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<div data-externalstyle="false" dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Calibri', 'Segoe UI', 'Meiryo', 'Microsoft YaHei UI', 'Microsoft JhengHei UI', 'Malgun Gothic', 'sans-serif';font-size:12pt;"><div><div>I second many of Christians concerns, especially as more comes to light about Ello's current operation and its potential aspirations. </div><div><br></div></div><div>Andy Baio, Ello user @waxpancake, posted <a href="https://ello.co/waxpancake/post/oy73kFfDdhOPh8Jv9z9pFAhttps://ello.co/waxpancake/post/oy73kFfDdhOPh8Jv9z9pFA" target="_parent">this </a>breakdown into Ello’s current funding situation. The long and short of it is that Ello is currently operating with $435,000 of VC. </div><div><br></div><div>Baio writes: “But VCs don't give money out of goodwill, and taking VC funding — even seed funding — creates outside pressures that shape the inevitable direction of a company.</div><div><br></div><div>Before they opened their doors, Ello became hooked on an unsustainable funding model — taking cash from VCs — and will almost certainly take a much larger Series A round once that $435,000 dries up. (Which, at their current burn rate, should be in a couple months.)”</div><div><br></div><div>Worth a read. (Relinking here, in case the link above doesn’t work: <a href="https://ello.co/waxpancake/post/oy73kFfDdhOPh8Jv9z9pFA" target="_parent"><u><font color="#0066cc">https://ello.co/waxpancake/post/oy73kFfDdhOPh8Jv9z9pFA)</font></u></a>. </div><div data-signatureblock="true"><br></div><div data-signatureblock="true">-Austin Walker</div><div data-signatureblock="true"><br></div><div style="padding-top: 5px; border-top-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid;"><div><font face=" 'Calibri', 'Segoe UI', 'Meiryo', 'Microsoft YaHei UI', 'Microsoft JhengHei UI', 'Malgun Gothic', 'sans-serif'" style='line-height: 15pt; letter-spacing: 0.02em; font-family: "Calibri", "Segoe UI", "Meiryo", "Microsoft YaHei UI", "Microsoft JhengHei UI", "Malgun Gothic", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;'><b>From:</b> <a href="mailto:idc-request@mailman.thing.net" target="_parent">idc-request@mailman.thing.net</a><br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, September 26, 2014 8:00 AM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:idc@mailman.thing.net" target="_parent">idc@mailman.thing.net</a></font></div></div><div><br></div><div dir=""><div id="readingPaneBodyContent">Send iDC mailing list submissions to<br> idc@mailman.thing.net<br><br>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<br> https://mailman.thing.net/mailman/listinfo/idc<br>or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<br> idc-request@mailman.thing.net<br><br>You can reach the person managing the list at<br> idc-owner@mailman.thing.net<br><br>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<br>than "Re: Contents of iDC digest..."<br><br><br>Today's Topics:<br><br> 1. Re: Ello--Alternative to Facebook (Christian Fuchs)<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Message: 1<br>Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 10:23:21 +0100<br>From: Christian Fuchs <christian.fuchs@uti.at><br>To: "idc@mailman.thing.net >> idc" <idc@mailman.thing.net><br>Subject: Re: [iDC] Ello--Alternative to Facebook<br>Message-ID: <54253089.2040501@uti.at><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed<br><br>Alternative to Facebook?<br><br>The important question is if Ello is a for-profit company or not and if <br>not, if it attempts to become one or not. The important point is how the <br>founders and those operating it relate to capitalism.<br><br>It says it does not commodify data for advertising purposes - good!<br><br>It however also says https://ello.co/wtf/post/privacy:<br>"We may share your personal information with third parties under several <br>circumstances, including [...] if we contract with a third party service <br>provider to offer services for you ? for example, with a credit card <br>processing company if you decide to buy something through Ello. Ello <br>does not have any affiliated companies right now. But if we do in the <br>future, we may share information with them, too."<br>https://ello.co/wtf/post/privacy<br><br>"offer services for you" can mean anything - the crucial thing is if <br>Ello or the service-provider make monetary profit by providing this <br>service or ever in the future intend to do so. This is not clarified.<br><br>Ello further says https://ello.co/wtf/post/about-ello:<br><br>"We occasionally offer special features to our users. If we create a <br>special feature that you really like, you may choose to support Ello by <br>paying a very small amount of money to add that feature to your Ello <br>account.<br>You never have to pay anything, and you can keep using Ello forever, for <br>free. By choosing to buy a feature now and then for a very small amount <br>of money you support our work and help us make Ello better and better."<br><br>It is unclear here if Ello if these features are offered in order to get <br>donations that fund a non-profit organisation or if the intention is to <br>accumulate capital.<br><br><br>Being ad-free is not enough - the point is that you have to be <br>non-capitalist in order to be an alternative to Facebook.<br><br>Ello says nowhere if it is a for-profit company, a hobby project of a <br>bunch of artists, a co-operative, or whatever. It seems to conceal its <br>legal status and that's a problem.<br><br>Ello says: "Ello is a Public Network" https://ello.co/wtf/post/privacy. <br>You are only truly public if you are public service or commonly owned.<br><br>It is unclear what Ello is - and that it is not communicating its legal <br>status and what its relationship to capitalism is, is troubling. A <br>privacy policy and terms of use that do not rule out that a platform is <br>or ever becomes capitalist are just as bad as Facebook's.<br><br>Best, Christian<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>iDC mailing list<br>iDC@mailman.thing.net<br>https://mailman.thing.net/mailman/listinfo/idc<br>_______________________________________________<br>Institute for Distributed Creativity (iDC)<br>_______________________________________________<br>www.distributedcreativity.org<br>_______________________________________________<br>The research of the Institute for Distributed Creativity<br>(iDC) focuses on collaboration in media art, technology,<br>and theory with an emphasis on social contexts.<br>_______________________________________________<br><br><br>End of iDC Digest, Vol 93, Issue 23<br>***********************************<br></div></div></div>
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