Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

propublica.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 469 posts

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#101

Post by therealdrag0 »

smcl wrote: post #13

I had no idea this project (and others) had so few contributors. I'd love to be involved in some Open Source project but I always feel like "yeh there's probably millions of people far more talented than me wanting to contribute" and I've no idea how to start. Some people suggest taking a look at the open bug lists for software you use frequently, but on the few occasions I've tried that (python, gcc, and a couple of…

I'd suggest looking for smaller repos to contribute to. Much less daunting, much more opportunity. My small OS contributions have been where a small repo, owned by one guy, does mostly what I'm looking for but I want some feature or notice some bug. Then it is easy to work on it/fix and do a pull request. They're usually happy for the activity.

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#102

Post by RobotCaleb »

hackuser wrote: post #81
a3n wrote: post #14

He's been voluntarily cheated. He should take a job, take care of himself (no one else will), and give gpg whatever time he has left, if he has the energy.

> He should take a job, take care of himself (no one else will), and give gpg whatever time he has left, if he has the energy. In your scenario, what will happen to GPG? The world just loses this essential asset?

Sure, why not? His (and his family's) life should be more important to him than you getting to use GPG.

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#103

Post by dublinben »

abandonliberty wrote: post #11
kogir wrote: post #7

This is sad but not super surprising. Historically, if you had money and wanted a reasonable UI and cleaner integrations, you bought PGP (now from Symantec). GPG was always for people unwilling to pay. For the record I donated. I'm just pointing out that writing something that's bundled and distributed as part of something else means nobody thinks about your project, or in many cases even realizes they're using it.

PGP went commercial to deal with lawsuits, but it is still open source. I would like if someone with more understanding of the situation could outline the risks of allowing PGP to be the only implementation.

PGP is source-available with a proprietary license.[0] It was only ever free to use for non-commercial purposes.

[0]http://www.symantec.com/connect/downloads/symantec-pgp-deskt...

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#104

Post by nicpottier »

andrewla wrote: post #22

For bitcoin donations, you can go to [1], which gives the address as 12LKeo24XCzgz6ASSxcUa8BvUfzkEyCpGq [2]. The address is not generated per user, and is dedicated to GnuPG. [1] https://www.wauland.de/en/donation.nojs.html [2] https://blockchain.info/address/12LKeo24XCzgz6ASSxcUa8BvUfzk...

Thanks for tracking this down, just donated $100 and probably wouldn't have bothered without a BTC address. :)

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#105

Post by unfamiliar »

teamhappy wrote: post #6

I've been complaining about this on HN before; lot's of startups built chat apps on top of GPG during the whole Snowden thing and Werner can't raise $120,000. I'm really glad Pro Publica picked it up, but I also think we need to change to way we think about critical software like GPG. The GPG Tools team (GPG for Apple Mail) recently stated they need to charge for the tool in the future because they simply can't handl…

>I also think we need to change to way we think about critical software like GPG

Maybe the lesson here is not to license important software under such permissive licenses. Make it open source and free for non-commercial, require a donation if it is used in a commercial product. I don't really see how you can give something away for free and then expect companies to volunteer to pay for it.

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#106

Post by javajosh »

This is a terribly injustice, and points to a larger systematic problem, that we software practitioners benefit greatly from the efforts of others to whom we barely offer anything back.

And while the media can help (as in this case) what we should be looking for are systems to help with the situation. My ideal would be a system that monitors my package manager activity, and then using an algorithm I control, allocates "pieces of the pie" to each package I install and use. Then I determine how big the pie should be, and how it should be funded. E.g. if I'm working for a company, I'd request as part of my contract that I get a $200/mo software budget. Or I could just fund it myself.

If even a small fraction of us did something like this, the open-source world would blossom, and injustices like this one would be eliminated.

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#108

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

pyre wrote: post #99
hf wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are using Ubuntu, I see from your profile. How much have you paid them? This is how the stories goes: we haven't figured out how to make good work worthwhile. Perhaps we can learn something from our vast experience in profitably peddling shit?

> You are using Ubuntu, I see from your profile. How much have you paid them? It's easier for businesses to write off these type donations (and make them for significant amounts) than for private individuals to do so.

>It's easier for businesses

Far simpler not to even bother at all.

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#109

Post by hf »

ryaniscool wrote: post #85
hf wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I freely confess to being flabbergasted by these displays of less-than-rigorous thought processes. How would a free software project 'pay it forward'? They are in a very similar position, aren't they? Edit: For some reason, I can't reply to child comments (probably a cool-off time-out at work?). Just a short note here, then: $1.25e6 for the FSF translates to 10 developers like Koch being paid (the donation page quote…

https://www.fsf.org/about/financial The FSF had revenue of 1.25 million in 2013. I'm not trying to comment on where it came from or where it went to. I'm only pointing out that they are not in a very similar position.

Those are some rather interesting documents, thanks!

In 2013 FSF paid $ 689,239 in salaries and, astoundingly!, $ 48,995 in credit card fees.

Re: Email Encryption Software Relies on One Guy, Who Is Going Broke

#110

Post by Estragon »

a3n wrote: post #14

He's been voluntarily cheated. He should take a job, take care of himself (no one else will), and give gpg whatever time he has left, if he has the energy.

Whether he's been cheated or not depends on your values. Many people cheerfully give up revenue maximization in order to perform some service they perceive to be of great value. You can't really have a meaningful political movement without such people.
Post reply on HN