[Systems] Missing wiki directories?

[Bradley M. Kuhn]

> On 01/18/2014 12:59 PM, Frederick Grose wrote:
>> /srv/www-sugarlabs/wiki/htmlets/paypal.html restored.
>> 
>> Google Checkout is retired,
>> https://support.google.com/checkout/sell/answer/3080449

Yes, there was an email about this to all Conservancy project leaders
(which thus went to <sugar at sfconservancy.org>) when the deprecation was
happening back in Fall 2013.  Tony Sebro (cc'ed) handled that process.

I asked Tony about this, and he indicated that at one point in Fall
2013, http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Donate had fully removed
references to Google Checkout, but it looks like they creeped back in at
some point (maybe a reversion to some previous version of the wiki)?

>> Perhaps our Software Freedom Conservancy support can open a Google
>> Wallet account,
>> https://developers.google.com/wallet/digital/

Bernie Innocenti wrote at 13:26 (EST) on Saturday:
> Hey Bradley, can we do this?

I'm not sure what "do this" means in this context.  Here's why:

As you can be seen in the /wallet/digital/ above, that's for selling
what Google calls "digital goods".  Does Sugar Labs have "digital goods"
it wants to sell?  I suspect it doesn't currently.

AFAIK, (sadly) Google Wallet was not planning to provide an actual
replacement for the donation mechanisms of Google Checkout.  In fact,
Google Checkout's various "wind down" emails were pretty explicit about
this: they repeatedly said "if you sell digital goods, your service will
continue interrupted", but everyone else using other features of Google
Checkout would lose service.  The "retirement" link at the top of this
email that Frederick sent covers some of this.

Meanwhile, admittedly, a quick net.search of my own just now found:
http://www.google.com/nonprofits/onlinebasics/ , which has something
about "Google Wallet for donations", but it's not clear upon clicking on
how to set that up.  I actually suspect that nonprofits/onlinebasics/
URL is just out of date.  There *was* a period of about 8-10 months
where Google Checkout itself was just rebranded wholesale as Google
Wallet.  (Companies love to confuse people by reusing names in this
way. :-/)

FWIW, I just logged into Conservancy's Google Wallet account (which was
converted from our Checkout account), and I don't see any options to
start taking donations at all.

So, I suggest in the meantime though, that you remove:

   Donate via Google Wallet
  (...Pending setup of a Sugar Labs account.)

from http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Donate


BTW, regarding something else on that page: as mentioned before to the
SLOBs, <conservancy at softwarefreedom.org> hasn't been a working email
address for nearly four years: it's an address owned by Conservancy's
former law firm and while it forwarded for a while, it has long since
stopped working.  So, please change that to
<accounting at sfconservancy.org>, or <sugar at sfconservancy.org> (the latter
if the SLOBs want to be included on inquiries about donating).

> Also, what about Bitcoin donations?

We've discussed this issue so many times before, Bernie.  Conservancy
has no plans to accept Bitcoin and you would of course be the first
person I'd tell if we did.  At the bottom of this email, I've included
the standard response, which I believe you've seen before, regarding
this.  I promise you again that I will *tell you immediately* if
Conservancy's policy on Bitcoin changes.

> BTW: the Bitcoin wallet which I setup years ago for Sugar Labs is
> still holding the balance of 0.06 BTC which I transferred to it for
> testing.  At the time it was peanuts, but at today's exchange rate
> it's worth roughly $50, so I'd like to either make the bitcoins
> available to Sugar Labs for spending or, if it's still not possible,
> take them back.

Since Conservancy (and thus Sugar Labs) never authorized the creation of
the account, the Bitcoin in that account doesn't belong to Sugar Labs
nor Conservancy.  The Bitcoin account you created was for you,
personally, and just happened to be named "Sugar Labs".  So, that 0.06
BTC is yours.  If you want to, you could sell the BTC and make a USD,
EUR, or CAD earmarked donation to Sugar Labs via Conservancy.
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Meanwhile, here (again) is Conservancy's position on Bitcoin:

A few donors have asked Conservancy about our willingness to accept
Bitcoin donations.  After giving it serious consideration, Conservancy
has decided not to accept Bitcoin donations -- for now.

As a fiscal sponsor for dozens of member projects, Conservancy is
responsible for managing the financial risk profiles for several
distinct communities at once.  As such, we tend to be very conservative
in how we manage the duties each of you have entrusted to us.

Bitcoin has come under scrutiny for its potential for use in the
financing of illicit activity.  In particular, the US Treasury
Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is currently vetting
the currency to determine the extent to which it can be regulated [1];
the US Senate is about to start committee hearings on Bitcoin as well
[2].  It remains to be seen what, if any, impact the US Federal
Government's conclusions will have on the Bitcoin marketplace.  In the
interim, Conservancy is unwilling to expose member projects to the risk
of receiving, managing, and/or disbursing virtual currencies with
uncertain regulatory structures.

Our policy may change in the future.  But for now, we encourage member
projects to ask donors to support their respective projects with cash or
other more conventional donations in-kind (e.g., securities
publicly-traded on regulated stock exchanges, etc.).  If a donor asks to
make a donation in Bitcoin, ask her to take the additional step of
"cashing out" her Bitcoin donation and donating the proceeds of her sale
instead.

[1] See, e.g., http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/26/us-financial-regulation-bitcoin-idUSBRE97P0OO20130826
[2] http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/11/05/bitcoin-comes-under-senate-scrutiny/

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-- 
Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director, Software Freedom Conservancy