The IT Nerd

My post from this morning wondered aloud if the protest by OkCupid against the CEO of Mozilla Brendan Eich was over when they stopped blocking Firefox. Now I have my answer. It is over because Eich has resigned according to this Mozilla Blog post. I guess that OkCupid knew this was coming. You can also consider this a win for advocates of same sex marriage (and I count myself in that category).

This is a breaking story. Thus I will update this as I get more details.

UPDATE: News.com has much more on this story.

Dating site OkCupid which was in the news earlier this week for protesting the CEO of Mozilla’s stance on same sex marriage by blocking the usage of Firefox on its site seems to have backed away from that according to news.com:

OKCupid has removed a letter that only Firefox users could see asking them to change browsers over the anti-gay marriage politics of Brendan Eich, Mozilla’s newly appointed CEO.

When asked for comment, here’s what the dating site said:

OKCupid declined to comment, saying only that the company would issue a statement in “the next few days.” A call placed to co-founder Christian Rudder was not immediately returned.

So, does this mean the protest over? Or is there something else coming? I suggest watching this story for further developments as I suspect that there are some coming.

The same sex marriage debate is something that is a hot button issue. Companies have often gotten involved in the debate, but I haven’t heard of anything like this. Dating site OkCupid has decided to ban the Firefox browser because the dating site doesn’t like the views of the new CEO of Mozilla. Here’s the details from CNN:

When OkCupid members navigate to the site on a Firefox browser, they are met with a message encouraging them to use an alternative browser to access the site, including Google Chrome, Opera, Safari and the amusingly misspelled Internet Exploder.

“Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure,” reads the message.

The page points out that 8% of the matches made on OkCupid are between same-sex couples.

Now what could the CEO of Mozilla have possibly done to earn this sort of treatment. How about this?:

Last week, Mozilla promoted [Brendan] Eich, a longtime employee who was previously the company’s chief technology officer, to the position of CEO. The move prompted renewed outrage by third-party developers and employees. Eich donated $1,000 to support Propostion 8 in 2008. The California ballot initiative sought to ban same-sex marriage in the state. The donation was made public in 2012 but Eich held onto his job.

I can see why that might tick some people off. And Eich tried to put this to rest:

Eich posted a blog on his personal site last week addressing the backlash. He outlined his plan to support LGBT-friendly policies at Mozilla and expressed “sorrow at having caused pain.”

“I am committed to ensuring that Mozilla is, and will remain, a place that includes and supports everyone,” he said.

But it hasn’t put the controversy to rest. Clearly.

So, do you think that companies should do these sorts of things in the interest of being good corporate citizens? Or should they stay out of politics and focus on making a buck? Please share your thoughts and please keep it civil.