---
title: What We Believe
date: 2025-07-06
weight: 60
summary: These are the principles that guide our work—grounded in what we've learned from watching communities build technology that truly serves them. Technology can be a public good, and communities can control their own digital futures.
featureImageCaption: "Photo by <a href=\"https://unsplash.com/@nasa?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash\">NASA</a> on <a href=\"https://unsplash.com/photos/satellite-view-of-earths-surface-_SFJhRPzJHs?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash\">Unsplash</a>"
aliases:
- /articles/position-statements/
---

These beliefs guide our work. They're not abstract principles—they're what we've learned from watching communities build technology that actually serves them.

## Technology can be a public good

**Some software is too important to be driven primarily by profit.**

Just as we have public parks, libraries, and utilities, we need digital spaces governed for public benefit. Communication platforms, identity systems, information access tools—these serve essential social functions. When profit is the only driver, these systems inevitably prioritize engagement and data extraction over human well-being.

This doesn't mean all software must be non-commercial. It means we need robust alternatives developed explicitly for communities. And here's what we've found: these alternatives often work better, because they're designed around what people actually need.

## Privacy is a foundation, not a feature

**Everyone deserves meaningful control over their personal information.**

Privacy isn't a luxury or a preference—it's a necessary condition for freedom of thought, association, and expression. Technology should be designed with privacy as a core requirement, not an afterthought or a premium upgrade.

When communities run their own infrastructure, privacy becomes real. Your data stays where you put it. Your conversations remain private. Your patterns of life aren't being analyzed and monetized.

## Communities should control their own spaces

**Digital infrastructure shouldn't be concentrated in a few hands.**

When a handful of companies control cloud services, social platforms, and network access, they gain unprecedented power over society. This concentration creates vulnerabilities, enables surveillance, and removes democratic accountability.

Digital resilience requires diverse, distributed infrastructure. Communities that own their own technology can't be cut off by a distant business decision or a platform's policy change.

## Communication belongs to everyone

**Public messaging infrastructure should be a public good.**

Platforms that serve as public squares shouldn't be subject to any individual's whims. When communication infrastructure is privately controlled, arbitrary rule changes can disrupt communities, commercial incentives distort information, and essential public functions lack accountability.

Communication infrastructure works better when it's built on open protocols, federation, and community governance. Many voices, many spaces, connected but not controlled.

## Content governance should be local

**Communities know their own needs better than distant platforms.**

One-size-fits-all content policies can't meet the diverse, contextual needs of different communities. What works for one group may harm another. Algorithmic enforcement misses nuance and context.

True content governance requires community-determined standards, transparent processes, and distributed rather than centralized authority. Federated, community-governed platforms make this possible.

## The internet should be open

**Access to an open, neutral internet is a fundamental right.**

Internet service should treat all content equally, support both consumption and creation, and enable peer-to-peer connectivity. Artificial scarcity through data caps and tiered access serves corporate interests, not communities.

When communities build their own networks—as many are doing—they can ensure that infrastructure serves people rather than extracting from them.

## Public investment matters

**Democratic societies should invest in digital public goods.**

Governments invest in physical infrastructure and public services. Digital infrastructure deserves the same attention. This means funding open source development, supporting community-governed digital commons, and prioritizing open standards in procurement.

When government abdicates this responsibility, it cedes the digital future to interests that aren't aligned with public good.

## User-centered technology works better

**Software built for people, not shareholders, produces better results.**

This isn't just ideological—it's practical. When developers are accountable to users rather than conflicting commercial imperatives, they build technology that's more reliable, more secure, less bloated, and more respectful of human attention and capabilities.

Communities that build their own tools consistently report that those tools work better for their actual needs.

## Self-determination is essential

**People should be able to understand and shape the technology in their lives.**

This requires access to source code and technical knowledge, the right to modify tools for local needs, control over personal data, and freedom to choose or create alternatives.

Digital self-determination isn't a luxury. It's necessary for maintaining human dignity and agency in a world increasingly mediated by technology.

## Building is better than fighting

**The best way to create change is to build alternatives so good that people choose them freely.**

We believe in demonstrating what's possible rather than just critiquing what exists. When communities see that they can own their digital homes, that the tools can work better, that neighbors can build together—they choose independence not because they're told to, but because it's genuinely better.

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These beliefs inform everything we do—the tools we build, the communities we support, the future we're working toward. They're grounded in our commitment to digital self-determination and the flourishing of civil society.

And they're not just beliefs. Communities around the world are already living them.
