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Privacy pioneers plan ‘zero tracking’ rival to Facebook

Crowdfunding campaign for Openbook platform to launch this week

 

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Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco
 
JULY 15, 2018
Cyber security and privacy pioneers are launching a crowdfunding campaign to build an alternative to Facebook, hoping to woo users dissatisfied with the social network after the huge data leak to Cambridge Analytica.

 

The new platform, Openbook, is backed by experts including Philip Zimmermann, who created PGP, the most widely used email encryption software, and Jaya Baloo, chief information security officer for Dutch telecoms company KPN Telecom. The site will be “open source, zero tracking, zero spying, zero ads”, and give 30 per cent of its revenue to charitable causes.

 

Joel Hernandez, Openbook’s founder and chief executive, is a cyber security engineer who has wanted to create an alternative to Facebook for years. But he is acting now because of increasing awareness of the value of privacy.

 

After the March revelations that up to 87m Facebook users’ data had been leaked to Cambridge Analytica, the data analytics firm that worked for the Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign, #deletefacebook trended on Twitter. However, Facebook’s user numbers have continued to rise, hitting 2.2bn monthly active users last quarter.

 

Openbook says it will ensure its applications are transparent about what data they are collecting and that it will have an audit team to check up on developers. By using open-source software, anyone can examine how the platform is designed.

 

The platform will take advantage of the new data portability rules under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation that allow European users to transfer their data from Facebook and Twitter.

 

Mr Hernandez says he also wants the product to be “more joyful” than Facebook, with more personalisation and new ways to encourage people to connect.

 

“It is really about building a social network that respects the privacy of its users, that’s the main driver for me. But we realised that if we really wanted to succeed, we really needed to bring more to the table, we did not just want to build a Facebook clone,” he said.
As well as improved security and privacy controls, Openbook aims to be less addictive than Facebook, by reducing the number of notifications.

 

Instead of generating revenue through advertising, Openbook eventually intends to launch a marketplace and take a cut of online transactions. Social networks including Facebook and Twitter use detailed data to segment their userbase so advertisers will buy targeted ads.

 

Mr Zimmermann said Facebook’s privacy model is “inherently anti-privacy” so he thinks it is important to work on getting away from a revenue model where the consumer is the product. “The whole business model is based on users not having privacy,” he said.
The company is choosing to raise its initial funds through a campaign on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding website, starting on Tuesday, rather than from venture capital funds. Backers will receive early access to the beta version of the site, as well as the usual branded T-shirts and mugs.

 

“We really want this initial effort driven by what we believe in, not really a business model or capital,” Mr Hernandez said.