[OpenID] OpenID Foundation proposed by-laws ...

[Scott Kveton]

Hi Everyone,

Like any organization, the OpenID Foundation needs a sustainability model
and set of by-laws to get off the ground. This is one of the final remaining
steps to actually getting the legal organization fully spun up.

In coming up with a plan, we've tried hard to balance the need for funds
to help more widely promote and evangelize OpenID, while not becoming
evil or allowing influence or control to be bought.  One nice protection
is that the Foundation (per the charter sent out previously) does not
control the specifications because the specification development is
performed on public mailing lists with no requirement of membership to
participate.  The goal of this organization it to provide a framework to
help manage the legal details (trademark, IPR, etc) and most importantly
provide the means for this community to continue to thrive.

You can find a proposed draft of the funding model (to be reflected in
the Foundation's bylaws) on the wiki here:

http://openid.net/wiki/index.php/OpenID_Foundation/sustainability

To send comments and suggestions, please do not use the talk page on the
wiki, but rather reply to this thread.

I'd also like to take this chance to introduce Bill Washburn (formerly of
Opninity) who has been appointed by the board to act as the Executive
Director for the OpenID Foundation.  Bill brings a wealth of experience from
this field to this role and it was unanimous decision of the board to
empower Bill to lead the charge in the creation of the OIDF.  Bill is the
lead point of contact for all-things-OIDF and I'll be acting as the backup
in my role as the current chair of the board for the OIDF.  Feel free to
contact us with any/all questions you might have.

It should be noted this is a proposal based on input from the seven person
board currently in place.  We're seeking input from the community and highly
encourage folks to see the discussion that have been occurring on the board
mailing list:  http://openid.net/pipermail/board/

Looking forward to the discussions,

The OpenID Foundation Board:
Scott Kveton, Chair
David Recordon, Vice chair
Dick Hardt, Treasurer
Martin Atkins, Secretary
Artur Bergman
Johannes Ernst
Drummond Reed

Bill Washburn, Executive Director OpenID Foundation