[Board] Stolen computer

Thu Jul 27 21:27:43 PDT 2017

Dear Venka, 

I agree with you and am really impressed with your full of consideration of dealing with this matter. 

Cheers, 
신상희 드림 
---
Shin, Sanghee
Gaia3D, Inc. - The GeoSpatial Company
http://www.gaia3d.com 

보낸 사람: Venkatesh Raghavan
보낸 날짜: 2017년 7월 27일 목요일 오후 10:59
받는 사람: Jody Garnett; Michael Terner
참조: OSGeo Board
제목: Re: [Board] Stolen computer

Dear All,

Regarding the unfortunate theft of computer belonging to Nicolas and Niroshan
(and also some currency in case of Niroshan), I would like to express my sympathies
to Nicolas and Niroshan.  

Niroshan is a student at my lab and the computer that he lost belongs to the university.
I will deal with this matter with my university authorities and take appropriate steps
to replace his computer with university funds.

For Nicolas, my good friend, the loss is even more heavy as the computer was his personal
one and contained months of his private work.

I deeply appreciate the kind gesture by Luca and others in requesting for Nicolas and Niroshan
to be compensated in some way for their loss. However, I think that OSGeo Board is in
no way responsible of such loss and feel that it would better not to set any precedence in
extending compensation for such unfortunate incidents, which I hope will never
occur in future.
The best OSGeo Foundation could do in their future events would be announce that while 
the organizers take utmost case regarding the safety and security during the event, the organizers 
are in no way responsible for loss/theft of personal property. Perhaps, organizers of future events 
could think of providing cloak room facility for participants to officially handover personal belongings
for safe keep and receive a receipt for the same. Perhaps such facility could be nominally
charged.

Regarding the present incident, the information booklet of FOSS4G-Europe clearly states
on page 6 [1] "Insurance & Liability
Participants  are  adviced  to  provide  their  own  
personal  insurance.  Neither  the  organisers  nor In2Events will assume any responsability 
whatsoever for damage and injury to persons or property during the conference.", so it
will not be appropriate to affix responsibility for the loss to organizers. It would have been
a different case if the items were missing from an official cloak room with Nicolas and Niroshan
having an official receipt for the items deposited for safe keeping.

In light of the above, I am fine of helping on a personal level and am even willing to make my
contribution to compensate for loss of Nicolas's computer and Niroshan's cash (I will
find a way with our university authorities to compensate for his computer). I do not think
that it is appropriate to involve the OSGeo board and request them to deal with this matter
at an official level and also feeling that board voting on this matter by the board is not necessary.

I, once again, would like to express my sympathies to Nicolas and Niroshan for the loss
of their items and the anguish they had to undergo as a result. I also thank all our community
members for coming forward with offers of help and also thinking about ways of compensating
their loss.

If we as a community can come up with a plan to try and compensate at a personal level, I will
be most willing to make my contribution.

Best

Venka 

On 7/27/2017 10:05 PM, Jody Garnett wrote:
Cameron and Michael your words of caution are very much taken to heart.

Maria has started a motion here
<https://www.loomio.org/d/csZ2X8ap/stolen-computers-at-foss4g> and I am
copying my words to email for wider discussion:

*I am in favour of us helping assist in this case, but I understand their
is a series of groups, including the local organizing committee who would
like to help out. I would be the most comfortable with the local organizing
committee (or even the rented venue assisting.)*

*We have been cautioned about "setting a precedent" last time the board
acted in a generous fashion outside of our mission statement (since we are
responsible for our actions to our membership which elected us). In this
case the people effected individuals are both productive members of our
volunteering in an official capacity with our organization: one as a summer
of code student, and the second as a member of the marketing committee. I
believe our membership will understand why we are making this choice.*

*While it may be sad in the future if trouble befalls an attendees at one
of our events we do not wish to set a precedent or expectation for future
events to follow. We are taking action both out of compassion (this sucks)
and these individuals our volunteers in our organization we do not want our
membership to loose the benefits of their productivity (this sucks for
osgeo). This is in a similar spirit to the liability insurance we hold for
our board members and officers.*

And on the specifics:

*From the email thread it sounds like both computers are covered by
insurance, but not the full costs. There are two ways to understand this
email:*

   - *For a $2500 computer, perhaps it was only insured for $2000 (often
   this is fine as computers get older).*
   - *Or perhaps it is a "deductible" - for example for a $2000 computer
   there may be a $500 deductible needing to be paid. So while the insurance
   covers everything, you are required to pay $500 to access the insurance.*

*I would be comfortable making a proposal making up to $2000 available to
the treasurer to assist with paying any insurance costs incurred while
replacing the stolen laptops. Subject to "prompt reimbursement" on receipt
(if paid for already) or invoice (if there is an email/bill that can be
sent to the treasurer to show the amount needed).*

This is the kind of discussion is difficult because we all have the "it
could of been me" response, and general annoyance this incident would
reflect poorly on our community (even though it is not our fault). It also
paints board members into a bit of a corner; because we do not wish to
appear mean / heartless / insensitive (cameron's all things to all people).

--
Jody Garnett

On 27 July 2017 at 04:16, Michael Terner <mgt at appgeo.com> wrote:

+ Conference Dev

Two very small points from the Boston perspective as these kinds of things
are on our mind, and we are seeking lessons learned to improve our event:

   1. Insurance can be expensive. We have an insurance policy that does
   not cover things like lost/stolen items for attendees, but does cover
   eventualities like needing to cancel the event due to catastrophe. The cost
   of a policy covering lost/stolen events - at least for an event the size of
   Boston - would have been significantly higher than the cost of replacing 2
   laptops (and there is additional administrative time in setting it up).
   2. This incident also illustrates the need to have appropriate
   physical security. We will be mindful to not leave our registration desk
   without someone there; and to discourage people from leaving items in
   places where there are not people actively watching. We also have access to
   a couple of locked rooms where things can be stored and will encourage
   their use to the extent possible.

We too regret the hassle, inconvenience and loss that Nick and Niroshan
experienced. As with all negative things, hopefully there is a silver
lining and this community can improve processes to reduce the risks of loss
at conferences...

MT

On Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 4:46 AM, Cameron Shorter <
cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:

I'll let others comment on this particular thread. It is very sad to hear
of people having a computer stolen and noble to hear of people helping
those in need.

But on a general level, I suggest that OSGeo should be careful not to
become all things to all people. We should focus on what we are best at.
There are insurance companies designed to manage loss of items. For future
incidents of this type, lets make use of them rather than designing our own.

Cheers, Cameron (not a current board member, so my vote doesn't count)

On 27/7/17 12:21 am, Jeff McKenna wrote:

Thank you Luca for bringing this to everyone's attention.  Indeed this
was a very unfortunate incident.  I am a strong +1 to help Niroshan and
Nick in any costs not covered by insurance.

The day before this happened I also left my bag for a few hours behind
the registration desk; this could have happened to anyone.

This kind of thing has been at the back of my mind for a while now; how
lucky we have been for accidents at FOSS4G events.  We travel to areas all
around the world, and anything can happen. Luckily Niroshan or Nick were
not hurt or injured.

It might be a good time to review the event insurance for our FOSS4G
events, and how it relates to unfortunate accidents like this.  (and how we
would handle the cases if the attendee had no personal insurance, which
would have been my case - for example, maybe the OSGeo Board should set
aside a small block of funding in each yearly budget for this)

But my gut feeling is that was a small warning, as our FOSS4G event
grows in popularity, we must take care, to take care of our attendees.

I am very sorry for such a hassle to Niroshan and Nick, to their studies
and their work.  I hope we can agree to make sure that they have to pay
nothing out of their own pockets to replace lost equipment; and also agree
to take this as a small lesson and review our own event policies.

-jeff

--
Cameron Shorter
M +61 419 142 254

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*Executive Vice President*
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Applied Geographics, Inc.
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www.AppGeo.com

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