Conversation

Notices

1. Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 11:27:53 JST Robin Berjon

   As you may recall:

   • The W3C is in part hosted by MIT but MIT intends to withdraw on Dec 31.
   • A new W3C nonprofit needs to take over on Jan 1.
   • MIT needs to transfer assets (member dues, contracts, IP…) to the new W3C for it to operate.
   • I was elected to the W3C Board and am part of the negotiations.

   We're two weeks away from cutover and the negotiations are going… poorly. 🧵

   • Adrian Cochrane repeated this.
   • Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 11:27:51 JST Robin Berjon

     in reply to

     Right before the Board's December 10-12 meeting, we received a draft contract from MIT with a worse offer.

     It transferred liabilities much higher than the assets that came with and significantly decreased the funds that W3C would receive.

     This jeopardised the Consortium’s viability but we sought to continue negotiating in good faith and looked for options to accelerate revenue to avoid cash flow issues.

   • Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 11:27:52 JST Robin Berjon

     in reply to

     MIT clearly appears to be negotiating with the expectation that they can get away with whatever, and with no care for the consequences.

     On November 17 we saw terms that were unfair in that they made W3C carry the cost of MIT’s questionable accounting practices and failed to honour prior agreements, but that came with sufficient funds to support the continuation of W3C Inc.

     Adrian Cochrane repeated this.
   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:02:44 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Chris Wilson
     • Terence Eden

     @cdub Look up surveillance capitalism sometime. There’s even a book about it, I hear. (Or “people farming” if you want a not-so-gentle introduction as to why the corporation you represent isn’t a force for good in the world.)

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/surveillance-capitalism-has-led-us-into-a-dystopia/p06p0tdy

     @robin @Edent

   • Chris Wilson (cdub@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:02:51 JST Chris Wilson

     in reply to

     • Terence Eden

     @robin @Edent And it's not very heartening to hear a Director say "Google is a serious problem that we need to solve". Perhaps you could tell me in what way we've not been supportive?

   • Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:02:52 JST Robin Berjon

     in reply to

     • Terence Eden

     @Edent So, I 100% agree with you that both Google and browser-centricity are serious problems that we need to solve; however that doesn't mean that everything that goes wrong is Google's fault :)

     In this case, having been on the inside, I don't think it is. It took a lot of mistakes to get us to this point. Happy to colour in details, but I'd need to start drinking…

   • Terence Eden (edent@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:02:59 JST Terence Eden

     in reply to

     @robin my *personal* opinion as a former AC member - this is the culmination of Google's plan to stop anyone who isn't a browser from having any say in the future of the web.
     The only way I see forward (and I've only watched from the sidelines for a few years) is to start a new org and forge a new consensus. Which would have to acknowledge that some participants are hostile to the mission.

   • Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:03:00 JST Robin Berjon

     in reply to

     At any rate, creative ideas to fix this situation are welcome. The Board is continuing to work towards a solution.

     I just thought that the Web community should know where things stand. I'll keep you posted.

   • Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:03:01 JST Robin Berjon

     in reply to

     If the nonprofit doesn't get the funds MIT owes us, we will progressively have to start transferring Members in the Americas to the other hosts in the EU, Japan, and China.

     I'd be curious to see the face of US officials when they find out that American companies now have to participate in Web governance abroad. The geopolitics of standards are… interesting.

   • Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:03:02 JST Robin Berjon

     in reply to

     We are actively figuring out how to re-hire the W3C/MIT staff so that we can continue operating in the new year.

     I think the fact that MIT is holding people's jobs hostage over the holidays isn't lost on anyone.

   • Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:03:04 JST Robin Berjon

     in reply to

     At this point it looks like we will not have an operational W3C nonprofit on Jan 1. Every Director will vote their conscience, but it seems likely that the asset transfer will be rejected, leaving MIT responsible for its contracts with W3C Members (for which they have paid).

     No one knows what happens then.

   • Robin Berjon (robin@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 23:03:05 JST Robin Berjon

     in reply to

     Yesterday, the Board learnt that the financial balance that MIT is offering is actually much worse than previously stated due to additional liabilities that MIT has only just informed us of.

     Except with a drastic reduction in staff, W3C would not have enough money to make it to the end of January based on the proposed agreement. And even then it would be unlikely to make it through Q1.