[Foundation-l] Wikimedia main office

[Delirium]

Erik Zachte wrote:
> Erik Moeller:
>   
>> "We also need to take into account laws that might be relevant to our
>>     
> website operations.
>   
>> This is esp. true, unfortunately, in developing countries.
>> There may also be critical variations across US states."
>>     
>
> This would indeed be a complicating factor, if the web server would fall
> under the jurisdiction of the country that hosts the main office. Not sure
> if that would necessarily be the case. Maybe depends on which country we
> choose?
>   

That could be avoided by not really having a "main office" in the 
traditional sense, but just offices where and when (and if) they're 
needed.  St. Petersburg could remain the place of incorporation of the 
Foundation and its official mailing address, while actual physical 
offices can be opened as needed.  If there's a lot of work in Africa 
necessitating some local physical presence, we could have a Nairobi 
office, and it could be much bigger than the St. Petersburg office.  
What's designated "main office" is more a legal formality; there's no 
need for us to have one giant office in which everything takes place and 
designate it "Wikimedia World Headquarters".

(Incidentally, that's how globalized "real companies" are increasingly 
running things; the giant centralized main headquarters is no longer in 
vogue.)

-Mark