I have been using this website for a couple of months now and it struck me recently that there is something wrong.

At the top of the website, it says "$9736.22 of $21422.68 Help CastleCops serve the community on new servers, Donate Here to reach our goal."

Something about this statement struck me as being morally wrong.


This website, which consists of volunteers, is having to fork out $21422.68 - to offer a service to the internet... A service which should be offered (and funded) by a government.


In my opinion, the users of this website are being exploited by the free market.


The governments of the world have been able to shirk off:

a) general responsibility
b) funding responsibility

To a group of internet citizens who will not only volunteer their labour, but will contribute money towards doing a job which should be done by a government or some other authority.

There is a lack of clear understanding about who owns the internet - and while this website exists, solving problems, what incentive is there for any authority/government to fund services when people on this website are doing it for free and funding it themselves?

The very same reason why crime runs wild on the internet - why Spam websites remain active for years on end - is the reason this website is run by citizens and funded by citizens, when in fact it should be funded by a government.

In th UK there are many things the government should fund but don't - one reason why we have so many charities relying on donations from the public. If everyone stopped donating to these charities to force public funding, I don't see that as a win in the short term.

True, we are all volunteers here so it is obvious we care about what we are doing and what CC stands for. If that means we need donations to continue the work then so be it. It is not forced upon us and if anyone does not wish to donate then it is their right not to donate.

I agree that outside funding would be most welcome. It's just not going to happen in the short term.

I don't know if I'm alone on this, but I might be more inclined to donate some cash to keep a great site like this going if the meter ever moved. And if I'm hearing there is no response from CC as to the receipt of the donation, that is also discouraging. I like to help, but I don't like to be burnt. I would think updating the meter would be somewhere on the priority list. I'm just sayin' that I'm sure people want to know. And I would imagine the closer it gets the more people might donate. Myself included.

I sent a donation back when CC was asking for approximately $12,000.00. I never received anything indicating my donation was received. Shortly thereafter, the donation request was increased to it's present amount of more than $21,000.00.

Hi,

sure... no doubt blackwater could do this for less $$

Has anyone (on behalf of CC) asked any governments for funds? Governments are sneaky that way. If you don't find a way to ask them they tend not to give you any and they breathe a big sigh of relief when you are not looking.

I see we (Castle Cops, I don't mean to be arrogant by saying we but I identify a tiny bit with this site) contribute heavily to the work of police and internet security agencies around the world.

The right kind of lobbying might get those funds. They are very little to some government agencies if they are able to give them just before end of financial year. I would have already written a letter and have it in CC's hands if I thought my experience were of the right kind to set me up to make such an approach but I suspect I don't have a clue what to say.

There is also industry, Tens of thousands of businesses who do not know CC is working on their behalf and any one of whom might end all or some of our troubles. Simply placing a counter on the top of a page will not get to them. Then there are the altruists and philanthropists(those generous souls who hand out money to good causes) are just waiting to help you/us in our good work.

I am quite ill and struggling but if anyone has any ideas and I see a spot I can assist I will. We need to ask around for some dough and maybe lobby politicians, generate supporters.

Or have we done this and I missed it?

I appreciate very much the help I receive from this site as well as enjoy volunteering my time to help when I can...

BUT...

as a U.S taxpayer, I do not feel we need to be burdened anymore with ridiculous government spending....I currently pay for welfare, food stamps, health care, elderly care, criminal rights, youth programs, school taxes (no children in school), Social Security, bailouts, environment tax, vehicle tax, clean air tax, road tax, property tax, abortions, methadone clinics, prisons, and to every other charity of Congress choice.

I struggle to pay my own bills, to eat, pay for gas, and have no health care...while my neighbor (who does not work) recieves free health care, over 300 dollars a month in food stamps, and a monthly stipend to sit home or run the roads whatever her choice of the day is....

AND....

You suggest I pay more....??

Our Constitution granted Congress the right to levy taxes only to pay debt...The majority of what they spend it on are socialist programs they created that have made the people as well as businesses dependent on a government....

The majority of people that come for help are on personal computers at home...They use the computers mostly for entertainment...Why should taxpayers pay for people to play...???

While I would like very much for CC to have all the funds we need to upgrade, I do not agree that it is in anyway a government responsiblity nor do I believe we need any more liberal programs to pay for....

If everyone who used this site donated a little we would meet our goal...

Yes I made a donation....And as a premium member, I received notification and a thank you...

Spockish...Morally wrong...? How so..?

For the benefiters of this site not to have donated would be perhaps morally wrong...But surely not for our government...

No I am not suggesting you pay a cent more. Governments put aside millions of dollars for grants and research and similar endeavors. This site is a prime collector for internet research data and so for a grant on that basis alone. There are also huge potentials for research on things like patterns of internet crime etc

You might also consider that the costs of internet crime not cleaned up by the members of sites like this is billions and if those perpetrators were allowed and be unchallenged they would create empires that would certainly cost you more.

I might also note that the attitude of not wanting something done because it doesn't affect you directly was an enabling force in the current financial crisis. It is like spending a little on good health now so you don't pay as many hospital bills later.

The amount of money this site is asking for is not even a small part of the cost of an average dinner party by a senator, governor or corporate representative. The members of the board of one company were recently bailed out and then went to a spa for a four hundred thousand dollar weekend. Their garbage would have paid for our servers.

Most departments end up towards the end of a financial year with hundreds of thousands of dollars squirreled away and needing to be spent if they are to justify their budget request for next year. The money is already there. You don't have to add a penny from your personal wealth. It will often be spent on frivolous items barely justifiable if they were questioned about the need for them

The reason you don't have health care is nothing to do with amounts of taxes. It has to do with the attitudes of Americans to people who are in differing circumstances to themselves. It is tragic and unfair and I imagine I would be just as angry as you about it

I am not an American Taxpayer. I pay taxes despite being on a minimal pension and having marginal health care, not being able to afford meat most of the time, or cooking power, or prosthetics or reasonable health and life options. I balance my shame of not being a premium member (it is shameful to not contribute money right?) by giving my time when I am well enough to a few posts and chasing a bit of spam. Supporting Castle cops across the internet where I can and so on. I just do that because I believe in protecting the vulnerable and I accept that I get no kudos for my efforts because I haven't paid any money in this site or any taxes into the good ole' US of A

I think, if we were to make a thoughtful approach to the correct bodies, industrial or government, we could get funds without raising the taxes of America one iota. As I say that an F18 roars overhead. God bless America, you get an awful lot of my taxes as well

I left it a bit late to add this. It is probably a futile exercise but other governments and countries benefit from the work of this site and sites like itl. I was wondering if any of those such as the British or Australian governments might have fund or grant we could tap into or get created.

There was big bust of New Zealand and Australian spammers recently. Their accounts were frozen and will probably be confiscated. I can't see it happening but a portion of moneys confiscated from these kind of things would be a good resource for the people who fight the battles. Wishful thinking I guess

a_cup, if it makes you feel any better, a whole lot of the people getting medical assistance and food stamps do work, often more than one job, but because of dependent children are still below the poverty line. Our whole economy depends on service jobs paying so little that one cannot support a family on that income. A lot of retail and restaurant chains would fold if they (and their subcontractors) had to pay the equivalent of the type of wages that were paid in the day when an intact family was assumed to have a single wage earner.

I don't know your business or income or how recently you have priced health insurance, but health insurance costs have risen so high that more and more healthy people are choosing not to purchase it. And as the risk is spread among a smaller and smaller group of people in a vicious circle, the cost is rising steeply. The current system is in meltdown, and anyone who thinks maintaining the status quo is even an option does not understand the situation. My own small business is seeing its rates go up by over 60% a year, and the plans we get are far from equivalent in coverage even at those higher rates -- all because we have the poor judgment to get older every year.