In the end, this service really needs to evolve or die. But here is a little more information:
' ' Based on estimated costs, Riseup says it will be unable to pay for its services starting next month. Administrators are now asking users to donate at least $1, if possible.
The network, which provides free & secure email accounts, email lists, VPNs, and an online XMPP chat service, claims to service over 150,000 email accounts, 7.2 million users subscribed to over 14,000 email lists, and God knows how many XMPP users.
These are only a fraction of the total number of users Riseup has been servicing for free in the past 17 years.
Riseup has gained huge traction after the Snowden revelations, with many people flocking to the network because of its ability to provide anonymous and encrypted communications.
Just like Tor, Riseup is popular with dissidents and criminals alike. In January 2015, Spanish authorities arrested eleven people just for using the service.
-It might seem inconsequential, but if you and every Riseup user gave us just one dollar, that would fix our current financial problem. ' '
Thank you for finding that!!!
When I was writing the post I had seen that exact message up somewhere but couldn't locate it when it came time to snip it into my post.
No problem, you go ahead and include it in the post if you like. This isn't a very flashy article so far, so I'd probably consider fattening up some of the text and including a picture of Snowden as well.
Thanks for the advice. I'd hesitate to use snowden's image here. Because I don't see anywhere they've ever claimed he was a user. In fact we know he was using lavabit and lavabit shut down their services rather than turnover his info.
What they are saying is that since the Snowden revelations their user base has gone through the roof, but their finances have not been able to keep pace and they can't pay their bills because of it.
I will however take your advice and add that snip to the article. Wish I could find some better graphics etc. But the whole point of this movement is that it is low key by design. They don't spend money on fancy things like art, just important stuff like software and infrastructure.
Ok made some quick updates. I'm traveling though and can't make major changes until this evening, so I really hope this is enough.
I like the changes you made. You used good judgement on the Snowden issue as well.
You said, "In the end, this service really needs to evolve or die."
I'm really curious to know what you mean? What sort of evolution are you demanding?
The same kind of developement I see happening in the crypto space etc. A market based developement that involve profit at some level and a creative way to sell their product. I'm not likely to donate money to someone, when they are not interested in "making" money; in other words bettering their services at a "profit".
At this point in time, I see a group that out of their charity is almost loosing their power to help, very little developement and very little incentive to do so.