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That’s how I used to feel until I found out they accepted millions in donations from companies like Google and Facebook/their executives/their executives’ chari

That’s how I used to feel until I found out they accepted millions in donations from companies like Google and Facebook/their executives/their executives’ charities. I’m just some guy on the Internet but IMHO their being OK with massive conflicts of interest means I no longer trust them.

metacritic12 4y ago
Serious question: is there a popular charity that by rule doesn't accept donations from really rich people?
cbozeman 4y ago
Then nut up and donate the millions yourself.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
  That doesn't follow. Do you really want to argue that the only way someone is allowed to disagree with millionaires is by being one themselves?
  - blowski 4y ago
    What's the EFF to do? 1. Achieve its mission with no money, or 2. Find money from sources deemed acceptable, or 3. Take money from sources deemed unacceptable I'm OK with option 3, so long as its transparent, because I agree with the agenda the EFF are pushing. If they start pushing an agenda I disagree with, I'll stop supporting them, whether or not they receive money from Google et al.
yuliyp 4y ago
What would you have them do? Not accept those donations, and be unable to work on as wide a range of issues that they do? EFF works on a wide range of issues, ranging from anti-censorship, software patent reform, online free speech, just to name a few. Many of those areas are where their values align with those of the Facebook/Google executives which donate to them. That they are able to receive those donations in spite of the areas where they disagree speaks more to EFF's track record of being an effective and powerful force for good in tech.
Taywee 4y ago
Would you turn down millions of dollars in no-strings-attached donations if you were running a charity? What was the negative result of those donations that you can point to? I'm not a fan of Google or Facebook, but I also don't outright boycott everything that they've ever touched. They donate money and developer time to tons of projects that I use regularly (including Linux), and it would be hypocritical of me to look down on the EFF for benefiting from the companies that I also benefit from. I don't like the bad behavior from Google or Facebook, but I don't think donating millions to the EFF is bad behavior, nor do I think getting tens of thousands of pull requests merged into public FOSS projects from Google and Facebook employees is bad behavior. Black and white guilt-by-association doesn't work when you have companies of this size, with hundreds of thousands of employees, and tons of varying internal cultures.
- user3939382 4y ago
  It’s not bad from Google or Facebook’s perspective, it’s bad for the EFF. Accepting money from the organizations you’re supposed to be monitoring is a conflict of interest. You shouldn’t have to question whether that money affected their behavior towards those organizations and now you do. They should not have accepted it, arguably they didn’t need to.

metacritic12 4y ago

Serious question: is there a popular charity that by rule doesn't accept donations from really rich people?

cbozeman 4y ago

Then nut up and donate the millions yourself.

yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
That doesn't follow. Do you really want to argue that the only way someone is allowed to disagree with millionaires is by being one themselves?
- blowski 4y ago
  What's the EFF to do? 1. Achieve its mission with no money, or 2. Find money from sources deemed acceptable, or 3. Take money from sources deemed unacceptable I'm OK with option 3, so long as its transparent, because I agree with the agenda the EFF are pushing. If they start pushing an agenda I disagree with, I'll stop supporting them, whether or not they receive money from Google et al.

yuliyp 4y ago

What would you have them do? Not accept those donations, and be unable to work on as wide a range of issues that they do? EFF works on a wide range of issues, ranging from anti-censorship, software patent reform, online free speech, just to name a few. Many of those areas are where their values align with those of the Facebook/Google executives which donate to them. That they are able to receive those donations in spite of the areas where they disagree speaks more to EFF's track record of being an effective and powerful force for good in tech.

Taywee 4y ago

Would you turn down millions of dollars in no-strings-attached donations if you were running a charity? What was the negative result of those donations that you can point to? I'm not a fan of Google or Facebook, but I also don't outright boycott everything that they've ever touched. They donate money and developer time to tons of projects that I use regularly (including Linux), and it would be hypocritical of me to look down on the EFF for benefiting from the companies that I also benefit from. I don't like the bad behavior from Google or Facebook, but I don't think donating millions to the EFF is bad behavior, nor do I think getting tens of thousands of pull requests merged into public FOSS projects from Google and Facebook employees is bad behavior. Black and white guilt-by-association doesn't work when you have companies of this size, with hundreds of thousands of employees, and tons of varying internal cultures.

user3939382 4y ago
It’s not bad from Google or Facebook’s perspective, it’s bad for the EFF. Accepting money from the organizations you’re supposed to be monitoring is a conflict of interest. You shouldn’t have to question whether that money affected their behavior towards those organizations and now you do. They should not have accepted it, arguably they didn’t need to.