Open-Xchange has long been a supporter of a free and open Internet. It’s the very reason the company exists in the first place. But a free and open Internet cannot exist in silos. That’s why Open-Xchange has a duty to encourage other individuals and companies that share similar ideals, to build an Internet that people can trust, together. One such social enterprise is ind.ie, Aral Balkan’s movement to create products that shift the ownership and control of consumer technology and data away from corporations and give it back to individuals.
Aral’s drive to create a truly ‘Independent Technology’ has seen his team turn away from venture capital funding and instead look to crowdfunding to raise the $100,000 needed to kick start the project. Last Friday, as a demonstration of support, we set ind.ie a ‘Friday challenge’: raise $1,500 in that day to unlock a $10,000 donation from Open-Xchange.
The response was astounding. The money was raised within only two hours, demonstrating both the strength of the community movement, but also the desire for a renewed trust in technology. We promptly and enthusiastically made our donation, staying true to our belief that by engineering ruthlessly open products and services, the next generation of innovation can emerge on the web.
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Aral and his hard working team on the progress they’ve made. As I write this, they are approaching 80% of the crowdfunding target and I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to engage with this project and help us in our long-term fight for privacy.
For more information on the ind.ie project take a look at this article on Gigaom, Why people are giving Ind.ie money to think past the web, or alternatively visit the Ind.ie website, https://ind.ie to find out how you too can contribute.
Be the hope.
