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We didn't act like you'd expect Mozilla to act. We didn't move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We're sorry. We must do better.
Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He's made this decision for Mozilla and our community.
Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.Our organizational culture reflects diversity and inclusiveness. We welcome contributions from everyone regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender, gender-identity, language, race, sexual orientation, geographical location and religious views. Mozilla supports equality for all.
We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public. This is meant to distinguish Mozilla from most organizations and hold us to a higher standard. But this time we failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community.
As of this time, there is no named successor or statement on who will be taking over Mozilla's leadership.
(Score: 1) by Pherenikos on Thursday April 03 2014, @10:41PM
If we believe the Supreme Court, both of those are protected as free speech. Your argument is that if he believes in something its ok as long as he does nothing, the moment he makes his beliefs known it becomes wrong. What is next, should we restrict voting as well?
(Score: 1) by Horse With Stripes on Friday April 04 2014, @12:24AM
Actually, it's when he becomes the head of a company whose mission statement is to be free and open. As CEO he was in a position to directly influence the corporate policies regarding benefits for those who he believes should not have the same rights as he has or that others do (as demonstrated though his actions).
Does this mean he shouldn't be CEO? Probably not, considering he stated publicly that Mozilla would maintain its current benefits structure, which included full benefits for everyone. Should he have to resign because his actions became public? That's up to Mozilla. Based on the public outcry against his actions of intolerance it was probably best to remove the distraction, though they probably should have responded much faster and with much stronger language to ensure that the personal actions of their CEO do not mean that their company would be sharing those beliefs or those actions. Had they, and Eich, handled this better it would not have turned into this mess.
And please, let's not confuse what "free speech" really means. The government can't oppress an individual's speech. The government doesn't have anything to say about the court of public opinion, where democracy is measured by volume, resonance and sustain.