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The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

independent.co.uk

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Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#281

Post by bredren »

ahazred8ta wrote: post #266
bredren wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I wasn’t aware of this and it definitely predates our work. I’d have presumed this would have come up in the evidence for that case but afaik it has not. IANAL, but perhaps Craigslist’s response to our product, which included blocking its usage on the site after they implanted their version, served as a stronger example of the commercialization of the product still well ahead of the Rally Patent.

[ wasn’t aware of this ] That's odd. Anyone familiar with the history of anonymous email services and remailers would know about the penet, cotse, and cypherpunk communities in the 1990s. It was a fertile field. Odd that you haven't bumped into anyone from that space. https://codamail.com/aboutus.html -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixminion -- https://www.spamgourmet.com/index.pl?printpage=faq.html

I suppose from some perspectives it is.

When I designed our take on it, I was solving a problem I experienced on Craigslist. I had not seen this prior art.

I built a simple refresh for a new email address interface that people really loved to mash, and it is nearly identical to the Use Different Address link behavior on Hide My Email.

To get to my original point, if Craigslist was aware of all of these examples, they did not seem to serve as impetus to provide it, despite it being in the best interest of their users.

I would highlight again that the system described by the Rally patent, if realizable in the example services means these groups also left potentially valuable IP on the table.

As the lawsuit over Hide My Email, afaik, is serious stuff.

I appreciate folks sharing links to prior art. I have more to say, that might explain my initial comment a bit more, but have to wait on that.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#282

Post by bmitc »

bluedino wrote: post #8
helterskelter wrote: post #6

I don't know much about this guy, but I remember reading an interview with him maybe 15 years ago where he was asked if his lifestyle had changed since he came into money and if he bought a new house or anything, and his answer was basically something like: "Not really, and I've already got good water pressure where I'm at, what else do I need?" I can't help but like his attitude.

He apparently bought this place in 2016: https://streeteasy.com/blog/craigslist-property/

That library is sick.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#283

Post by rayiner »

what wrote: post #276
georgemcbay wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really interested in arguing about whether or not she is giving her money away perfectly or to the best causes according to your (or my or anyone's) standards. She gets credit from me for doing actual philanthropy instead of just cosplaying it for tax purposes, which has been the norm even for quite a few of the other "giving pledge" donors. As far as bolstering government programs go, I'd love to see billionaire…

> tax wealth How are all of the old people living off of social security going to pay the wealth tax on their million dollar homes?

Also, we already “properly” tax equity wealth. We tax income at the time it actually exists. We don’t tax notional valuations.

It makes no sense to tax shares of e.g. SpaceX when the company is $42 billion in the hole. What’s really happening is that people wants to tax future income today.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#285

Post by ETH_start »

I strongly disagree with this framing that moving away from formal philanthropy has resulted in a move "toward hard-edged individualism and ostentatious displays of wealth".

It's easy to forget now with the massive market valuations what Tesla and SpaceX were like in the early days. Both were considered to have a very small chance of success and were in a large sense seen as philanthropic enterprises, intended more to move humanity forward then make a lot of money.

Much of the early investment in these companies and even some of the investment in these companies today is driven by altruistic motives, not personal profit seeking.

While the typical business venture like a new ad network or a social media platform might have some subtle economic benefits that economists can tease out through studying their second and third order effects, I think it's hard to to argue against the notion that the latest mega companies including the AI companies, but especially Tesla and SpaceX, are doing much more good for humanity and have the potential to do much more good for humanity than companies traditionally have. There are already literally hundreds of thousands of people who now have internet connectivity that did not before, thanks to Starlink, for example. Tesla, for its part, has contributed to significantly lower pollutant emissions, especially through its impact on other auto companies, in spurring them to commercialize battery electric vehicles.

And the wealthiest man today, Elon Musk, whatever you may think of him, is not into "ostentatious displays of wealth". The man lives in a tiny fabricated home most of the time, and seems far more concerned with his social causes than personal consumption.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#286

Post by SXX »

forgetfreeman wrote: post #235
SXX wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not a private business fault that US did not create a legal framework protecting sex workers and instead continue facilitate exploitation and traffiking by keeping it illegal. US have legal porn industry and its strictly regulated and mostly safe for those wofking in it. Imagine how it would look like if it was illegal too.

Are you proposing that forming an S-corp somehow eliminates an individuals moral or ethical obligations?

It does not since morals and ethics are relative.

Having legal framework and regulation solves problems with exploitation and traffiking though.

If sex work is illegal there will be pimps, illegal ads, criminal organizations facilitate it and abuse.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#287

Post by kennethallen »

bluedino wrote: post #8
helterskelter wrote: post #6

I don't know much about this guy, but I remember reading an interview with him maybe 15 years ago where he was asked if his lifestyle had changed since he came into money and if he bought a new house or anything, and his answer was basically something like: "Not really, and I've already got good water pressure where I'm at, what else do I need?" I can't help but like his attitude.

He apparently bought this place in 2016: https://streeteasy.com/blog/craigslist-property/

Looks like Blue Prince interiors. :D

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#288

Post by Forgeties79 »

socalgal2 wrote: post #166
Forgeties79 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn’t you fund nonprofits and artists?

Artists don’t need money. More money is poured into the arts than at any time history. Motion picture arts, literary arts, video game arts, graphic design arts, and also at no time has it cost less to get an audience and find supporters. YouTube , TikTok, instagram, twitch, patreon, starsubscribe, gumroad, etc…

> Artists don’t need money. More money is poured into the arts than at any time history.

That first sentence is patently untrue especially in the US. We have been defunding and ridiculing the arts since the Reagan years. And is “more than before” enough? I’d say clearly not. The only arts that receive large sums of money are those that are commercial enterprises designed to generate enormous profit, they are integrated into capitalism. Are you going to tell me that poetry and painting are heavily funded in the US? How about your local symphony? Are these not “worthy investments” in our culture and humanity?

And let’s say we buy that argument: How does this not apply to private companies? Are you really going to argue that we prioritize the arts anywhere near as much as for-profit businesses?

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#289

Post by Forgeties79 »

rayiner wrote: post #131
Forgeties79 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for-profit companies are better than a quality non-profit…how?

Note my caveat: "Not all non-profits obviously." I didn't say anything about a "quality non-profit." I said that a lot of non-profits are jobs programs for people who travel in the same social circles as wealthy people. Those non-profits often make little meaningful impact. Those non-profits are worse than for-profit companies because ineffectual for-profit companies at least go out of business. By contrast, fund-rai…

Why does any of this need to be discussed? Did you think I was saying just throw money at any random nonprofit without any research? Do you think I blindly trust all non-profits? Clearly the implication is “give to quality non-profits.”

I didn’t just start talking about how there are lots of bad private companies, I assumed what you meant. So this just feels like an attempt at spiking the conversation.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#290

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

nunez wrote: post #154
Quarrelsome wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it was an intentional choice to not go big. I can seriously respect that. I feel like all these "big tech leaders" like Zuck or Musk have some pretty blatant mental health issues, its a path with significant drawbacks because that level of absurd wealth causes issues.

Hoarding at scale, but with money instead of gnomes.

Also, hoarding that actively hurts other people and makes them poorer
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