be compliant with the labor laws of affected 
nation-states?  

Would Xen-contributing companies be required to enforce the blacklist when 
hiring employees?  If so, would this create the appearance of a "cartel", a 
construct prohibited by some nation-states under antitrust law.  If not, would 
there be dis-incentives for a Xen-contributing company to hire someone who 
could not participate in the online, collaborative, open-source development 
community for Xen Project?

Would these considerations influence a company which is selecting a global 
labor pool of hypervisor talent and open-source hypervisor for their commercial 
product?  Can we perform a comparative analysis of these scenarios for the 
proposed Xen Project CoC vs. other OSS hypervisors which compete with Xen?

These are some example scenarios where a conference/event CoC may not be 
suitable.

Rich
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