@ian.fowler

[wittingly]

I'm going to be researching and interviewing law firms to represent the displaced that intend to participate in Riverstone testing.

This doesn't mean I agree with the decision, and I won't be participating, but I genuinely believe that it's worth trying to protect them legally if they're adamant about doing it.

If you're interested, here are the things I'll be asking them to look into

-clear terms that all harvested organic material is the property of the participant of the study, but granting permission to Riverstone to complete a pre-approved list of tests they communicate in advance
-any genetic material has to either be returned or destroyed upon completion of the testing, and what exactly completion means
-PII needs to be considered confidential and shouldn't be stored by Riverstone beyond a specifically allotted time period after testing, with the exception probably being people still employed with the company
-we'd need some kind of statement on their security policies or data maintenance in the event that they're conveniently hacked
-we'd need an airtight nondisclosure agreement that includes our interests, not just theirs
-maybe some kind of declaration of intent with the stipulation that anything outside of the specified use cases be approved by all parties involved
-an agreement to release all findings to the participants of the study, or a specified list of contacts in the event that participant can't be located

I'm aware it's entirely possible Riverstone could just do whatever they wanted behind closed doors regardless, but I'm hoping this will help dissuade more blatant abuse and also give participants a leg to stand on if we find any evidence they breached contract. I also believe that if they refuse these terms, they have undeniably nefarious intent that should officially and realistically dissuade the Displaced from participating at all.

The point of this is post is to ask if anyone would be willing to donate toward the legal costs. I think this will benefit the displaced as a whole even if not everyone gets involved; if we have to have personal information given out to a mega-corporation anyway we may as well bundle in one more person who's fighting for our interests.

I'll be donating what I can myself. I'll also inquire about pressing Riverstone for a contribution toward the legal fees, since they're so interested in testing us. They may or may not be willing to negotiate on that point.

Any amount you're willing to contribute would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Comments

@nathan.drake

[nonscriptum]

i can throw some money down.

biggest leverage we've got is ourselves, makes sense to weaponize it with some legal backing.

[wittingly]

thanks, man
appreciate the help
my thoughts exactly

[nonscriptum]

sure
just keep me posted if you need me to review anything.

@ava.silva

[sor]

If you need something like a secretary, I can give a hand.

It would be useful to know who's going to take part of it, so we can at least keep track of what happens with them.

[wittingly]

I would love that
I really don't want to take point and outright organize this, I don't know that I'm qualified or if Rey's asking anyone to. I'm primarily interested in securing all things legal instead, so anything you're willing to do to help bridge the gap between these two things would be amazing.

[sor]

I talked with Rey and it didn't seem like there was anyone stepping up. I thought about it myself, but to be honest that's way over my paygrade.

I could keep the list or whatever, if you want, contact them after a while or what not.

@lance.sweets

[lifetothefullest]

I'm not sure how experienced you might be with this sort of thing, so it could be totally unnecessary, but if you need someone who can decipher whatever legalese you get back I have unfortunately read a whole lot of it.

[Because even if Ian does find a great lawyer who means well, they still tend to get stuck in that sort of language and it can be difficult to parse.]

[wittingly]

you're hired
the type of law I'm familiar with has more to do with patents and contracted work, I know a little but not nearly enough to feel confident that my experience is comprehensive. I'll take any help I can get.

[lifetothefullest]

I can't promise I'll catch everything, but I've read so many legal documents for classes and court cases and that sort of thing. This isn't exactly murder--hopefully, anyway--but legal terms are legal terms.

@torvan.garak

[plainsimple]

Is there anyone who would enforce such a contract for people who have fake IDs to begin with?

[wittingly]

Nobody knows they're fake but us
they pass law enforcement checks, background checks for employment, everything else

[plainsimple]

Ah, quite good to know. I'm sorry for the interruption, in that case.

@kyna.medina, private

[evocation]

do you really think this will work?
i mean, i know you said we should have backups
but is this something that you seriously think is going to protect us?

[It's not judge-y, just honest. She trusts him and she wants to know what he really thinks, because she doesn't know where she stands. She's not sure how much of her instant dislike for this entire situation is rational or an effect of how messy her emotions are since getting back.]

[wittingly]

I don't know
I think even if there's only a 20% chance it's going to work, that's 20% higher than the 0 we get if we don't even try. The potential for failure isn't a good enough reason not to make an attempt.

I think at the very least it affords us two things:
-if Riverstone accepts or rejects our proposal we get better insight into their intentions
-we make it clear that we aren't naive or easy to take advantage of

[evocation]

don't we already look naive if rey bought it?
and i'm not saying we shouldn't try
i just want to know how likely you think it is to work
like really, deep down, without all the diplomatic kumbaya smooth talking bullshit

1/2 @stephen.strange

[rehandle]

I'll contribute what I can. I'm also happy to act as a go-between for anybody who wants to donate but would rather not risk their privacy as Displaced.

[ Given that he's about to out himself it's no skin off his back if he's found on any hacked list of Ian's lawyer fund contributors, but any rightfully paranoid people who might not feel the same way might benefit from a buffer. ]

private.

[rehandle]

[ And separately, privately, ]

Given our reputation in the city, there's every likelihood you'll be able to track down somebody who'd be willing to donate at least a portion of their time. If it's for the right reasons, it would be worth developing a lasting professional relationship with that person in case we need somebody in the future.

My power is convenient for vetting intentions.

@drake.holloway

[braveoff]

I can chip in a little.

I was also about to message you -- I heard you're who to talk to about helping rebuild the Safehouse?

[wittingly]

Hey man! Thank you for that.

And yeah! One of them is already done, but I have another and the garage to go. I can do most of the heavy work with my power, but the time consuming part is going to be the soundproofing and aesthetic parts like painting, as well as gathering the scrap material from the destruction around the city. concrete, metal, foam, anything and everything you can gather, if you're interested

@cal.amari

[kinkprofessor]

Having worked my way through plenty of legal cases before, I can offer my assistance where necessary.
And I can't donate much, but I'll put forth a small sum.

[wittingly]

Thanks, man. Appreciate even a little bit.

@marian.hawke

[championofsnark]

I'll chip in coin but that's because I'm one of the crazy people involved.

[wittingly]

Shine on, you crazy diamond

@cassian.andor

[evasives]

Something to keep in mind is just how deeply corporations of this world are all in each other's pockets. They can promise all they want not to share this information about us, but someone on this testing team could very well be connected to another organization and pass it on regardless. NDAs are meaningless to an oligarchy.

With any law involvement, I would run an extensive background check to make sure they have zero connections to not only Riverstone, but Giles Bell, Pulsar, and Vyonation. The laws are designed to help these companies more than regular people.

[wittingly]

Yeah, I know it's really unlikely to hold up in actual practice. It at least gives us some recourse if we find out it happened, and if we get nothing else from it we can probably get an out of court settlement for a good chunk of money. If we're going to get screwed over at least we can get something out of it, you know?

Good idea, thanks man.