I welcome any advice as to how to respond to this complaint.
I note at the outset that the complaint says that it is being filed on behalf of the USCF. However, I do not believe that Tim Redman, USCF President, has the power or the authority to file an ethics complaint on behalf of the USCF. He can only file on behalf of himself, which he has not done. I therefore believe that the ethics committee lacks jurisdiction to entertain this complaint.
The full text of the ethics complaint follows:
3054 US Route 9W
New Windsor, N. Y 12553
(914) 562-8350
FAX (914) 561-2437
http://www.uschess.org
March 13, 2001
Mr. Sam Sloan
2356 Pitkin Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11207
Dear Mr. Sloan:
USCF President Tim Redman has filed an ethics complaint against you. I have enclosed a copy of Mr. Redman's statement, and a printed copy of the document from http://www.chesslive.org/conducent.html.
Below describes the Ethics Complaint Process.
After receiving your response, the office will send it Mr. Redman, asking for a possible rebuttal. Any new comments from Mr. Redman will be sent to you for a final response. When the office receives your final response, the entire package will be sent, in printed form, to the Ethic Committee members, Mr. Redman, and you.
Please read the enclosed material and send a written response no later than March 26. You may respond by e-mail. However, all relevant material must be included with the response. There must be no references to other materials (newsgroup posting or websites). The Ethics Committee will consider only material that is directly submitted to the Committee.
If you have any questions, please contact me. My telephone number is (845)-562-8350, extension 125. My e-mail address is ratingsmgr@uschess.org.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Larry King
Ratings and Technical Manager
Enclosures
cc: Tim Redman
File
ref # 01-0313-02
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Dear George,
Attached is an ethics complaint against Mr. Sam Sloan. I believe the comment I have cited materially hurts our Federation and undermines our new efforts to recruit lapsed members by way of the new internet membership option. I am therefore making it on behalf of the USCF as USCF President. I am confident that the Executive Board will support me in this matter, and I know that if they don't, I'll hear from them soon.
My understanding is that the Ethics liaison in the office takes the complaint and sends it to Mr. Sloan for his response. At that point both complaint and response are circulated to the Ethics Committee for adjudication. But please check with the Chair of the Ethics Committee, Mr. Hal Terrie, about procedure. John McCrary, like me another former Ethics Chair, might also have some comment about procedure.
The question and answer page about our advertisers written by Joel Berez for our website should be attached to the complaint itself. I believe Doris has sent a copy to the office recently, or you can recover it from our website. My copy is very faded.
Cordially,
Tim
Tim Redman, USCF President
School of Arts and Humanities, JO 31
University of Texas at Dallas
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ethics Complaint Against Mr. Sam Sloan by Tim Redman, USCF President.
In a January mailing to more than five hundred Delegates and Alternate Delegates of the U.S. Chess Federation, a copy of which that was also posted on the internet to rec.games.chess.politics, Mr. Sam Sloan, a USCF member, chess journalist, and Alternate Delegate stated:
" . . .US CHESSLIVE software is infected with spyware. It installs spyware into your system, enabling the operators to read your entire hard drive, including your credit card numbers, your bank account passwords and the like."
This willful, untruthful, and irresponsible statement damages the U.S. Chess Federation and its on-line corporate partner, GamesParlor, Inc. A clear and factual explanation of our US ChessLive advertising network, Conducent, prepared by Joel Berez, Chairman and CEO of GamesParlor, has been available for some time now on the USCF web site. Mr. Sloan ignored these clear factual statements when making his reckless and harmful public mailing and posting. on behalf of the Federation, as its President, I am asking the USCF Ethics Committee to investigate this complaint and take appropriate action under its Code.
I served as Chair of the Ethics Committee some years ago, but I am no longer completely familiar with its procedures. The basis of my complaint, however, is succinctly put in Exodus 20,16.
February 9, 2001
Tim Redman
U.S. Chess Federation President
***********************************************
Conducent vs. Radiate Advertising
The cost of development and operation of the US chess Live service comes from fees paid by advertisers to include ad banners in a corner of the program screen. These ad banners are fed to the US Chess Live client program by an advertising network, whose software is included with the client program.
GamesParlor, creator of US Chess Live, originally chose Radiate to be its advertising network. However, after investigating complaints from certain users regarding privacy and security concerns, we decided to end our relationship with Radiate. We have now chosen a new advertising network, Conducent, who we believe offers a comparable service without the problems identified with Radiate. The following questions and answers address specific issues raised with Radiate:
Question
Does Conducent software run in the background, i.e., without my knowledge?
Answer
The Conducent software only runs when the US Chess Live program is running. It does not run by itself at any other time and it does not function when there is no active Internet connection.
Question
Does Conducent software use cookies or attach itself to my browser?
Answer
No.
Question
Does Conducent software update itself?
Answer
It has no ability to download replacement software or any other software. It can be updated only as part of a new release of US Chess Live, which you would request to download.
Question
Does Conducent ever collect personally identifiable information
Answer
As a matter of policy, Conducent will never collect such information or accept advertising campaigns that do so.
Question
If I uninstall US Chess Live, will the Conducent software be removed as well?
Answer
Yes.
Joel M. Berez, Chairman & CEO, GamesParlor, Inc