Memo Regarding websites

Memorandum

To: Peace Corps Volunteers

From: Earl M. Brown, Jr. CD/Guyana

Subject: Creation and Use of websites

Date: August 17, 2002

Recent events relative to the development and use of websites by Trainees and Volunteers has resulted in a situation in which one member of Guy 10 was not sworn-in on 16 August. This person served as the organized and builder of a site and facilitated linkages with other sites some known and some unknown to the site owners.

Peace Corps policy guidance on website development was in effect until a month or so ago, when Washington decided to review this policy. While policy guidance specific to website development is currently being reviewed, there is definite guidance relative to materials being published by Trainees and Volunteers. There is further guidance relative to Trainees/Volunteers receiving "financial gain" from materials published. Finally, there is guidance which speaks to the "emotional maturity and meeting certain standards to be sworn-in" as a trainee or remain in service as a volunteer.

The content (photos, audio and written monologues) on the Yahoo.com peacecorps.guyana site and its links to "dozens" of already established personal web pages owned by Guy 10 members, other Volunteers and RPCV's, which clearly identify most of the owners as being associated with the Peace Corps are potentially very harmful to the image and program efforts of Peace corps Guyana, if it became known that such information has been put in the public domain. There are one or two trainee/volunteer sites with which I am familiar where the owners are not identified with the Peace Corps.

A brief review of the policy guidance relative to this matter is found in the following sections of the Manual and is referenced in the Peace Corps Handbook that all received prior to coming to Guyana and the Peace Corps Guyana Handbook.

  1. Peace Corps Manual Section 284,4.0,4.2 (A) "Failure to meet the Trainee selection standards such that trainee has not satisfied or demonstrated competencies in several required elements including (i) emotional maturity, (ii) cultural awareness, and (iii) ability to adapt and adjust."

  2. MS 204 3.6 Financial Gain outlined in Ethics for Volunteers/Trainees. "Outlined in the Ethics for Trainees and Volunteers. "Trainees and Volunteers may not accept payment for their services... or engage in activity for personal gain within the host country. This prohibition includes... investment within the host country or receiving payment for work or photographs relating to the Volunteers assignment during period of volunteer service... Violation of this provision may be grounds for administrative separation from the Peace Corps."

  3. MS 204: Volunteer Conduct, Section 3.7 Political Expression "The Peace Corps' credibility, and ability to perform its mission, is contingent on not becoming involved with local political issues... Any public statement or action which potentially may involve...with host country political issues or other controversial issues in the host country should be first discussed with Country Director. Volunteer's statements or actions concerning such issues that in the opinion of the Country Director, impair the effectiveness of the Peace Corps or the individual volunteer may be grounds for administrative separation or other disciplinary action."

  4. MS 204: Volunteer Conduct, Section 3.8.1 Publication of Articles, "Volunteers may write articles, publication; however, these should be discussed in advance with the Country Director to ascertain whether they might cause problems the Volunteer may not have anticipated."
    e. MS 201 Eligibility and Standards for Peace Corps Volunteer Service, Sections 305.4 (c) Emotional Maturity/Adaptability, (e) Failure to meet Standards"

The content on the peaceocorps.guyana and some personal websites clearly violates aspects of the policies stated above and as such those involved are subject to administrative action. The staff met during which information relative to this situation was shared with all staff. On August 12th I spoke to Guy 10 as a group and on August 13th to specific individuals during which I outlined my concerns, the concern of the IAP regional leadership and the Peace Corps General Council's (GC) office. Through this memo to all Volunteers, I am sharing these concerns.

During the August 13th meeting with individuals the following issues and concerns were presented.

  1. Judgments and sensitivity in the placement of private and personal information in the Internet that is accessible to more people than your family and friends. The concern here is that photos of host families, names and addresses of residences, sites etc. poses a serious safety and security concern. To sight security incidents of pickpockets, thefts and robbery and share that a "Volunteer ran a mile to the police station in the middle of the night with a machete" is an infringement. Guyanese may view this statement as a negative representation of life in Georgetown. From the Peace Corps perspective, if this incident is to be reported, it should have been mentioned that the Volunteer in question was in a house in violation of directives given by the Peace Corps Safety and security officer and as such could have been administratively separated.

  2. Putting personal information on the website, thus, in the public domain (visual and audio) about other Trainees and host families, without securing permission to do so that is confidential and personal, (medical information, illness etc) is a violation of their individual rights. Even if someone has shared his or her medical or other personal information, that individual would have no reason to expect that it would then literally be "broadcast" to the entire world by means of the Internet and the person should not be assumed as having, tacitly, given permission to post the information. To discuss who got shots or who had "Dengue Fever" is privileged information and not for public consumption.

  3. Providing detailed information, names, locations of placement and training sites represents a serious safety and security risk. Peace corps do not routinely release this information to the public, absent permission from the Trainee or Volunteer. So for a trainee or volunteer to release and make this information to the public is a clear violation.

  4. I expressed concerns about the Yahoo Group Peace Corps Guyana website and other websites in terms of opinions and "spin" on sensitive political issues in Guyana. As guests in this country and as such we have to be extremely sensitive to language and images used beyond personal expression that could be considered or construed to be negative representations of Guyana by Guyanese. If I remarked as a Peace Corps Country Director that an official acts like a "jerk," which might describe my personal opinion, I cannot nor should not allow that opinion to become public knowledge nor put in the public domain. Public pronouncement (putting information in the public domain) about food ("mystery nature of it some evenings") or to note intimate details about a member of the host family as having a "weight problem" or that a small child has propensity for "nudity in front of me" type statements are not acceptable observations for the public domain by a foreign visitor representing an international agency, specifically the Peace Corps. While such statements may be innocent and not intended to cause harm, they do represent an invasion of privacy. The statement that reference "nudity" may, in fact, generate unintended interest. With the sensitive to pedophile use of the Internet, this later reference could very well have the FBI camped on Peace Corps related websites. An example of the lack of sensitivity and maturity, which could have been avoided, if consultation with me had been made before being posted.

  5. Putting in the public domain daily impression (written, images or audio monologue) that are available to visitors to the site constitutes publishing under Peace Corps rules as outlined in the Volunteer Handbook and elsewhere, and as such, must be cleared by the Country Director. Additionally, such information in the public domain, if it became publicly known, may result in the Peace Corps and the US Mission in Guyana having to make an apology for words or images shown. Here written and audio analysis of the crime situation in the country and linking the Escapees and the Deportees as being the primary cause of increased crime and violence is potentially most damaging. The US Ambassador has requested from the Government any evidence, which supports this linkage. Yet a trainee is able to boldly make this link and "broadcast" it. If the media or forces in the government or opposition not favorable to Peace Corps were to learn of this statement, at best, the Ambassador would have to issue an apology and, at worse, Peace Corps would be asked to leave.

  6. Placing photos on a site which can then be ordered (sold) constitute publishing and to receive "financial gain" is clearly a violation of policy. To make photos available for purchase is to "seek financial gain for information published" by a volunteer/trainee. Additionally, some of the photos on this site are of staff personnel, host families and their residence for which no permission has been given to place these photos in the public domain. OTOFOTO provides space for people to put up their personal photo albums, and in return, OFOTO sells prints of the photos to those people who are given access to the album by the person(s) who supplied photos. Anyone can order copies of the photos through OTOFOTO. It has been determined that the provider of the photos receives free space on this site for his/her album. Whether or not monetary gain was personally received, the fact that "free space" was given in lieu of money can be seen as constituting "payment." The fact that Volunteers receives free space for photos albums posted can be viewed as an exchange of something of value "consideration" thereby this can be seen as "constituting payment" even if money was not actually received from the sale of photos posted. The fact that photos of people from whom permission has not been granted have been put in the public domain for purchase for which free website space (consideration) is being provided is a violation of Peace Corps policy governing "publications and financial gain" that can result in administrative separation.

908It has been determined that the OFOTO photo site provides space for people to put up their personal photo albums; in return, OFOTO sells prints of the photos to those people who are given access to the album by the person to whom the photos belong. Anyone can get access to the albums through OTOFOTO. The OTOFOTO site provides the following agreement as a condition for subscribing to the site.

"Ofoto claims no ownership rights in any image contained in any of your photo albums. Please note, however, that when you share a photo album, you allow the recipients of the album to share and make photographic prints from the images contained in that album. For the sole purpose of displaying your images through your Ofoto album, and fulfilling any order you our your album recipients place, you grant to Ofoto a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, distribute, and display those images."

Given the ability to digitally alter photos, placing photos in the public domain must be carefully done and precise in terms of who as access to such images. The balance between providing photos for family and friend and placing photos in the public domain must be clearly drawn. It was not so in this instance.

When these concerns were discussed with Guy 10 members, several indicated that it is (was) their right to have free speech. While I would the last to restrict personal free speech, free speech must be balance with sensitivities to the political and social environment in which you as Volunteers and Peace Corps as an agency operate in Guyana. Several of the members of Guy 10 expressed strong views on this issues and in several instances seemed reluctant or unwilling to modify their insistence on expressing "their views and opinions" on the website. Jason Pearce particularly expressed a strong view because as he indicated, "I have published many websites and it is the manner in which I communicate with family and friends." Jason's family and friends list-serve is about 100 people strong with many being publishers of fraternity and other publications.

I requested guidance from the IAP regional staff and from the GC office. The guidance that was provided is that I could administratively separate Jason and any others involved in this activity or allow Jason and others to resign. The website and his role in its development and management are violations of existing policy. Instead, recognizing that Jason and others have a lot of talent that could be beneficial to the appropriate agency, I chose to establish a set of "conditions precedent" to which Jason, specifically, must satisfy before he would be sworn-in. With the concurrence of the IAP region and the GC office, a memo was forwarded to Jason with the conditions that are highlighted below. I chose to try to find common ground that would allow Jason to serve in the Peace Corps. The following verbatim text is the essence of what Jason has to agree to:

At this point, I am unconvinced that you have the requisite emotional maturity and adaptability necessary for you to serve as an IT Volunteer. A Trainee cannot be sworn in as a Volunteer, unless he or she has demonstrated in training that all competencies have been met. For me to be satisfied that you have absorbed the concerns discussed with you by staff and that you accept the need for you to adapt your behavior, and will do so, you must do the following:

  1. Unblock access to your website for users coming from the peacecorps.gov domain.

  2. Remove all photos of people from whom you do not have permission to post on your site. Written permission is not necessary, but you must make them aware of the posting and the fact that people from anywhere in the world can view and print the pictures. You should also make them aware that their pictures may be made available for sale. If the pictures are of children below the age of 18, you must secure permission from their parents or legal guardians.

  3. Remove names of trainees and site locations. Remove location of host family. Remove detailed references to intimate details about the host family and their child, such as casually mentioning, "never knowing what you'd be made for meals" and comments about the "child's extreme weight and preference for nudity," including in front of you. While informative and innocent if written to a restricted audience, such as your family and close friends, such information is invasive of the host family's privacy when published and, also could easily be misconstrued by an outside reader in a way that would be completely unfair to you.

  4. Provide me with a statement that you will refrain from asking your host agency, or any other agency with which you may work, from allowing you to use the agency's information technology equipment, including, but not limited to, computers, scanners, faxes and copiers for your personal use. The same statement should also give your assurances that you will refrain from using information technology equipment of your host agency or other agency with which you work for your personal use. Your host agency will be informed by me that volunteers are not permitted to make use of host agency materials for personal use, including, but not limited to, information technology equipment.

  5. You must agree that any information you wish to publish on your website or any contribution by you to any website will be presented to the Country Director, or acting Country director in my absence, in accordance with Manual Section, 204, Section 3.8.1, "Publication of Articles." In addition, any audio logs discussing your experiences in Guyana, events in Guyana, or the Peace Corps must be made available for review by me or a designated staffer before being posted to your website.

Until the steps outlined above are taken by you, you will remain in Trainee status. If you need assistance removing material from your website, our IT Specialist can assist you.


Received:
Jason Pearce, Peace Corps Trainee

Witnessed:
Earl M. Brown, Jr., Country Director


Attachments:
MS 204 "Volunteer Conduct"
MS 284,4.0, 402. "Failure to meet Trainee Selection Standards"
MS 201 "Eligibility and Standards for Peace Corps Volunteer Service"


On 15 August, Jason submitted a memo to me (rather than sign the memo that I sent to him) describing the actions taken on this part of the address the issues I had raised in my meeting. This memo is being reviewed in the office by Sean Job, IT specialist and by all of the appropriate parties in Washington. If it is determined that Jason's action satisfy the expressed concerns, he will be sworn-in. If not he will not be sworn.

For other Volunteers, in addition to the condition outlined above, I wish to have the following actions taken.

  1. Any Peace Corps Volunteer, who has created or manages a website, must provide the address relative to this site. This information must be provided in writing to Sean Job, IT specialist, as soon as possible.

  2. Unless said site is completely pass worded against access by the general public beyond family and friends, any published information including photos, audios, etc., the country director must clear. In such cases, the Peace Corps Guyana office must be satisfied that the site is personal and not available to the general public.

  3. Peace Corps Guyana must be certain that information supplied on your personal site will not be published or otherwise place in the public domain by friends or relatives.

Please know that I am not interested in censorship of your views and observations, but as a representative of the Peace Corps I do have responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the organizations operation in Guyana.

I am aware that this action particularly by Guy 10 Volunteers seems unfair and inhuman on my part, as expressed by several of you. Some of you were so annoyed with me that you refused to applaud at my remarks at the swearing-in. While I did not take it personally, I am not the one you should blame. After ten weeks of PST during which cultural and political sensitivity were emphasized to have people feel that their right to free expression on sensitive and emotional issues to Guyanese in an open public forum represents disrespect and a lack of emotional maturity. To place the Peace Corps Guyana program in a potentially embarrassing posture, which may yet cause some negative fallout without seeking guidance from the country director and other staff personnel suggests an effort to circumvent or to deceive. Those who were involved in the development and management of these websites should take responsibility for their action and accept that these actions have placed us all in a most precarious and explosive situation.