Tails is being distributed free of charge because we strongly believe that [[free software is more secure by design|doc/about/trust#free_software]]. But also because we think that **nobody should have to pay to be safe while using computers**. Unfortunately, Tails cannot stay alive without money as developing Tails and maintaining our infrastructure [[has a cost|doc/about/finances]].
We rely solely on donations from individuals and supporting organizations to keep Tails updated and getting always better.**That's why we need your help!**
If you find Tails useful, please consider [[donating money|donate]] or [[contributing some of your time and skills|contribute]] to the project.Donations to Tails are tax-deductible both in the US and in Europe.
[Reporters Without Borders](https://rsf.org/) is an organization that promotes and defends freedom of information, freedom of the press, and has consultant status at the United Nations. RWB [advertises the use of Tails](https://rsf.org/sites/default/files/guide_journaliste_rsf_2015_en_0.pdf)for journalists to fight censorship and protect their sources.RWB uses Tails in their training sessions world-wide.
[According to Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Barton Gellman](https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/blog/2014/04/help-support-little-known-privacy-tool-has-been-critical-journalists-reporting-nsa), Tails has been an essential tool to work on the Snowden documents and report on the NSA spying. In a recent [article for The Intercept](https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/28/smuggling-snowden-secrets/), Micah Lee gives many details on how Tails helped them starting to work together.
[Jean-Marc Manach](http://jean-marc.manach.net/), a journalist based in France and specialized in online privacy said that "war reporters have to buy helmets, bullet-proof vests and rent armored cars; journalists using the Internet for their investigations are much luckier: to be as secured as war reporters, they only have to download Tails, burn it on a CD, install it on a SD card, and learn the basics of information and communication security, and it's free!"
Tails has been used in combination with [Martus](https://www.martus.org/), an information system used to report on human rights abuses, to allow [Tibetan communities in exile](http://benetech.org/2014/01/07/a-rat-in-the-registry-the-case-for-martus-on-tails/) to protect themselves from targeted malware attacks.
The [National Democratic Institute](https://www.ndi.org/), a Washington-based democracy support organization that works in more than 70 countries around the world, has used Tails to [help human rights defenders to communicate securely](https://www.coe.int/en/web/world-forum-democracy/2013-forum).For instance, NDI used Tails to created a [data collection system in Belarus](http://cryptome.org/2014/07/tails-belarus-elections.pdf)to help opposition forces to collect, store and manage voter information.
During the last years, we noticed that the use of Tor and Tails systematically peaks when countries face national emergencies. Even if Tails represents a small amount of the global Tor usage, it is advertised by the Tor Project as the safest platform to protect from strong adversaries.
In [Starting a revolution with technology](http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/06/17/mesh.technology.revolution/), Slim Amamou, Tunisian blogger and former Secretary of State for Sport and Youth, explains that Tor "was vital to get information and share it" during the Tunisian revolution of 2011, because social media pages sharing information about the protests were "systematically censored so you could not access them without censorship circumvention tools".
Between January 25, the day the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 began, and January 27 2011, the number of [Tor users in Egypt](https://blog.torproject.org/blog/recent-events-egypt) was multiplied at least by 4. On January 27, the Egyptian goverment decided to halt Internet access accross the country.
