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Why did you donate to a terrorist organisation

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  • Last reply by wdaryl

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I would like to know why Mozilla which proclaims to be a company promoting freedom has donated/awarded money to an organisation hell bent on stopping speech they do not agree with.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/10/10/mozilla-gave-100000-to-secure-email-platform-harnessed-by-anti-fascist-groups.html

Think I might find an alternative browser now.

I would like to know why Mozilla which proclaims to be a company promoting freedom has donated/awarded money to an organisation hell bent on stopping speech they do not agree with. http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/10/10/mozilla-gave-100000-to-secure-email-platform-harnessed-by-anti-fascist-groups.html Think I might find an alternative browser now.

All Replies (7)

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I suggest you stop reading Fox thinking it is a balanced news source!

You even pretty much answer your own question within your question when you describe Mozilla as a "company promoting freedom" as digital privacy has been one of the most severely degraded of our rights in recent years. That is a freedom we should have, which is protected by all Human Rights Acts around the world! We all have the right for a private life!

RiseUp has absolutely zero to do with AntiFa. Same as Whatsapp and SMS text messaging technology has nothing to do with ISIS! It has not stopped Whatsapp and SMS being the main routes of communication during most the attacks in the UK (which being where I'm from are the ones I pay closer attention to.) Does that mean we should stop those technologies or hinder them? SMS has never been encrypted but that fact never helped the incompetence of our security forces in stopping them, it's quite well known that Whatsapp has had backdoors for some time now...

Alt-Right groups are using exactly the same technology, but as their outlook matches that of Fox News (and I would guess yours as well...) this isn't the example they use. But more to the point far more use it for innocuous yet sensitive data, be it work related or personal, to which an added level of ease of mind that it is being kept securely is very important.

Anybody who agrees with freedom has to agree with this kind of technology being in the public realm, not solely in the control of governments. That is the opposite to freedom. That is the way to move towards totalitarianism! Is that really what you want?


DISCLAIMER: I have absolutely zero to do with Mozilla or subsidiary companies, the views expressed above are fully my own.

Modified by kazakore

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I never said Fox news is balanced. I don't rely on any msm. But that doesn't mean all they report on is fake. Maybe except CNN;-). The timing is suspicious though. As SJWs have bullied and forced Mozilla's CEO to resign (2014) for having an opinion they do not like now it awards a service dominated by SJWs. Riseup.net launched in 2009 I realise the MOSS project is relatively new so maybe your I am jumping to conclusions. Just looking forward to Mozilla's donation to GAB. I won't hold my breath.

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Not really that new.

How about last year when it gave $152,500 to the Tor Project? A company which gets nothing but bad press in the news due to the fact it is best known for illegal markets selling drugs and weapons and a way to autonomously host child pornography or extremist material. It is often considered the core of the DarkWeb and would be a better target for your objections, but that donation is now a year old so guess you missed the boat to moan about that one.....

All I can do is suggest you read Mozilla's Manifesto and see how it agrees with their outlook of supporting openness and security within the digital world and how suppressing these things does the exact opposite. I know I much prefer to see these technologies in the open world than I do in the sole control of oppressive governments!

https://www.mozilla.org/en-GB/about/manifesto/

Modified by kazakore

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But back to the original point:

Despite the recent allocation of AntiFa as being a terrorist organisation (actually I believe the statement was more than some of their actions are/have been with a petition started by the alt-right to try and get the president to do such but he never actually commented on it. Pretty sure similar has been said about the Alt-Right has it not?) I don't see what this has to do with RiseUp. Has the government declared RiseUp as being a terrorist organisation? No they have not! Thus the title to your thread is just as misleading as the clickbait headlines often used by the "news" outets you mention!

But saying that AntiFa is not an organisation in the first place! I suggest you do some research on what AntiFa actually are (or are not.) Even Wikipedia may open your mind a little with its basic description of them as being "The antifa movement is composed of autonomous groups, and thus has no formal organization." It is a movement around a set of ideas, there is no organisation structure, terrorist or otherwise!

Modified by kazakore

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Oh and BTW Mozilla Foundation (the parent company of the Mozilla Corporation which Eich was CEO of) was set-up by people you would dismissively call CJWs above. The core beliefs of the company since it was set up in 2003 has been those of the manifesto I posted above and although they are worded to emphasise the technological aspects it's should be no surprise to anybody that a company founded on such beliefs is going to be against bigotry in any form! And that's before you take into account the business aspect. Would you really want you boss to be somebody you know views other human beings as deserving less rights than you just based on your sexual preference. Well maybe you would........

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"I know I much prefer to see these technologies in the open world than I do in the sole control of oppressive governments!" - well I can agree with you there.

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terrorism (tĕrˈə-rĭzˌəm)►

   n.
   The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

So when swathes of face covered violent rent-a-crowd anarchists* show up and assault people for their opposing views and they carry AntiFa signs**. I can smell terrorism.