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Mozilla Google The Almighty Buck

Was Eich a Threat To Mozilla's $1B Google "Trust Fund"? 564

theodp (442580) writes "Over the years, Mozilla's reliance on Google has continued to grow. Indeed, in its report on Brendan Eich's promotion to CEO of Mozilla, the WSJ noted that "Google accounted for nearly 90% of Mozilla's $311 million in revenue." So, with its Sugar Daddy having also gone on record as being virulently opposed to Proposition 8, to think that that Google's support didn't enter into discussions of whether Prop 8 backer Eich should stay or go seems, well, pretty much unthinkable. "It is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8," explained Google co-founder Sergey Brin in 2008. "We should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love." Interestingly, breaking the news of Eich's resignation was journalist Kara Swisher, whose right to marry a top Google exec in 2008 was nearly eliminated by Prop 8. "In an interview this morning," wrote Swisher, "Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker said that Eich's ability to lead the company that makes the Firefox Web browser had been badly damaged by the continued scrutiny over the hot-button issue, which had actually been known since 2012 inside the Mozilla community." Swisher, whose article was cited by the NY Times in The Campaign Against Mozilla's Brendan Eich, added that "it was not hard to get the sense that Eich really wanted to stick strongly by his views about gay marriage, which run counter to much of the tech industry and, increasingly, the general population in the U.S. For example, he repeatedly declined to answer when asked if he would donate to a similar initiative today." So, was keeping Eich aboard viewed by Mozilla — perhaps even by Eich himself — as a possible threat to the reported $1 billion minimum revenue guarantee the organization enjoys for delivering search queries for Google?"
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Was Eich a Threat To Mozilla's $1B Google "Trust Fund"?

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  • by Trailer Trash ( 60756 ) on Saturday April 05, 2014 @10:35AM (#46669387) Homepage

    They're opposed to Prop 8 yet in 2008:

    http://www.opensecrets.org/pre... [opensecrets.org]

    Remember that Obama was also opposed to gay marriage when Eich was. Doesn't seem to have bothered too many people.

  • by ganjadude ( 952775 ) on Saturday April 05, 2014 @11:01AM (#46669545) Homepage
    to be fair we dont know, he has never made a statement about it as far as I am aware. he was simply attacked for something he did 5 years ago concerning a bill that was overturned anyway.
  • by blindbat ( 189141 ) on Saturday April 05, 2014 @11:05AM (#46669585)

    You don't seem to understand how things work.

    1. It is not just the Church that has a male-female view of marriage; this is found in religions and customs around the world and throughout history.

    2. In America, it *is* the government that decides who can and can't be together, not the church. You get license from the state to marry, you cannot marry close family members, etc. If you live too long with someone, the state considers it a common law marriage and you have real divorce proceedings.

    3. Churches merely perform ceremonies but the state licenses it. Without that state license, there is no marriage regardless of what church you were in.

    4. Now that comes down to your main point: have the government change from being in charge of marriage to only having civil unions and give the word "marriage" over to religion. Many states already have civil unions that function like that already. But that is not enough: people want to be called married when they commit themselves to one another.

  • Re:The new Hitlers (Score:2, Informative)

    by plopez ( 54068 ) on Saturday April 05, 2014 @11:07AM (#46669591) Journal

    Haven't heard of Godwin's Law have you?

  • by mspohr ( 589790 ) on Saturday April 05, 2014 @11:23AM (#46669695)

    Eich has a long history of donating to candidates and causes which are intolerant of the beliefs of others. From The Guardian:
    "Mozilla's controversial new CEO Brendan Eich made a string of donations to politicians on the fringe of the Republican party a decade before he donated $1,000 to the campaign against equal marriage in California.
    Public records show that between 1991 and 1992, Eich donated a total of $1,000 to Pat Buchanan, then a rightwing Republican presidential candidate. In 1996 and 1998, Eich donated a total of $2,500 to Ron Paul, a maverick Republican congressman for Texas's 14th district."
    "In 1990, a year before Eich’s first donation to his campaign, Buchanan said in relation to the Aids outbreak that “our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally hell-bent on Satanism and suicide”. A a few years earlie he said “homosexuals have declared war on nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution”.
    “I agree with people who say it wasn't private, but it was personal,” he said of the donation in an interview on Wednesday.
    "Eich's political donations also include money given to more mainstream candidates, such as California's Tom McClintock, to whom Eich donated $750 over the course of 2008, and Linda Smith, who ran for senate in Washington state. McClintock opposes same-sex marriage; as does Smith, who has said that "homosexuality is a morally unfit inclination".
    On a personal note: Tom McClintock is my Representative in Congress and is without any redeeming qualities. A real zealot who personifies intolerance and loves to support government interference in the personal lives of individuals.
    More from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/tec... [theguardian.com]

  • by spike hay ( 534165 ) <{blu_ice} {at} {violate.me.uk}> on Saturday April 05, 2014 @11:53AM (#46669929) Homepage

    What is happening now with gay rights is what happened with racism in the 60's. It used to be perfectly acceptable to espouse racist views. Then, it became very unnacceptable. Do you think most companies would appoint a CEO who openly thinks blacks are mentally inferior to whites? Now the same thing is happening with homophobia. This is a fast change that many are having problems with. You can still be a private homophobe with friends, but you've got to not let it get out if you are a public figure.

    Now, I think if Eich simply apologized for his Prop 8 support, it would have been quite different. But it is clear that his views have not changed.

  • by mspohr ( 589790 ) on Saturday April 05, 2014 @11:56AM (#46669949)

    "Thank you for the information but none of that really means anything. Donating to pat buchannon and ron paul? last I checked neither of them were anti gay"
    Did your read these quotes???
    Buchanan said in relation to the Aids outbreak that “our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally hell-bent on Satanism and suicide”. A a few years earlier he said “homosexuals have declared war on nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution”. and Linda Smith, who ran for senate in Washington state. McClintock opposes same-sex marriage; as does Smith, who has said that "homosexuality is a morally unfit inclination".
    These people are ignorant bigots who are actively discriminating against others.

  • Re:The new Hitlers (Score:5, Informative)

    by foofish ( 10132 ) on Saturday April 05, 2014 @01:14PM (#46670615)

    Apart from it being a Religious term (in the Bible, it mentions that marriage is between a husband and wife, being man and woman). That's part of the base scripture. Apparently the word of God.

    In case you weren't aware, there have also been marriages outside of the influence of the Judeo-Christian tradition. While people in the Middle East were writing the Bible, there was still stuff going on in the entire rest of the world.

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