[Members] anonymous members (was: Re: OFFICIAL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT)

[Peter Saint-Andre]

Peter Saint-Andre wrote:
> Dave Cridland wrote:
>> On Mon Jan 21 22:01:10 2008, Florian Jensen wrote:
>>> I have to agree. To me it seems a bit childish, not to give someones 
>>> real name. The XSF is not a simple Website where you can register 
>>> under any Nickname, but a Membership application for an organization 
>>> is something serious.
>>
>> Whether or not I think you ought to be able to be an anonymous member 
>> of a corporation, and irregardless of whether this might apply to the 
>> XSF in particular, my loose understanding of corporate law in most 
>> jurisdictions is that the members of a corporation are a matter of 
>> public interest, and are publically available.
>>
>> In other words, it may not actually matter what opinions we may hold, 
>> nor what the bylaws may state, but what Delaware law says on the 
>> issue, and at this stage, I would feel somewhat uncomfortable 
>> admitting an anonymous member without the board seeking the advice of 
>> someone qualified to offer same.
>>
>> For the record, though, I would be against anonymous members being 
>> accepted, and on this basis, would be against any expenditure to seek 
>> legal advice.
> 
> Well, we don't verify the identity of new or existing members at all 
> (e.g., via background checks, requiring presentation of a Class 2 X.509 
> certificate, or whatever). But in general we tend to have some idea of 
> who the person is from incremental disclosure gained via in-person 
> conferences, mailing list posts, project check-ins, and the like...

As one data point, the Apache Software Foundation is a Delaware 
corporation whose members are listed here:

http://www.apache.org/foundation/members.html

They have a member whose only name is "Upayavira":

http://wiki.apache.org/cocoon/Upayavira

However, that appears to be a Buddhist name without a surname, not an 
alias/nickname/handle.

Peter

-- 
Peter Saint-Andre
https://stpeter.im/

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