Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest is any situation where someone in a position to make a decision, is under obligations or strong incentives to make it favour two competing interests. For instance, if one has a government job and also owns shares in a company that will benefit from the decision one makes "for the people", one is expected to announce this and withdraw from the decision, to let others make it without conflict or the appearance of conflict.

An independent board is the main way both nonprofit and for-profit organizations place supervision of critical decisions in the hands of those who will make them for the good of the organization or the stakeholders as a whole. Lack of such a board is almost certainly evidence of corruption, in nonprofit circles, though it is usually more excusable in private enterprise.

The Consumerium Governance Organization must be very careful to avoid any conflict of interest, especially with those who might be using it to promote a particular technology or data source.