Post
How US Big Tech is doing in our 馃嚞馃嚙 house:
#Google 鉃★笍 Proton 馃嚚馃嚟
Google Maps 鉃★笍 #CoMaps 馃嚭馃嚦
#Chrome / #Edge 鉃★笍 #Vivaldi 馃嚦馃嚧
Stock #Android 鉃★笍 #GrapheneOS 馃嚚馃嚘
#Windows 鉃★笍 #LinuxMint 馃嚭馃嚦
#WhatsApp 鉃★笍 #Signal 馃嚭馃嚫 (Non-Profit)
#Facebook / #Twitter / #Discord 鉃★笍 #Mastodon Green 馃嚛馃嚜
#Amazon 鉃★笍 Currys / John Lewis / HMV / Qobuz / Waterstones / local shops 馃嚞馃嚙 馃嚜馃嚭
#eBay 鉃★笍 Vinted 馃嚤馃嚬
It can be done people! Slowly but surely...
#Signal is non-profit for now, as whatsapp was by the time.
WhatsApp was never a non-profit, it was commercial from the start. It was set up in 2009 as a corporation in California. It took a lot of VC money over the next five years, before finally being sold to Facebook in 2014. It has been owned by one of the most obnoxious corporations in the world for 12 years. One of the founders was so disgusted with what they did with it that he walked away from a few hundred million dollars in golden handcuffs and gave $50M to bootstrap the Signal Foundation, but it was always a for-profit corporation.
@david_chisnall @mathzy
You are right. I don't know where I found this info but it is factually wrong 馃
But it does not change my point. There are plenty of exemples of non-profit that switch to for-profit at some point.
Thank you for this clarification.
There are plenty of exemples of non-profit that switch to for-profit at some point.
There are very few examples of 501(c)(3)s becoming for-profit corporations. The transition is incredibly hard and requires a lot of intermediate steps, all of which are visible warning signs. There are also a lot of restrictions on the ability of 501(c)(3) organisations to transfer their assets to for-profit entities.
Since you have 'plenty of examples', can you name ten? Note: they must be 501(c)(3) non-profits, not public-benefit corporations or industry groups?
@david_chisnall
In real world, french post, train and highways have been non profit first and then became for profit.
About internet stuffs, I'm thinking of : open ai, simple mobile tools, and mozilla in some ways.
Am I right or as for whatsapp i have been missinformed ?
I don't know what is a "501(c)" ? Does it really matter ?
In real world, french post, train and highways have been non profit first and then became for profit.
These are all examples of nationalised industries that were privatised, which is a totally different situation.
About internet stuffs, I'm thinking of : open ai, simple mobile tools, and mozilla in some ways.
OpenAI is an example of an organisation that is trying to transition from being a 501(c)(3). I believe they initially succeeded, though Elon Musk is suing them. It's not clear what the end state will be for them.
I don't know what is a "501(c)" ? Does it really matter ?
Yes. 501(c)(3) is a specific form of US non-profit entity. The specific form matters because that's the set of legal constraints that determine what the organisation can do. A 501(c)(3) requires state and federal oversight if they either try to transfer assets to for-profit entities or transition to being some other kind of entity. This transition is very difficult.
There are a handful of examples of organisations that have done it, but it is usually obvious long in advance that their leadership wants to, and there are lots of opportunities for other people to delay or prevent it.
