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Comment by secfirstmd | Hacker News Reader

Signal is also free and based on a business model that doesn't require eventually being able to interfere with your privacy and mine your data.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/signal-private-messenger/id8...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri...

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What business model is Signal based on?

Donations, it seems http://support.whispersystems.org/hc/en-us/articles/21294015...

They have an interesting way of donating: 'BitHub = Bitcoin + GitHub. An experiment in funding privacy OSS.'

You donate bitcoins to a pool. Everyone can commit to their repository. Every merged pull request gets 2% of the pool. Currently you get 26.98 USD per merged pull request.

Source: https://www.whispersystems.org/blog/bithub/

From their description in the iTunes store: 'Pay Nothing - Signal is supported by a team of dedicated developers, community donations, and grants. There are no advertisements, and it doesn't cost anything to use.'

So it's a project, not a business.

If that's how you see it, I'm very curious to know how you would define the linux kernel.

I was not aware that the Linux kernel required a server infrastructure to be running to work on my device.

I am thinking there is likely a massive infrastructure behind Linux running on your device. And thanks to all those that support it.

Nitpick. It still requires development.

You say that as if is has less value for not being a business.

When ideals are involved (strong encryption, privacy, ad-free), being run as a lean, open-source project is worth much more than being owned by a megacorp like Facebook.

> You say that as if is has less value for not being a business.

No, I did not :-P

I couldn't see from those links, but what is their business model exactly?

I am a happy signal user BTW, but I can't see how they are making money off me.

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