Code of Conduct at events [and 1 more messages]

[Ian Jackson]

Adrian Bunk writes ("Re: Code of Conduct at events [and 1 more messages]"):
> Woman accuses man of sexual assault or rape.
> Man denies it or says it was consensual.
> No witnesses.
> 
> You cannot set any clear guidelines for figuring out in this case which 
> person is the offender and which person is the victim.

Is this kind of thing common at Free Software events ?  I suggest not.

Ultimately, I think it is up to the conference organisers to make a
decision about who they believe and how strongly convinced they are.

If they are sufficiently convinced by the alleged victim's version of
events, given all the information available, then they should
expel the alleged attacker.  Surely you agree ?

If they are not sufficiently convinced then they should still make
sure that this serious allegation is communicated to the next
conference.  Most rapists are serial offenders, and if a similar
incident occurs in the future then the information about the previous
event will be invaluable to the conference team who have to deal with
it then.

Ian.