Linux Foundation No Longer Lets Individual Members Elect Directors

Written by Michael Larabel in Free Software on 20 January 2016 at 07:15 PM EST. 37 Comments
FREE SOFTWARE
The Linux Foundation has quietly changed their stance concerning individual members being allowed to vote for directors of the foundation.

Linux kernel developer Matthew Garrett pointed out that last week the Linux Foundation updated their by-laws to no longer permit individual members from electing any directors. Individual members that paid $99 USD per year to the Linux Foundation were previously able to elect two board members while 11 other board members are chosen by the companies paying the Linux Foundation at higher tiers. With the updated by-laws, the community (the individual members) no longer have any say as to the directors.

Matthew points out that this change in policy comes months after Karen Sandler of the Software Freedom Conservancy had planned to run for the Linux Foundation board, which could cause some potential conflicts of interest due to the SFC's focus on GPL enforcement while the Linux Foundation doesn't actively pursue such members.

More information via Matthew Garrett's blog.
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