Hey all, I just wanted to take a second to let you know about a recent donation I received. This morning I woke up to find a $200 donation from a certain VPN company. The donation notice didn’t contain any message or expectation, but to avoid any conflict of interest, I’m donating it to charity!

I’m splitting it half and half between the EFF and Child’s Play.

Update: Jan 4, 2017

Well, it happened again! Another VPN company (which I believe was honestly trying to contribute and not trying to persuade me or be shady) has donated $100 to the project. As before, I have donated the money to charity. This time, I chose the Free Software Foundation. It helps educate people about free (as in freedom) software and plays a crucial role in influencing the industry to stay transparent and open.

Added Feb 20, 2017

Just last month, you may remember that I received a donation from a VPN company (in earnest), and subsequently decided to donate the money to charity so as to remain unbiased.

And it happened yet again… another VPN company (which I believe was honestly trying to contribute and not trying to persuade me or be shady) has donated $100 to the project. I can’t and won’t keep money when this happens, as I want to stay completely unbiased. This time I have chosen to forward their donation to the Open Rights Group. It works hard to protect free expression and privacy rights in the UK, which seems to need all the help it can get these days.  A lot of my readers are from the UK and I thought I’d show them a little love.

You know who you are, and I thank you for your generous contribution, however I think you’ll understand that I can’t accept it as it would create a conflict of interest with my project.

Added July 15, 2017

And it happened once more…  another VPN company (which I believe was honestly trying to contribute and not trying to persuade me or be shady) has donated $50 to the project.  I can’t and won’t keep money when this happens, so I have chosen to forward the donation onto The Tor Project which creates and maintains an important tool for activists and those concerned with their privacy and anonymity!

If you’re a VPN company who honestly wants to contribute to my research… please don’t tell me who you are!