F-Droid has received funds from US Congress (via OTF), just like Signal
We are excited to announce that F-Droid has been awarded $396,044 from theOpen Technology Fund’s FOSS SustainabilityFund.This grant is specifically designed ...
Huz-fucking-zah. Independence from corporations like Google in the technologies we depend on is important, and F-Droid provides an unmatched service in support of that goal.
I swear this community is as bad as a flat earth one when the government gets brought up. why change the title from the original to imply that congress (other than deciding the federal budget) had anything to do with it? That is at best irresponsible and misleading and at worst actively malicious. Yes government entities do sketchy things, but that does not mean something can't be trusted because a government entity interacted with it.
why change the title
As I mentioned, I felt it was more transparent to say where the money comes from and let people draw their own conclusions. Of course there will always be dissenting opinions no matter which title is used, I think that just comes with the territory, and I'm ok with that; I don't think there is a single right or wrong answer. I'm sorry that you disagree with my choice. I encourage you to make similar posts wherever you'd like with your own desired title.
Thank you for your perspective.
where the money comes from
Well you failed because it comes from the taxpayer.
OTF receives the majority of its funding from the U.S. government via the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Funding is appropriated for OTF through the annual Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations and provided to OTF via a grant agreement from USAGM.
For FY 2023, Congress allocated $90.5 million for programs to promote Internet freedom globally, representing a $13 million increase from FY 2022. Of the funds allocated for Internet freedom, $40 million was designated for OTF. Per the appropriations, all Congressional funding provided to OTF is used to support “programs to promote Internet freedom globally.” In addition to helping to further OTF’s mission, this funding increase is also further recognition of the increasing need for the tools and technologies OTF supports.
In addition to funding from USAGM, OTF also accepts funding from other mission-aligned donors for discrete Funds, Labs, or Fellowships. For example, OTF’s FOSS Sustainability Fund is supported in part by funding from Schmidt Futures’ Plaintext Group, Okta for Good, and the Github Foundation.
Original title was "F-Droid Awarded Open Technology Fund's FOSS Sustainability Grant". Not trying to be tinfoily but I thought it would have been even more irresponsible to not make it clear where the money really comes from as I think most people aren't aware.
Either way, please do your own research and draw your own conclusions and I promise I have no intentional agenda in reporting this... besides transparency.
I don't think your edited title is that clarifying, and in fact, muddies the water by glossing over some key details. Chiefly, Congress doesn't fund the OTF, they fund the US Agency for Global Media, which in turn uses some of their money to fund the nonprofit OTF; the OTF then uses their money to "support open technologies and communities that increase free expression, circumvent censorship, and obstruct repressive surveillance as a way to promote human rights and open societies," per their 501(c)3 non-profit mission statement.
OTF has its own board, and they operate independently from the government, though their operations are tied in a roundabout way to how Congress decides to allocate funding.
That F-Droid got a piece of that pie is a good thing, especially in light of the current regime and how they're basically giving the middle finger to Congress.
Yeah, the edited title is implied to be unburying the lede, but there was nothing being hidden by the original title.
Don't worry, it's libre software, we control it.
I want to share that My brain first interpretation from the title is that they are receiving money to do dirty things. And reasoning about it , Nothing to do with reality of course I didn't even read the article . End of message.
Thanks for this clarification. Certainly something to be aware of and pay attention to, but a little less instantly alarming than the OP title.