The trouble with a political organization that produces software is that people are interested in the software, and if the politics are very focused and in line with whatever the software is doing. Everybody’s happy. As soon as the politics get more generalized and defocused then you’re going to end up with conflict. You’re going to upset somebody’s politics, and the more issues you try to umbrella under the software foundation, the more users you’re going to dissatisfy.

If you’re very keenly focused and have a clear philosophy then this makes sense. Like the EFF, they produce some software, but their mission is very clear. I can donate to the EFF knowing exactly what my money is going to support.

Mozilla has demonstrated over time they’ve become sort of a umbrella for various activists, so a new person enters leadership and Mozilla starts to fund a new activist project, which is fine and they’re allowed to do. But that muddy’s what my donations would do, and I don’t want to support necessarily all of their projects. Absolutely want to support the browser, a free and open internet is a part of the internet.

But I feel even if I donate $10 if only $0.05 is going to the browser and the rest is going to various other random activisms, I’m not going to donate. Not even because I don’t agree with them, it’s just not focused.

So instead I donate to the tor project so they can keep the tor browser with the right patches, and maybe some of that trickles back to Mozilla and maybe it doesn’t. But it’s more focused and less opinionated.