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atomicpoet (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Apr-2024 10:12:48 JST atomicpoet

It’s worrying that Mastodon’s non-profit status in Germany has been revoked—especially since the European Union themselves signalled a big commitment to the Fediverse last week.
I hope this all gets sorted, but I’m glad a U.S. non-profit entity has been established in the meantime.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2024/04/mastodon-forms-new-u.s.-non-profit/
In conversation about 6 months ago from atomicpoet.org permalink
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  Mastodon forms new U.S. non-profit
  
  As part of our commitment to supporting the growth and operational capabilities of Mastodon, we have established a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity in the United States aimed at facilitating our efforts, including being able to receive tax-deductible U.S. donations.
2. We’ve always been worried that developing Free and Open Source Software would not be recognized as a charitable cause by the German tax system, so we were glad when the tax office originally approved our non-profit status in 2021. But now we have received a notice from the same tax office that our non-profit status has been withdrawn. This came with no advance warning or explanation. Earlier this year we went through a successful tax audit, which in fact resulted in some favourable adjustments as we’ve been paying too much tax. Our tax advisor immediately submitted an appeal to the decision, but so far, we have no new information.
  https://atomicpoet.org/media/f97e67cb4947f2680a6a2526a7b2a7d092bdbb65cf69442f7ca3127852ddaa61.jpeg
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  Joe Ortiz (joeo10@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Apr-2024 10:12:47 JST Joe Ortiz
  in reply to
  
  @atomicpoet One of my main concerns (aside from the possibility of moving their operations to the US; hope I'm wrong on that) is the way that the board of directors were picked, and honestly they don't have the best interests at heart.
  More here: https://kolektiva.social/@MF_Dume/112344081413841169
  https://kolektiva.social/@ophiocephalic/112344901697308088
  In conversation about 6 months ago permalink
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    ophiocephalic 🐍 (@ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social)
    
    from ophiocephalic 🐍
    
    Following up on the analysis of @MF_Dume , here's a blog post discovered by @jdp23@blahaj.zone quoting new Mastodon board member Amir Ghavi: 'While the EU is trying to prevent the worst AI harms proactively, the American approach is more reactive. The US waits for harms to emerge first before regulating, says Amir Ghavi, a partner at the law firm Fried Frank. Ghaviis representing Stability AI, the company behind the open-source image-generating AI Stable Diffusion, in three copyright lawsuits. “That’s a pro-capitalist stance,” Ghavi says. “It fosters innovation. It gives creators and inventors the freedom to be a bit more bold in imagining new solutions.” ' Hey Mastodon: Welcome to the machine! https://www.timboucher.ca/2023/07/quoting-amir-ghavi-on-innovation-vs-harms/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/07/17/1076416/judges-lawsuits-dictate-ai-rules/
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    MF Dume (@MF_Dume@kolektiva.social)
    
    from MF Dume
    
    The first two board members are basic, inoffensive ones and then we get to Amir Ghavi and, boom!, right off a cliff. Now, Mastodon's press release mentions Avi headed up some stuff over here, advised on some cutting-edge tech and IP stuff over there, you know, just stuff, no biggie. Then I click through the link provided in his bio, and good gracious: "Amir Ghavi leads our core technology practices as the co-head of the Technology Transactions Practice and multidisciplinary Digital Assets and Blockchain Practice, while also serving as the firm’s foremost Artificial Intelligence ("AI") counsel. Amir has advised clients on cutting edge technology and intellectual property matters for more than a decade and has translated this experience into a profound understanding of the development and adoption of disruptive technologies, particularly AI. Amir is a leading legal authority in the sector, advising participants in the AI ecosystem — including several foundation model developers — on product development and counseling, data procurement, AI governance and strategy, regulatory matters, government affairs, M&A and IP matters. Significantly, Amir has advised and continues to represent defendant AI model developers in several of the major AI litigations currently filed. Amir advises disruptive technologies for a diverse range of clients - from multinational corporations, private equity sponsors, and venture capital firms to select high-growth technology-driven companies, helping the latter shape their core technology offerings and manage the cycle to commercialization and scale." https://www.friedfrank.com/our-people/amir-ghavi
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  Joe Ortiz (joeo10@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Apr-2024 10:22:15 JST Joe Ortiz
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  @atomicpoet I donate to my preferred instances and I have been a donor to the project for years so it's quite disappointing g that they're possibly taking the enshittification route although it remains to be seen.
  In the meantime, it's a good opportunity for someone to create a hard fork of the entire codebase and there are other projects out there that hopefully can materialize as a backup plan is needed in the even such things happen.
  In conversation about 6 months ago permalink
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    http://seen.In/
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  atomicpoet (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Sunday, 28-Apr-2024 10:22:16 JST atomicpoet
  in reply to
  - Joe Ortiz
  @joeo10 Explain your concern. Are you donating to Mastodon? Contributing code? What’s your degree of ownership over the project?
  
  In conversation about 6 months ago permalink

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