I wonder how many other board members have a conscience? Right on to Mitch.  Kapor's Honorable Exit from Groove. New York Times: Software Pioneer Quits Board of Groove. Mitchell D. Kapor, a personal computer industry software pioneer and a civil liberties activist, has resigned from the board of Groove Networks after learning that the company's software was being used by the Pentagon as part of its development of a domestic surveillance system.
As the technology industry turns more and more into a tool of the surveillance state and other control freaks, it's good to know that honor and liberty still matter to some people.
[Dan Gillmor's eJournal]
Not only is Mitch putting his $5M where his mouth is - with the OSAF - but he's set an important precedent by showing that SOME board members actually pay attention to what their companies are doing and in some cases, need to make a point.
This goes beyond compensation committees and checking to see if the deals being structured are illegal or not. Incompetent, docile, complacent boards are what put us into this situation in the first place. I remember sitting in a board meeting (I'll leave the company un-named) and asking "what is the technology plan? You asked me to be on this board to help you with your technology." (the company in question was a services oriented business and needed to have a strategy and proprietary technology base.)
The answer I got was: "well here's our equipment purchase plan, here's our network infrastructure and what trade shows we're all going to...." I then said: "guys, this is not a technology plan." That led to...well let's just say I soon left the board (after a unsuccessful coup attempt - partially on my behalf.) [Marc's Voice]
1:21:59 PM 
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