National Executive Committee/Minutes/4th June 2012

From Pirate Party UK Wiki

Note

Agenda carried over from 28th May meeting, which was cancelled.

Attending

• Andy Halsall
• Gavin Meredith
• Loz Kaye
• Steve Wilson
• Harley Faggetter

Apologies

• PC

Minutes

Minutes approved for the 21st

Matters Arising

• NEC to send further conference requests to PC and AH - Done
• HF to ensure all available dates have been collected and announce a date for the physical NEC meeting. - Done
• HF to discuss NEC venue with LK - Loz carrying forward

//ACTION: LK to inform NEC of venue for the 16th

• LK and PRESS to keep focus on PirateBay and take to mainstream media to keep story alive. - Ongoing
• SW to get new membership system out within 7 days - To be discussed
• AH,LK,GM to plan recruitment and fundraising drive. - Ongoing
• IT Team to provide the generic proxy, but as a low priority. - Ongoing
• AH, LK, and GM to plan a specific donation drive to support the Party's IT structure. - Transferred to new action

//ACTION: AH, LK, and GM to plan a specific donation drive to support the Party's IT structure on the 16th.

• AH to set up a secondary deposit account in our bank account for GM. - Not done, ongoing.
• SW to check the mail-out regarding changes in nomination, fix any discovered issues, and report back to the NEC. - Done

//ACTION: IT team to investigate mailing list subscriptions on member registration.

Candidate selection

PC will be required for main discussion regarding candidate selection
LK notes we do not have enough candidates and we need more people coming in to the party.
LK notes that the right people need to in place in time to avoid complaints over lack of candidates running in areas.
LK notes that due to expectations we need to get good candidates.
AH notes that a call for candidates should be made and allow PC to filter prospective candidates to select suitable candidates.
AH suggests that there should be a method to approve candidates and removing candidates by the party membership.
AH notes we need to be able to provide training and support.
AH notes he needs to speak to HF about local member data.
LK notes he's keen to get started in Manchester Central, but would like to see member approval for doing so.
LK notes we need to acknowledge we're not quite in the same league as Labour yet, and can't do the same sort of local approval thing.
AH notes we shouldn't need to re-ratify candidates for the same type of election.
AH notes we could make a call for ratification via the blog.
AH notes that there are options for selected, elected, and deselected for party positions.
LK would like to set in place a schedule for calling for candidates and moving on with that process.
AH will forward a related email to the NEC.
AH notes again that we cannot have local selection committees and that national committees are inefficient for us.
LK stresses that he would like the party to be involved in the candidate process.
Subject to be brought up again on the 16th

IT

AH notes that all work on the old system halts other than maintenance, pending migration to the new system.
AH requests that no-one sends requests directly to IT. Going through AH instead.
AH asks if GM would still need outstanding requests dealt with.
GM notes that his needs rely on existing scripts and shouldn't require additional work.

Membership

SW notes that there were issues getting the membership system sorted, the changes caused a variety of issues with the website backend.
SW notes that a fix was made and applied, but caused issues with the connection to Paypal.
SW notes that the membership system has been rolled back until those issues are resolved.

Proxy

SW doesn't note anything specific in regards to the Proxy.
SW is still looking at provider alternatives.
SW notes that he'd rather not use providers we want to keep friendly for the proxy and would rather we focus on a fast turnaround switching from different providers if a block request is made.
SW notes that bandwidth has been increased.

Cookies

SW notes that the cookie notification message is set across the site, setting a 12-month cookie to remember they've given consent.
HF notes he is happy this complies with the law.

Conference

GM asks that conference. points to a 'blank' holding page with details.
//ACTION:AH to manage delivery of a conference placeholder webpage.

AOB

AH- PPUK will not be participating in Peace in the Park in Sheffield. AH will attend the ACTA protest.
AH- Campaigns team meet tomorrow
AH- All paperwork for local stuff except Manchester.
GM- Nothing, although suggests NEC to read his last retweet.
LK- Still taking part in debates, interviews, etc.
LK- Suggests to put a blog post up for ACTA protest information other than on from sources other than Facebook.
LK- Urges people to continue getting people heading to ACTA protest on Saturday.
HF- None
SW- None, although asks if there will be a press release.
AH notes there will be.
LK suggests there should be more, shorter, press release.

Actions

//ACTION: LK to inform NEC of venue for the 16th
//ACTION: LK and PRESS to keep focus on PirateBay and take to mainstream media to keep story alive.
//ACTION: AH,LK,GM to plan recruitment and fundraising drive.
//ACTION: IT Team to provide the generic proxy, but as a low priority.
//ACTION: AH, LK, and GM to plan a specific donation drive to support the Party's IT structure on the 16th.
//ACTION: AH to set up a secondary deposit account in our bank account for GM, if GM unable to set one up on Wednesday.
//ACTION: IT team to investigate mailing list subscriptions on member registration.
//ACTION: AH to manage delivery of a conference placeholder webpage.