The Swedish non-profit is still in bureaucracy approval from what I've heard from their staff, but you can already look at their bylaws[1].
[0]: https://withheldforprivacy.com [1]: https://libera.chat/bylaws
Why does a nonprofit organisation need this privacy protection? The org is the identity that should control it, and the information of the org is a matter of public knowledge (if it REALLY exists, which isnt clear either.)
These issues are critical for the trust that the libera.chat domain isn't suddenly going to be pointing elsewhere due to it not being control by the "trusted" org.
As said, the entity isn't formally created yet because bureaucracy seems to be slow. This will happen, I'm 99% sure of this.
I guess this is why some of the larger (and more knowledgeable?) projects have moved to OFTC instead.
Sweden seems to have really lightweight legislation for non-profits: Write by-laws, convene a meeting of at least 3 people, accept the by-laws, and bang: you're a legal entity. So it may be live, who knows.
You only need to register with the Swedish Tax Office and get an organization number, if you want to conduct business transactions, such as opening bank account, pay taxes etc.
https://skatteverket.se/foretagochorganisationer/foreningar/...
The owner are the members of the organization. Look up what an Ideell Förening is.
Anyone can say: "I am the chairperson of an Ideell Förening called Libera Chat, and it holds every privacy protected domain on the planet (apart from the ones you know of that belong to others).". Prove me wrong.
Show the official registration information for that organization. Show the official registrant of the domain. Thats all Im asking for.
Honestly...
As I mentioned, if they hold a bank account (which clearly they should, to pay for the domain if nothing else, to reinforce "ownership" of the domain), then they need - BY LAW - a company registration number.
EDIT: So many downvotes for asking for proof that this non-profit exists and "owns" the domain. What a silly thing to ask... I'll be putting off migrating until its clear its not another bait and switch.
I think my questioning was fair considering the trigger behind the freenode migration in the first place - control of the domain: https://gist.github.com/prawnsalad/4ca20da6c2295ddb06c164679...
If people want to blindly migrate where that same thing can happen, then thats up to them - but downvoting for pointing out the concerns only serves to silence the issue, and that kinda sucks, IMHO.
This isn't about keeping public information entirely secret. It's about controlling where and how public information is shared. As an individual, you might agree to have your telephone number and your address published in a paper telephone directory, but you might not be so keen to have that information published in an easily scraped online service leaving you with obnoxious sales calls, and junk mail.
The same applies to a non-profit as well.
> the information of the org is a matter of public knowledge
Yes. But the what and the how is typically explicitly outlined by local laws.
Typically, you could direct yourself to a local tax office or public registry where you could search and look into basic information about a legal entity as defined / outlined in a legal statute.
You might find that domain names aren't required to be divulged publicly by law, and doing so is entirely at the discretion of the organization. (Example in the same vain: a public office isn't going to outright hand you a list of employees at a company if it's not legally mandated)
Whether there's a moral responsibility is a different question.
> These issues are critical for the trust that the libera.chat domain isn't suddenly going to be pointing elsewhere due to it not being control by the "trusted" org.
The freenode.net domain name isn't pointing to anywhere differently over the past period. It's also still very much registered to Freenode Ltd. That hasn't changed. What really changed is the control over the Ltd as the a majority stake in voting rights changed hands some time ago, and how that majority stake is now suddenly behaving very differently.
In that regard, DNS records aren't a definitive indicator for trust.
You have to amend that by (a) looking at who's represented in the board governing the non-profit, (b) look at documents such as yearly account balances and year reports which are typically legally mandated to be made publicly each year to see how the organisation is governed and (c) gauging day-to-day operations.
Last week, I made a remark that the libera.chat website was precariously terse in contact information or mentions about it's legal status or whoever was behind this initiative. It's assuring to see that the website has been amended over the past week with the "bylaws" section and the "about Libera" section with mentioning full composition of the board as well as whoever actively contributes to the organiation.
As is theres no evidence that the org owns the domain, or that the org even exists.
Thats worrying, and if awareness was higher, its possible people wouldnt be migrating there - especially given the reason for the move in the first place.
I personally dont care for all this drama - I have a few small rooms on freenode, and am also looking to migrate - but I dont want to follow the drama...
This organisation is a "ideell förening" under Swedish law.
> In Sweden there are two kinds of associations: the voluntary association (ideell förening) and the economic association (ekonomisk förening). The second one is a cooperative company and must be registered with the authorities to become a legal entity. The first one is a member-based nonprofit organization and is formed without formal registration. The main steps in creating a voluntary association are explained here.
> Once properly created, the voluntary association of course has to follow the tax law and other laws and rules established by the government. But it also has to follow the unwritten rules and traditions of Swedish voluntary organizations (god föreningssed) which guide how the organization should be run, how it makes decisions and so on.
> ...
> The association is a legal entity, but needs to apply to the tax authorities for a registration number, which is needed for tax reasons but also when opening a bank account or hiring an office and so on.
http://www.voluntarius.com/How-to-create-a-voluntary-associa...
In essence, the organisation proper isn't formally registered or incorporated (e.g. via a notary public) but it will be registered under Swedish tax law. The latter part is probably still being processed by the administrative paper mills.
Sweden doesn't require non-profit associations to be registered.