Documenting Things/Meeting Notes for 2016-12-12

Thanks to Martin Edmonds for moderating this month.

Event notice: https://www.meetup.com/NetSquared-Kitchener-Waterloo/events/234260323/

Meeting notes: https://www.meetup.com/NetSquared-Kitchener-Waterloo/messages/boards/thread/50337067

Documenting Things

Many non-profit organizations are involved in government-regulated services such as health care, employment acquisition and training. Other activities require adherence to other laws, such as building codes. How do you keep track of all the regulations that you need to follow?

Points raised:

• Must consider retention and retention periods of email and other documents (almost any document can be considered a legal document)
• In addition to govt regulations, must consider industry practices & standards
• Following of the Ont. Non-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA
• Maintenance of email lists:
  • use double opt-in
  • using email lists only for stated purpose
  • offer mechanism for requesting to be removed
• On website for incorporated organization (In Europe, but not yet in North America)
  • need to specify if cookies will be saved
  • need to specify physical address (required in Europe)
• Considered a member of a non-profit (in some cases, even attending an event can constitute you as a member)
• Adherence to Copyrights laws when photocopying
• What responsibilities does organization have when providing internet access to public
• Audits from organizations that grant non-profit status or organizations that provide grants
• Software audits (Eg Microsoft ensuring license adherence)
• Need to be very careful about mailing lists and keeping them up to date to prevent mails to the wrong person

How do you store compliance documents such as sign-offs, NDAs, and contacts? What do you use for secure document storage and transmission?

• LotusNotes used to route a document and get sign-offs along the way
• Block chain systems (discuss further in future meeting)
• Electronic forms on secure file server or encrypted device
• Encrypted data.
  • TrueCrypt
    • There are some known vulnerabilities in the Windows version.
    • Veracrypt is a fork of TrueCrypt).
  • Luks container
  • Offsite (using send command)
  • ZFS (a file system)
• Indicate on top of email who is the intended audience of email. Legal disclaimer on the footer telling you not to read an email if it does not pertain to you.
• Encrypted email systems eg. Enigmail (a thunderbird plug-in)
• Online service to encrypt mail eg. Proton Mail, and Tutanota
• Signal, Telegraph, and WhatsApp for encrypting instant messages

Potential topics for future meetings

• Block chain systems
  • Book: London Review of Books had two stories by the same author Andrew O’Hagen
  • Ethereum (a programming environment built on top of Block Chain)
• Accessibility rules
• Document storage formats (ODS, etc.) could be combined with document management systems