[CryptoParty] Summing up Twitter conversations about TeleTrust Sponsorship

[Kai Engert]

On Fri, 2013-07-19 at 00:29 +0200, Hauke Laging wrote: 
> I just read on this list that the Cryptoparty community 
> should stay away from political debate.

In case you were referring to the message that I had sent, I didn't say
that. :)

I said that CryptoParty events, where people meet with the hope for
knowledge transfer, aren't the right place for political debates, in my
personal opinion. It's up for discussion whether everyone on this list
agrees or not.

In addition, I kindly ask that this list remains free of advertisements
for political groups, or bashing against political groups.

Because we aren't an organization, because (I guess) we don't own a
trademark, I believe we cannot prevent anyone from hosting an event
about cryptography and call it a CryptoParty.

We should have an interest that many events will happen, the more the
better, to reach as many people as possible.

What I thought we could do on this list, to attempt to clarify the ideal
circumstances for hosting a CryptoParty, like I attempted in the email I
had sent yesterday to this list.

But as it turns out, even that seems to be difficult, because we quickly
saw different opinions, with Hauke suggesting to have much stricter
rules, and with Mel suggesting to be more relaxed.

My conclusion is, we aren't able to make clear rules for a CryptoParty,
because we cannot enforce them. We can have some recommendations. But in
the end, everyone hosting a CryptoParty has their own opinions and might
decide to communicate them, by wearing a T-Shirt or by mentioning their
political preference. I don't think we can prevent that.

However, if we avoid political bias on this list, and if we state on the
wiki to please stay politically neutral when hosting a CryptoParty, it
might have an effect, because that's what participants will expect.

Regards
Kai