When will they finally get their donation box working properly (including not showing "weird" symbols, when Google is not informed about my visit by loading fonts from them)? Tried multiple times to donate, but I am unwilling to sacrifice my privacy for donating to a messenger that is supposed to protect my privacy. Once they get that donation box fixed, they stand a good chance to get my donation. Just like the Internet Archive, that still has broken donation box when Google fonts is not loaded ...
Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
801–810 of 965 posts
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#802Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aside from the salaries, which I agree are a problem, I think there are a lot of architectural issues that are both costly and not so secure. > We use third-party services to send a registration code via SMS or voice call in order to verify that the person in possession of a given phone number actually intended to sign up for a Signal account. Simple solution, go distributed. 6M $ for that. Stop doing that. What do d…
> which I agree are a problem Are they? These salaries are much lower than most tech competitors. I know we like to call out "high" salaries when a useful service is struggling - but they'll struggle even more if they can't retain good talent because their pay is too low. There's a reason tech skill in government is generally lower than that in industry, for instance.
> Are they? These salaries are much lower than most tech competitors.
That really depends on the location these people are working from. In most of the world, those are insanely high salaries.
A company like this doesn't need to be based in SV.
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#803Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fail to understand the point of supporting an organization that is completely against self-sovereignty like Signal is. Why would I want to pay someone to develop something that traps me into their platform and does not offer a way out?
bro, you're working for one of chat programs, yes? never heard of communick before. won't ever use it. if people ask me about it, i will show them how a person related to communick behaves in public.
You are creating an ad-hominem by thinking that I can not criticize Signal because I have a competing offer. And to add insult to injury, you seem to have a misconception of what Communick is.
Communick is not "a chat program". Communick is a service provider, which promotes and works only with truly open protocols. There is no custom client or lock-in based feature that I have. This means that if you are my customer and you want to move out you are absolutely free to get your things and move to a different place instantly.
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#804Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is for a non-profit asking for donations. If they want half a mill salaries, they should become for-profit instead.
The beauty of non profits is everyone thinks they're staffed with saints, when the truth is far less beatific.
Absolutely. A former student of mine worked for a non profit in Afghanistan (his home country) for a few years. Said non profit was flying in McKinsey consultants for very short gigs at six figures (USD).
Same can be said about many LGBT non profits that have shifted their goals in the developed world on the "T" part of the acronym. On countries where marriage equality is a given, no one is going to fund an NGO focused on gay marriage... so they need a new cause to fight for.
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#8052022 Salaries for those interested: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824... Compensation Key Employees and Officers Base Related Other Jim O'leary (Vp, Engineering) $666,909 $0 $33,343 Ehren Kret (Chief Technology Officer) $665,909 $0 $8,557 Aruna Harder (Chief Operating Officer) $444,606 $0 $20,500 Graeme Connell (Software Developer) $444,606 $0 $35,208 Greyson Parrelli (Software Developer) $…
Does anyone have an idea why they did not list the combined salaries of all employees? They did seem to list all the other things...
They don't break out salaries specifically, but personnel costs are in this paragraph:
> To sustain our ongoing development efforts, about half of Signal’s overall operating budget goes towards recruiting, compensating, and retaining the people who build and care for Signal. When benefits, HR services, taxes, recruiting, and salaries are included, this translates to around $19 million dollars per year.
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#806Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those are just non-profit fundraiser consulting tactics. Don't take them personally, just ignore them. The reason they exist is that Wikipedia has too much money, so they spend some on consultants who say they can raise more. It's weird, but that's how the world works. I would much prefer the Wikipedia endowment model of non-profit orgs. They have a standard operating procedure with a predictable budget, and endowmen…
So...is Wikipedia at the level where they can invest to ensure they're sustained indefinitely?
Wikipedia? Yes easily.
Wikimedia? No, they're a money black hole and will eat whatever you give them.
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#807Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess maybe I'm missing the purported point of signal, attaching your phone number to use it notwithstanding, but attaching payment identity to it as well? Like, what's the point of going through the pain required to use it?
It is not meant as a anonymous messager, but an encrypted one, you can trust to not sell you out.
What is the basis of that trust?
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#808Earlier quoted context omitted.
I donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center a few years ago. A physical address was a required field on the donation form. I have never stopped regretting it, because GODDAMN! They started hammering me with physical mail asking for more money immediately and have not stopped.
Just curious why you used an address that's associated with you. Choosing the address of a place like a park, which is a real address that has no mailbox or direct association with you, ought to be the default if you don't want to be spammed to hell and back.
You might want to receive a tax receipt.
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#809Earlier quoted context omitted.
The beauty of non profits is everyone thinks they're staffed with saints, when the truth is far less beatific.
Absolutely. A former student of mine worked for a non profit in Afghanistan (his home country) for a few years. Said non profit was flying in McKinsey consultants for very short gigs at six figures (USD). Same can be said about many LGBT non profits that have shifted their goals in the developed world on the "T" part of the acronym. On countries where marriage equality is a given, no one is going to fund an NGO focus…
to me this smells transphobic but it's possible the trans genocide several US states are working on made me oversensitive
Re: Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive
#810I'd prefer a federated solution, but XMPP doesn't yet have decent support for group chat that doesn't depend on being connected. https://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/xep-0369-0.1.html is still experimental. Bravo to Signal for being easy enough for my family to use!
What about Matrix?
I remembered another issue with Matrix.
Signal and XMPP (via Quickly) have a simple phone number based signup workflow that my family have grown used to.
My family are not happy on having to remember/use passwords/keys. That's a shame, but is ultimately a constraint I have to deal with when persuading them to install/use an IM app.