The New Mozilla CEO's Political Past Is Imperiling His Present
For the Internet community, the principles of free speech and equal rights are foundational. But in recent days, those issues are clashing at Mozilla, the nonprofit foundation and tech company behind the Firefox browser.
At issue is Brendan Eich, a co-founder of Mozilla, inventor of the much used Javascript programming language and the newly appointed CEO of the company. Eich made a $1,000 donation to the campaign for California's Proposition 8, which defined marriage as only between a man and a woman. The donation had come to light in 2012, but fizzled.
When Eich was promoted last week, the issue resurfaced. Twitter erupted with voices of Mozilla employees, who doubted his suitability for CEO and called for him to step down. Other employees went public with their support of Eich. Brendan MacDougal, Mozilla's head of development, framed the clash this way:
"The free speech argument is that we have no right to force anyone to think anything. We have no right to prevent people from pursuing their lives based on their beliefs. That what matters is their actions. And as long as they act in the best interests of the mission, as long as they don't impose their beliefs on those around them, they are welcome.
"The equality argument is that this isn't a matter of speech. That believing that 1/n of us aren't entitled to the same rights as the rest of us isn't a 'belief'. That the right to speech is only truly universal if everyone is equal, first."