
Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015) - buttly
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-worlds-email-encryption-software-relies-on-one-guy-who-is-going-broke
======
Digit-Al
It seems like so much of the internet is reliant upon technology created by,
and supported by, people who get little to no reward or recognition for their
important contributions.

An idea (not a serious one, but a point for discussion): in civil society we
have a government that collects taxes that are used to fund the vital
infrastructure that allows the society to function. How about if all ISPs were
to charge a very small levy to customers? This levy would go to an independent
and neutral body to be used to pay for the salaries of those who are creating
the internet infrastructure we all rely upon.

Obviously there would be many problems with trying to implement such a system
across the entire world. Worth discussion though?

P.S. I have no doubt that this idea has probably already been thought of and
discussed before. There is nothing new under the sun :-)

[edit: fixed fat finger typo.]

~~~
keeler
> How about if all ISPs were to charge a very small levy to customers?

How about levying such a tax on ISPs themselves? They're the ones making a
profit off of the infrastructure you're talking about.

~~~
sooheon
They mean the same thing (if implemented properly). The taxes will be split by
the ISPs and the consumers.

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huntie
It's worth noting that while GPG's financial situation is better now, GPG is
still looking for funds. Here[1] is a post from June about their current
donation campaign.

[1] [https://gnupg.org/blog/20170606-campaign-
launch.html](https://gnupg.org/blog/20170606-campaign-launch.html)

~~~
bahjoite
It would be super if they were helped to achieve their EUR15K/month target,
but after nearly three months, they're only a third of the way there (a
situation that is made a little better by having a couple months worth of one-
time donations).

[https://gnupg.org/donate/](https://gnupg.org/donate/)

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another-dave
The fact that someone of his ability can take an intern's wages to do this,
and for that long, shows the incredible altruism in tech.

~~~
gilrain
The broad altruism in tech that has allowed this situation, and which still
underfunds the projects' modest needs? Yes, astonishing generosity.

~~~
cuckcuckspruce
It's almost like the "I got mine, buzz off" attitude is prevalent in not just
the cartoon caricatures of <insert opposing political team here> but is
prevalent in society as a whole.

~~~
mmirate
Even further, it's almost like that attitude is the Nash equilibrium of human
life. (And if it is, then we cannot expect rational people to deviate from it
without significant imposition of force upon them.)

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stephenr
GPG is used by some for email sure, but it isn't the only option. S/MIME has
native support in pretty much all native mail clients, and is more pragmatic
about how you trust an identity.

~~~
LeoPanthera
I bet that all the non-email uses of gpg are actually greater than the email
uses. Its used as a component of many Linux distribution package managers, for
example.

~~~
sigzero
Then maybe the distros should find a way to fund things they rely on?

~~~
madez
Some companies rely on distros. Do these companies make sure to fund the
distributions?

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thomasjudge
Isn't the obvious answer here that he creates a company that offers
"professional level" support contracts, ala Red Hat, Sendmail, ...

~~~
TremendousJudge
What if he doesn't want to run a company? He isn't a consultant, he's a
programmer. Being good at programming doesn't make automatically good at
running a company, which requires a totally different skillset

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clarkevans
This general problem is discussed in depth by Nadia Eghbal (now, with
community outreach Github):

[https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-
studies/r...](https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-
studies/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/)

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philippnagel
Are there any other projects of such nature?

~~~
work_account
Not quite the same, but _the_ time zone database was voluntarily maintained by
some random guy for decades, until he got a lawsuit in 2011 and ICANN
eventually took over.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3081281](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3081281)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database#2011_lawsuit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database#2011_lawsuit)

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wmantly
This is sad, we need to fund projects like this.

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eugeniub
2+ year old article.......

~~~
hardlianotion
But there is potential for seeing what has happened since, and for followup.
It is useful.

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kleer001
Misleading title. After the publication of this article that 1 Guy got a
buncha money.

~~~
jasonkester
Not overly so. After having an article written about him, one guy got the
better part of one year's salary in charity. In exchange for 18 years of work
maintaining a piece of software that kinda everybody uses.

Another reminder that selling goods and services in exchange for money still
works better than giving things away and hoping somebody gives you a donation.

~~~
sdrothrock
> After having an article written about him, one guy got the better part of
> one year's salary in charity. In exchange for 18 years of work maintaining a
> piece of software that kinda everybody uses.

$60,000 from Linux Foundation's Core Infrastructure Initiative (one-time)

$137,000 in donations (one-time)

$50,000 a year from Facebook (recurring)

$50,000 a year from Stripe (recurring)

I think he got more than one year's salary in one-time funding alone, plus
he's got a "salary" of $100,000/yr from Facebook and Stripe together.

~~~
another-dave
Yeah but he has 6 developers working on it now (including himself).

~~~
sdrothrock
I had no clue! That's useful information.

