[Osmf-talk] reason for associate membership | Re: Potential AoA change: Count time as associate member for board candidacy requirements

[Rory McCann]

On Sat, 27 Mar 2021 12:28 +01:00, Edward Bainton <bainton.ete at gmail.com> wrote:
> Separately, I have long wanted to ask what the reason for the 
> member/associate member division is. Only members have statutory rights 
> (eg, to vote on removing a director) and from what I understand of OSMF 
> so far, I feel there is probably no merit in keeping the associate 
> member status. But there is probably a historical reason I'm not aware 
> of.

AIUI under UK law, anyone can get a list of members of the OSMF, i.e. the names & addresses of the members. Some people had legitimate concerns about the privacy aspects of that, and didn't like that they would have to reveal so much in order to participate in the OSMF. So we created the associate member status.

This is just my recollation from what happened a few years ago