[meta] Re: Open Government Data bill (for comments)

[Benjamin Scott]

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 11:54 PM, John Abreau <jabr at blu.org> wrote:
> While I don't know all the intricacies of the various 501(c) types, I recall
> we had problems at the Boston Computer Society back in the '90's due to
> BCS's 501(c)3 status. When BLU was part of BCS, we got in trouble for
> protesting the Communications Decency Act, because as a 501(c)3 we were
> explicitly prohibited from participating in political action.

<personal opinion>

  My extremely limited understanding is that 501(c)3 organizations are
permitted some political actions, but political action cannot be a
major purpose of the group, and there are some other limitations.
Those limitations apply to the organizations only; individual members,
acting on their own, are not limited by those rules.  Where this list
falls I'm not sure.  I suspect it depends on usage.  So the occasional
political discussion (such as what Seth is posting) is fine, but if
that became a significant part of list traffic it might be a problem.

  For those who don't know: 501(c) is the section of the Federal tax
code which treats tax-exempt organizations.  The IRS does not
recognize "non-profit"; it defines classes of organizations which are
exempt from Federal taxes.  Not all such organizations are
non-profit[1].  501(c)3 is about "charitable" organizations.  501(c)3
orgs are special in that donations to such orgs are tax deductible by
the donor.

[1] The National Football League is a 501(c)6 tax-exempt organization.

</personal opinion>

-- Ben