prospectacle writes:
"An important choice remains for this site. What kind of organisation will we be, practically, legally and financially?
A for-profit, shareholder corporation seems out of the question, by general consensus (correct me if I'm wrong), but other questions remain. The basic choice is this:
Will we be like a charity, a co-op, or a recreational club?
This is a gross simplification, but gives some idea of the options involved. Feel free to offer alternatives. So what should we be, what is our purpose, really? And what kind of a structure is required to make sure we serve that purpose, and that money doesn't end up in the wrong pockets?
Bonus question: which jurisdiction should we set ourselves up in to fulfil our mission most effectively?"
(Score: 2, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday March 12 2014, @03:14PM
To some extent, deciding on the jurisdiction may have a huge impact on the form. Just as an example, here in Switzerland you would have the possibility to become a "Verein", which is a very official form of club. You must have bylaws, finances, and so forth. However, you are not subject to the type of regulations (and, usually, taxes) applied to corporations. As a "club", you have to have meetings, the people running the show must be elected in annual meetings, and so forth.
It seems to me that this kind of organization could make a lot of sense - it is automatically community based, you are not prohibited from selling things (clubs have to finance themselves), etc, etc...
However, you also need to base the organisation where at least some of the staff and a portion of the community is located. Whatever form and whatever jurisdiction, there will be legal requirements to fulfill, and some of those involve a warm body showing up at a government office.
Someone asked "why not the US". The answer from my perspective is "because the US has joined the dark side". With an arrogant government that thinks it can apply US laws anywhere in the world, with the NSA, with the IRS - the US is no longer the good guy. Any gesture to reduce the dominance of the US over the Internet, is a gesture worth making.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.