The Signal Foundation, officially the Signal Technology Foundation,
is an American
non-profit organization founded in 2018 by
Moxie Marlinspike and
Brian Acton
Brian Acton (born 1972/1973) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. Acton is the executive chairman of the Signal Technology Foundation, which he co-founded with Moxie Marlinspike in 2018. , Acton also serves as interim C ...
.
Its mission is "to develop
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
privacy technology that protects free expression and enables
secure global communication."
Its subsidiary,
Signal Messenger LLC
The Signal Foundation, officially the Signal Technology Foundation, is an American non-profit organization founded in 2018 by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton. Its mission is "to develop open-source privacy technology that protects free expressi ...
, is responsible for the development of the
Signal messaging app and the
Signal Protocol.
History
On February 21, 2018,
Moxie Marlinspike and
WhatsApp co-founder
Brian Acton
Brian Acton (born 1972/1973) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. Acton is the executive chairman of the Signal Technology Foundation, which he co-founded with Moxie Marlinspike in 2018. , Acton also serves as interim C ...
announced the formation of the Signal Foundation, a
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
.
The foundation was started with an initial $50 million loan from Acton, who had left WhatsApp's parent company, Facebook, in September 2017.
The
Freedom of the Press Foundation had previously served as the Signal project's fiscal sponsor and continued to accept donations on behalf of the project while the foundation's non-profit status was pending.
By the end of 2018, the loan had increased to $105,000,400, which is due to be repaid on February 28, 2068. The loan is unsecured and at 0% interest.
Senior leadership
Signal Foundation has been led by a Chairman, which is separate from the leadership roles of Signal Messenger.
List of chairmen
#
Brian Acton
Brian Acton (born 1972/1973) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. Acton is the executive chairman of the Signal Technology Foundation, which he co-founded with Moxie Marlinspike in 2018. , Acton also serves as interim C ...
(2018–present)
People
As of October 2020, the Signal Foundation
board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
has three members:
*
Brian Acton
Brian Acton (born 1972/1973) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. Acton is the executive chairman of the Signal Technology Foundation, which he co-founded with Moxie Marlinspike in 2018. , Acton also serves as interim C ...
*
Moxie Marlinspike
*
Meredith Whittaker
Meredith Whittaker is the president of the Signal Foundation and serves on their board of directors. She was formerly the Minderoo Research Professor at New York University (NYU), and the co-founder and faculty director of the AI Now Institute. ...
(current president, 2022-09-06)
Signal Messenger LLC
Signal Messenger LLC was founded simultaneously with the Signal Technology Foundation and operates as its subsidiary. It is responsible for the development of the
Signal messaging app and the
Signal Protocol. Moxie Marlinspike served as Signal Messenger's first CEO
until stepping down on January 10, 2022.
Brian Acton has volunteered to serve as
interim CEO while the organization searches for a new CEO.
Senior leadership
Along with the Chairman of the Signal Foundation, Signal Messenger has been traditionally led by a CEO. This was until September 2022, when a new role of President was created, which is dedicated to more core lanes of strategy.
List of CEOs
#
Moxie Marlinspike (2018–2022)
#
Brian Acton
Brian Acton (born 1972/1973) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. Acton is the executive chairman of the Signal Technology Foundation, which he co-founded with Moxie Marlinspike in 2018. , Acton also serves as interim C ...
; interim (2022–present)
List of presidents
#
Meredith Whittaker
Meredith Whittaker is the president of the Signal Foundation and serves on their board of directors. She was formerly the Minderoo Research Professor at New York University (NYU), and the co-founder and faculty director of the AI Now Institute. ...
(2022–present)
References
Further reading
*
External links
* {{official, https://signalfoundation.org/
"Signal Foundation" announcement by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton, 21 February 2018
Charities based in California
Free software project foundations in the United States
Non-profit organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Organizations established in 2018
2018 establishments in California
Companies based in Mountain View, California
Free and open-source software organizations