I am familiar with the Public Lab (2 words) and I think their work will be quite interesting to free software hackers. They design and sell open-source tools for things like environmental testing, which is typically the realm of government and big business. It's not a direct correlation to software but I'm sure we can all see the similarities.
As for their Code of Conduct, it looks reasonable especially considering that a lot of their activities are in-person collaborations, not just over email. It makes sense to me to exclude people who would find their Code of Conduct off-putting.
