Donations

Donations to the Bernstein Writing Fund

Background. I have written, and made available for free from my web pages, more than two hundred thousand lines of text: my qmail and djbdns software packages, for example, and my SMTP reference manual. I've been working on many continuing projects and new projects; several new packages will be made available Real Soon Now.

Donations to the Writing Fund will directly support my writing projects. (They'll also help convince me that I should stick to an academic career; if you don't donate now, I'll go work for Microsoft! ... Just kidding.)

How to donate. Write a check to D. J. Bernstein. (If you make it out to D. J. Bernstein Writing Fund, I'll have to send your check back.) University mail is slow and unreliable, so mail the check to

D. J. Bernstein Writing Fund
2038 N. Clark Street PMB 346
Chicago, IL 60614

Please include a separate sheet saying (1) which of my current projects you like and (2) any suggestions for how you'd like me to direct my future efforts.

Alternatively, if you have a PayPal account: Send your donation to paypal@box.cr.yp.to. Put Service in the Type line; Paypal doesn't have a Donation option. Put Writing Fund in the Subject line. Use the Note section as your separate sheet.

United States tax deductibility. Donations to the Writing Fund are not tax-deductible.

Public acknowledgments. Donors are listed at http://cr.yp.to/thanks.html#writing in up-to-$100, $100-to-$500, $500-to-$1000, $1000-to-$5000, and $5000-and-up categories. Write ``private'' in the memo section of your check (or at the end of the PayPal Subject line) if you would like ``Anonymous'' to appear in the public acknowledgments instead of your name.

Donations to the Bernstein v. United States Legal Fund

Background. For many years, the United States Department of Commerce used export-control laws to interfere with Internet-security research. The regulations were improved in January 2000, but they still prohibited face-to-face collaboration with foreigners, shifted costs from the government to publishers, and required licensing for answering questions from foreigners, among other problems.

The Bernstein v. United States court case won four First Amendment decisions against the government's previous regulations. The court decisions established that publication of source code is speech, and that the regulations were an unconstitutional censorship system. However, the government appealed the decisions.

The case subsequently challenged the revised regulations under the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment. The government then backed away from several portions of the regulations, so the case is over, at least for now.

The Free Software Foundation is accepting donations to the Bernstein v. United States Legal Fund. 10% of each donation will cover FSF's costs; 90% will go directly to offsetting the legal costs of the recent work in the court case.

How to donate. Simply fill out FSF's online form. Please consider also making a general donation to FSF.

United States tax deductibility. Donations to the Legal Fund are tax-deductible. Make sure to include your address on FSF's online form so that they can send you an acknowledgment; you will need that acknowledgment for tax purposes.

Public acknowledgments. Donors are listed at http://cr.yp.to/export/donors.html in up-to-$100, $100-to-$500, $500-to-$1000, $1000-to-$5000, and $5000-and-up categories. Make sure to check the appropriate box on FSF's online form if you would like ``Anonymous'' to appear in the public acknowledgments instead of your name.