A dating service called OKCupid recently asked Firefox users not to use the browser to access their site because of Mozilla’s CEO donating money to an anti-gay marriage proposal in California. It started a firestorm, which lead to the CEO of Mozilla stepping down (?) to defuse the situation.
Mozilla did not stand their ground for freedom of expression and their CEO was shown the door.
I do not support Mozilla’s spinelessness and hypocrisy on their statement of freedom of speech and equality. Mozilla has shown that their statement only extends to certain individuals, and not all individuals, such as their ex-CEO.
I don’t care about the ex-CEO’s politics or if he supported this or that or the other thing. He can support whatever cause or political agenda he wants, with his vote or with his money, the same as anybody else, and the same as those who were opposed to Proposal 8.
I’m rethinking my use of Mozilla products over this situation. If I can find a viable alternative that I like for Firefox and for Thunderbird, I may well take them. That’s very unfortunate because I really like both products and Mozilla as a whole, until this scandal hit.
I’m very unhappy with Mozilla. They should amend their statement to be not as inclusive as it currently is. They’ve demonstrated that they will not support some legitimate forms of speech, such as monetary donations to anti-gay marriage proposals in the state of California.
I also think that the decision of the California state government to publish the names of donors to Proposal 8 is an obscenity. If I want to support a particular party or proposal as a private citizen, it’s my right to do so, privately and free of threats of retaliation and harassment from any village idiots. There’s at least one web site in California that has posted locations on maps of people who supported Prop 8, and harm has come to some of them.
Mozilla needs to decide which side it’s on, and California needs to stop the voter and donor intimidation.
No comments:
Post a Comment