b-g-goodell
commented
6 years ago We are aware of (some of) the vast body of literature written on ethics and disclosing conflicts of interest in fields ranging from medicine to law. We have done our best to distill the essence of a large sample of these documents down into a compact-ish format.
However, those documents (our "inspiration") are typically binding and come equipped with a variety of consequences of they are not followed; failing to uphold the ethics of a bar association comes with the consequences of being de-barred, failing to uphold the ethics of a medical institution comes with the consequence of losing your license as a doctor, etc. As a headless, decentralized organization, we lack enforcement mechanisms like these.
Although we regard this as a feature of our community of contributors, rather than a bug, it becomes unclear how much of our inspiration needs to be included in our version, considering our inability to rigorously enforce these rules, and our general lack of governance. It's possible the above document is too verbose, and it's possible that something vital has been left out. Please make some comments about it so we can flesh this out more thoroughly.
moneromooo-monero
anonimal
Mitchellpkt
Request for Comments: MRL Conflict of Interest and Financial Disclosure Guidelines
Sarang Noether and Brandon Goodell
Many people contribute to the Monero Project and its workgroups like the Monero Research Lab (MRL). We want to ensure that contributions to MRL are done honestly and in good faith.
It is far too common for contributors to other projects and the literature not to disclose associations, funding, and other conflicts of interest, or to engage in bad faith discussion/debates that may lead a reasonable person to question the motives for their work or the results of their efforts. Community trust in the MRL research process and the credibility of MRL research partly depends on the transparent disclosure of conflicts of interest and clear compliance with ethical standards, which includes how these conflicts are handled at every stage of our research. This helps readers understand where our work comes from and what may influence it.
We have written the following sample guidelines on how to contribute to MRL honestly and with good faith. These are certainly non-binding, as we are a headless organization involving disparate contributors, but these are the standards by which we would like to hold ourselves. We hope that members of the community can provide comments, so that we can structure this in a way that satisfies both scientists at MRL and the Monero community at large.
Sample Guidelines
Disclose financial conflicts. If you have any financial relationship that is affected by work at MRL, or if your work at MRL may be affected by such a financial relationship, clearly disclose this relationshiop. This does not forbid conflicting individuals from contributing. After all, anyone paid by the community to research Monero technically has a financial conflict, and should disclose it.
Disclose relevant competition. If you do outside work that competes with MRL, clearly disclose these activities. This does not forbid contributors from contributing to other projects. After all, most members of the Monero community contribute to many projects and/or have careers outside of the Monero workgroups.
Report vulnerabilities responsibly. If you find a vulnerability in any project (including Monero), clearly disclose that vulnerability responsibly in a way that minimizes the risk to the users of that project, and ensure that the folks who are responsible for fixing the vulnerability gain enough information to do so.
Discourse in good faith. If you hold events or discussions about Monero, do not provide observers with reasons to question your intellectual honesty or your motives for contributing at MRL. This means to not troll, scam, refuse to admit mistakes, demand unreasonable standards of evidence, and so on. If you have to ask if you're contributing in good faith, you might not be.
How to Responsibly Disclose Conflicts
Publications and Code. If you have a conflict of interest and your contributions become part of some MRL document or codebase, disclose your conflicts to other MRL contributors and ensure that the document or code makes a clear note of your conflict. This may mean inserting a statement/comment declaring that the supporting source had no involvement. Otherwise, it means inserting descriptions of all sources of financial support for the work along with explanations of the role of those sources if any in study design, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the document/code, or the decision to submit the report for publication.
Media and interviews. Contributors to MRL are sometimes asked to participate in interviews or other media appearances to discuss MRL research or the Monero Project. You should always disclose conflicts of interest to the interviewer or journalist. Since MRL is not a formal organization, you should also make it clear that the things you say or write in the interview are your own views, and don't necessarily represent those of the Monero Project, the Monero community, or other MRL contributors. We all speak for ourselves, and the public should never assume that you formally represent others.
Privately. If you want to participate in MRL research but are concerned that revealing details about your conflict poses a threat to your privacy or personal safety, you should disclose to your MRL collaborators the fact that a conflict exists (although certainly details are left up to you). Your collaborators can decide if they need to approach your contributions with greater scrutiny or how to otherwise proceed.
Summary
Our proposed policy can be easily boiled down: be honest and participate in good faith. Nothing here is set in stone. Our work should be judged on its own merits, and concerns about our integrity should never stand in the way of progress at the Monero Project. Or, think about it as a deeper version of Wheaton's law: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.
If you have questions, comments, etc., please open an issue so that the community at large can discuss it.