Affiliation constraints on TAG membership

[martinthomson]

In #809, something of a side discussion has started about the affiliation constraints in process for TAG members. I have no particular opinion on this at this stage, but I do have the ability to open issues.

It was observed that what was a hard rule has been softened somewhat over time, but some people expressed an interest in maybe loosening those constraints further.

I've read that conversation and am moved to ask: how much does the following text from Section 3.3.3.1 hold water?

Individuals elected or appointed to the Advisory Board or TAG act in their personal capacity, to serve the needs of the W3C membership as a whole, and the Web community. Whether they are Member representatives or Invited Experts, their activities in those roles are separate and distinct from their activities on the Advisory Board or TAG.

Having come from the IETF, we all know that there is some amount of fiction behind the idea that someone acts solely in their personal capacity. As is often said, the ability of a person to ignore the truth is proportional to the extent to which their paycheck depends on doing so. That said, the sorts of situation where these process safeguards apply are rarely simple disputes about fact.

From there, to what extent does the process need to safeguard against that possibility?

cc: @dwsinger, @frivoal, @chrisn, @cwilso, @LeaVerou, @mnot.