So why can't Gavin take the coins from EFF, convert them to Dwollas, and then to cash...and send the EFF a nice money order for that amount? Perhaps with a nice note saying "Please use this to offset any legal costs associated with the defense of the bitcoin system."
Topic: EFF donations and the Bitcoin Faucet - page 4. (Read 16257 times)
I suspect this decision was made so as not to let their position regarding digital currency (esp. bitcoin) appear to be biased.
We shall see.
We shall see.
If they are about to take a bitcoin related case I will revoke my ill feelings on this matter. Until then, their decision just appears cowardly.
If you donated bitcoins to the EFF, you gave them to the EFF to do with as they wish. Asking for them back is not reasonable.
Asking for them back is reasonable, considering they don't want them.
What is not reasonable is expecting to get them back. But asking never hurts.
If you donated bitcoins to the EFF, you gave them to the EFF to do with as they wish. Asking for them back is not reasonable.
People clearly intended this money to go to the EFF - so I think some legal way should be found to cash the money out and be donated back to the EFF in USD.
Yes and no... I guess many only donated because it was a bitcoin donation, not an USD one. I really feel as if EFF was dishonoring their bitcoin donors, although I understand their fear of government. So maybe the best would be to try to return the money to the donors, and those who really want to donate it to the EFF will do the conversion and donation themselves.
The last thing we need right now is EFF donations being reclaimed by hackers!
If you put them in the faucet, the chance of that happening is much higher, IMHO.
People clearly intended this money to go to the EFF - so I think some legal way should be found to cash the money out and be donated back to the EFF in USD.
I don't know the exact legal situation in the US but as I recall, the laws regarding donations on behalf of others mainly concern tax deductability. So unless some of the donors were going to deduct their BTC donation to the EFF as a 501c3 organization from their income tax, it is probably possible for Gavin to cash them out and donate the USD back to them.
Maybe someone with a better understanding of the laws involved could comment on this possibility.
I don't know the exact legal situation in the US but as I recall, the laws regarding donations on behalf of others mainly concern tax deductability. So unless some of the donors were going to deduct their BTC donation to the EFF as a 501c3 organization from their income tax, it is probably possible for Gavin to cash them out and donate the USD back to them.
Maybe someone with a better understanding of the laws involved could comment on this possibility.
RE: refunding donations by proving you own one of the private keys that donated: interesting idea! Anybody willing to write code to do that? Could be a fun project... (find all the transactions that donated to EFF, dig out the public keys, come up with a way to sign/verify a message with private key proving you own a public key, then keep track of which donation transactions have already been refunded)
After thinking about this a little bit more, I have reconsidered ... this is a very bad idea.
During bitcoin's more innocent times, I kept my wallet.dat files unencrypted on my main laptop. I use this laptop to try out new stuff and browse the web with plugins activated, so it has a huge attack surface.
I have long since moved all my bitcoins to offline savings wallets and a spending wallet on a dedicated netbook.
But those old wallet files with zero balance in them should be considered tainted. Even if I move them offline and format my HD it's too late. I am making the assumption that they have been harvested by hackers already. The problem is, my EFF donation happened such a long time ago that it came from one of those wallets.
The last thing we need right now is EFF donations being reclaimed by hackers!
I find it a pity that they are not willing to use that money to promote electronic freedom. That was the purpose the money was donated to. They are dishonoring their donors and supporters. Shame on EFF.
I also find it dangerous to put that much amount of money in the Faucet. It will probably get stolen.
I also find it dangerous to put that much amount of money in the Faucet. It will probably get stolen.
I donated 10 BTC. It was mine. Now it's theirs; they can do with it as they wish. I would have preferred they kept it but it's their choice.
Well... as someone who has donated 25 btc to EFF, I am qualified to comment.
When I first started using bitcoins, The Faucet gave me .05. Id did get me started... so I do have some sympathy.
But not enough to donate 5000 times more than I got out of it.
What do I want? I want the EFF to accept bitcoins. Cash what you have... or, return to the donors accounts.
When I first started using bitcoins, The Faucet gave me .05. Id did get me started... so I do have some sympathy.
But not enough to donate 5000 times more than I got out of it.
What do I want? I want the EFF to accept bitcoins. Cash what you have... or, return to the donors accounts.
I donated 10 BTC back when they were about $1 each. Given the rise in value since then, if the EFF does not want them, I would prefer to get mine back.
In my case sending the coins back to any of the addresses they came from would accomplish that.
When I first found out about bitcoin I could not get the faucet to work for me. So I do not feel any need to donate to it, and certainly not $120+ worth of bitcoins.
EFF blog post: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/eff-and-bitcoin
RE: refunding donations by proving you own one of the private keys that donated: interesting idea! Anybody willing to write code to do that? Could be a fun project... (find all the transactions that donated to EFF, dig out the public keys, come up with a way to sign/verify a message with private key proving you own a public key, then keep track of which donation transactions have already been refunded)
RE: refunding donations by proving you own one of the private keys that donated: interesting idea! Anybody willing to write code to do that? Could be a fun project... (find all the transactions that donated to EFF, dig out the public keys, come up with a way to sign/verify a message with private key proving you own a public key, then keep track of which donation transactions have already been refunded)
i don't think this will work the way people intend. if i'm understanding correctly, the reason the EFF doesn't simply want to refund payments to the addresses from which the payments came is that those payment addresses could be controlled by intermediaries or otherwise can't be tied to the equitable owner of the donated funds. if that's the problem, allowing people to claim addresses by proving that they own them doesn't seem to solve much: the intermediary (e.g., mybitcoin) could still claim the addresses, perhaps through a proxy or 'beard' so that they wouldn't appear associated, and the EFF would be none the wiser.
to say that more simply, what problem would signing solve here? presumably we can assume that someone who sent money from an address owns that address (except in the rare event the private key was lost or stolen).
EFF blog post: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/eff-and-bitcoin
RE: refunding donations by proving you own one of the private keys that donated: interesting idea! Anybody willing to write code to do that? Could be a fun project... (find all the transactions that donated to EFF, dig out the public keys, come up with a way to sign/verify a message with private key proving you own a public key, then keep track of which donation transactions have already been refunded)
RE: refunding donations by proving you own one of the private keys that donated: interesting idea! Anybody willing to write code to do that? Could be a fun project... (find all the transactions that donated to EFF, dig out the public keys, come up with a way to sign/verify a message with private key proving you own a public key, then keep track of which donation transactions have already been refunded)
signing should be possible based on the wallet file.
Guess adding it to the client would be confusing to many but why not have a second application that uses the wallet (as long as it's not encrypted anyway
Guess adding it to the client would be confusing to many but why not have a second application that uses the wallet (as long as it's not encrypted anyway
I'll need to do a little bit of thinking about how to handle the EFF coins safely (just dumping them all into the Faucet's wallet is not a good idea; I would hate for them to get lost if somebody managed to hack the Faucet's web-facing code). Whatever I do, I will make sure the process of moving the coins from the EFF's donation address to the Faucet is absolutely transparent.
I would contact Gavin. He runs the Faucet.
That's a great idea, I'm surprise no one thought of that before now.
*shakes head in disbelief*
or, return to the donors accounts.
How? Fill out a form if you donated and tell them how much?
Allow this for a certain period of time before sending everything to the faucet.
or, return to the donors accounts.
How? Fill out a form if you donated and tell them how much?
Well... as someone who has donated 25 btc to EFF, I am qualified to comment.
When I first started using bitcoins, The Faucet gave me .05. Id did get me started... so I do have some sympathy.
But not enough to donate 5000 times more than I got out of it.
What do I want? I want the EFF to accept bitcoins. Cash what you have... or, return to the donors accounts.
When I first started using bitcoins, The Faucet gave me .05. Id did get me started... so I do have some sympathy.
But not enough to donate 5000 times more than I got out of it.
What do I want? I want the EFF to accept bitcoins. Cash what you have... or, return to the donors accounts.
I like the idea of the faucet only pours based on a percentage of what is left at any given time (maybe a daily check or something). Keeps it less worthwhile for hackers, but ALWAYS something nice for the people with no coin 
I also believe the faucet is being abused unfortunately… (by the way someone proposed to make it return min(0.01, 10% remaining funds) in another thread)
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