Immediate action is required to halt the COVID-19 Pandemic and treat those it has affected. It is a practical and moral imperative that every tool we have at our disposal be applied to develop and deploy technologies on a massive scale without impediment.
We therefore pledge to make our intellectual property available free of charge for use in ending the COVID-19 pandemic and minimizing the impact of the disease.
We will implement this pledge through a license that details the terms and conditions under which our intellectual property is made available.
Jacques Vallée, one of the co-creators of the Internet, explains how the acceleration of technology in an increasingly connected society is producing "impossible futures" that range from rapid collapse of major banks to the emergence of complex new forms of political power, with the Internet as both a tool and a victim.
Quotes:
[The KGB] arrested people at random, and brought them to their headquarters; they had one question for them: "who do you know? who do you talk to, and what do you talk about?" If somebody wanted to do that today, they would not need to arrest people, all they need to do is look at Facebook, Twitter, Google; we give this information everyday to the network and the superstructure above the web.
[nb: slightly shortened and simplified]
The connected world provides many examples of "Impossible" futures that create a dissonance between existing cultures or belief systems... and the sudden emergence of new facts. The impact cannot be ignored.
Alternative email provider. Proposes a free tier, and paying additional tiers. Free tier doesn't compromise on security. Supports IMAP and custom domains (for paying tiers). Easy tool to import AND export your emails, to migrate to a new provider.
Also developping calendar, contacts, drive, and VPN. They have been Open Source (even Free, license MIT) since day 1.
Small Technology are everyday tools for everyday people designed to increase human welfare, not corporate profits.
Small Tech is…
easy to use
personal
private by default
share alike
peer to peer
interoperable
zero knowledge
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non-colonial
inclusive