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and from TFA above: > In early 2018, Acton and Marlinspike announced the formation of the Signal Foundation, a nonprofit. Acton, the foundation’s chairman and
by nxtbl 5y ago
and from TFA above:
> In early 2018, Acton and Marlinspike announced the formation of the Signal Foundation, a nonprofit. Acton, the foundation’s chairman and sole member, seeded it with a no-interest, fifty-million-dollar loan.
additionally from Wikipedia:
> By the end of 2018, the loan had increased to $105,000,400, which is due to be repaid on February 28, 2068. The loan is unsecured and at 0% interest.
- ushakov 5y agounsecure 0% interest 105M loan? where can i get this?
- scrollbar 5y agoI see the terms as a donation or grant. The money still is a loan (vs a grant), but the terms are well below "market" in order to support the non-profit's cause.
- wmf 5y agoBut why structure it that way? Does anyone know?
- cge 5y agoMy guess was that it is a way of keeping the organization from failing the public support test (https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organizations-annual-reporting-requirements-form-990-schedules-a-and-b-public-charity-support-test https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organizatio...), which generally requires that at least 1/3 of the organization's support comes from the general public, not from, eg, one individual donor. Failing the public support test would make the foundation a private foundation instead of a public charity, which would change a number of regulations and have a small (usually 2%) on investment income. What's particularly odd is that, if they were they a private foundation, as Acton is a board member (who also appears to have sole power to determine board members), I think the loan itself would be a prohibited act of self-dealing.
- usrusr 5y agoMight have also been an attempt to appear less of a target for that breed of self-serving administrators that seem to haunt certain other foundations in tech. And to keep reasonably humble people reasonably humble.
- schoen 5y agoJust invent an awesome and innovative set of cryptographic protocols, make an incredibly usable set of secure communications tools with them, and agree to give them away for free to the world. Hopefully you will be blessed in return with the same kind of support that Moxie was!
- bigiain 5y agoIt also helps if you can find someone with $16 billion of Facebooks blood money burning a hole in their conscience. And a hundred mil or so that'd fallen behind the couch cushions they can throw your way as a PR stunt or reputation management exercise...
- ignoramous 5y agoI get your skepticism, but on the other hand I don't see the Jan Koums of the world throwing their money away, even if for PR. Acton is walking the talk, and it looks like his presence has meant some ex WhatsApp engs have joined him at Signal, too. What more could this man do?
- ARandomerDude 5y ago> Facebooks blood money burning a hole in their conscience Better late than never. Never seems more typical.
- goodpoint 5y agoA million developers are contributing to FLOSS projects (including openssl) and get pennies at best. The difference is that Signal is a walled garden and suddenly somebody pays for that.
- berkes 5y agoWhich is why it is extremely important to have a solid 'business'model behind your FLOSS project. To align sustained development and ongoing maintainance with a FLOS licence model. Because the alternative is to have volunteers spending their evenings and weekends on hobby projects that sometimes grow way over their hobbyish status. Which is both scary and sad.