On Saturday, April 26, 1997 11:49 AM, Carl Oppedahl[SMTP:carl@oppedahl.com] wrote: @ At 01:46 PM 04/26/97 -0500, Karl Denninger wrote: @ <snip> @ @ >I'd like you to point out the major corporations and public universities who @ >will do this. I'd also like you to immediately return that nice root server @ >that NSI has paid for in part or whole, if you really believe this. @ @ NSI has never paid for anything. NSI has doled out money collected by it @ from NSF and from domain name owners. NSF (i.e. the US taxpayers) and the @ COM, NET etc. domain name owners have paid for whatever it is you think NSI @ has paid for. @ Carl, This is not quite true. Paul Vixie has stated on the NANOG list that NSI pays for his equipment. Paul is part of the Internet Software Consortium (ISC) <http://www.ispc.org> an IRS approved 501(c) company that accepts donations so that Paul can write software that supports the domain name system. Their web site says they have a $700,000/year budget. According to the IRS, you can get full-disclosure on all of this. ===========
From IRS Publication 557 Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization
Page 13 Required Disclosures "Certain tax-exempt organizations must make available for public inspection the exemption application and three most recent annual information returns. Penalities generally are provided for failure to comply with these requirements. In addition, there are disclosure requirements for: - Solicitation of nondeductible contributions - Sales of information or services that are available free from the government, and - Transactions or relationships with other organizations. <...> Page 45 - 501(c)(6) - Business Leagues, Etc. "A business league, in general, is an association of persons having some common business interest, the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit. Trade associations and professional associations are considered to be business leagues." <...> "Dues and assessments used for political and certain legislative activities"...."No deduction is allowed...in connection with any attempt to influence the general public or segments thereof with respect to legislative matters (otherwise known as grassroots lobbying)..." <...> CAUTION: A tax-exempt trade association, labor union, or similar organization is considered to be engaging in grassroots lobbying if it contacts prospective members or calls upon its own members to contact their employees and customers for the purpose of urging such persons to communicate with their elected state or Congressional representatives to support the promotion, defeat, or repeal of legislation that is of direct interest to the organization. Any dues or assessments directly related to such activities are not deductible by the taxpayer, since the individuals being contacted, who are not members of the organization, constitute a segment of the general public. =============== Apparently, the ISC endorses the IAHC according to the ITU's web site. NSI of course does not endorse the IAHC. Paul Vixie also has a for-profit company. It gets a little confusing which activities are which. It is not surprising that people have trouble figuring out which hat these people where from one moment to the next. -- Jim Fleming Unir Corporation http://www.Unir.Corp Check out...http://www.Naperville.Mall