Google sponsorship: failed to pay Open Labs, OSCAL, Albania
On 7 May 2017 (written below as a US date, 05/07/2017), Cat Allman from Google authorized Google sponsorship of the OSCAL conference in Tirana, Albania. Based on that authorization, the organizers put the Google logo on all their printed materials, banners and web site. $2,000 doesn't seem like a lot of money for Google but it is a lot for volunteers in Albania.
When the organizers pursued payment, it was radio silence. In August 2017, they reached out to me for help.
I tried to contact Google about this. Despite years of collaboration in Google Summer of Code (GSoC), Google wouldn't respond to emails about OSCAL in Albania.
Did Google know something about the problems in Albania before other volunteers found out?
Did Google fail to inform other mentors that there were risks associated with these two men, Elio and Redon and their people trafficking culture?
The email trail
Subject: Fwd: Fwd: Re: OSCAL '17 Sponsorship Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2017 13:51:11 +0200 From: Redon Skikuli <redon@skikuli.com> To: Daniel Pocock <daniel@pocock.pro> CC: oscal@openlabs.cc Dear Daniel, as requested please find below the communication we had with Google regarding the sponsorship. We haven't had feedback after the last communication. Please let me know how you plan to proceed with this. Please keep this confidential as it involves financial information from a partner of ours, All the best from Prizren, */Redon Skikuli/* /*Web:* redon.skikuli.com <https://redon.skikuli.com/>/ /*Email:* redon@skikuli.com/ /*PGP:* redon.skikuli.com/contact <https://redon.skikuli.com/contact/>/ -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Fwd: Re: OSCAL '17 Sponsorship Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2017 13:42:49 +0200 From: Elio Qoshi <ping@elioqoshi.me> To: redon@skikuli.com -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Re: OSCAL '17 Sponsorship Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2017 22:55:31 +0200 From: Elio Qoshi <ping@elioqoshi.me> To: Cat Allman <allman@google.com> CC: board@openlabs.cc, Redon Skikuli <redon@skikuli.com>, oscal@openlabs.cc, sttaylor@google.com Hi Cat, I'd appreciate a followup on this. On 06/23/2017 11:45 PM, Elio Qoshi wrote: > Hi Cat, if you are too caught up for this, is there any other contact > we can reach out to get this done? > > Thanks, > Elio > > On 6/19/2017 5:48 PM, Elio Qoshi wrote: >> Hey Cat, >> >> Kind reminder about this. Sorry for being pushy :) >> >> On 06/14/2017 07:05 PM, Elio Qoshi wrote: >>> Hi Cat, >>> >>> Hope you have been well! >>> >>> Happy to say OSCAL was a blast! We are still wrapping up reporting >>> and getting out videos, infographics and photos but you can find the >>> first official photos from the event on Wikimedia Commons here: >>> >>> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:OSCAL_2017 >>> >>> Let me know if we can report a summary back to you in any format. >>> >>> Regarding the sponsorship payment, how do we need to proceed? I >>> think we are already registered as a Google Supplier as "Open Labs". >>> We would need to do a wire transfer as discussed. >>> >>> Have a great day, >>> Elio >>> >>> On 05/07/2017 05:54 PM, Cat Allman wrote: >>>> Please do! And thank you! >>>> >>>> On May 6, 2017 11:05 AM, "Elio Qoshi" <ping@elioqoshi.me >>>> <mailto:ping@elioqoshi.me>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Hey Cat, >>>> >>>> Let me know if we shall proceed like suggested with a Silver >>>> sponsorship. As said, we are in no rush for the payment and we >>>> can clear out the details after the conference. We will be >>>> having also a GSOC Meetup as Mario Behling and Oliver Sauter >>>> will be there (from FOSSASIA and WorldBrain, accepted >>>> organizations for GSOC) which will be worthwhile for a lot of >>>> attendees. >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> Elio >>>>
Did Google fail to inform other mentors that there were risks associated with these two men, Elio and Redon and their people trafficking culture?
Did Google fail to inform other mentors that there were risks associated with these two men, Elio and Redon and their people trafficking culture?