Help needed: Apply for Mozilla Infrastructure Fund

[bjoern]

Moin!

Mozilla offers support for projects like ours:

DFL Infrastructure Fund

We should apply for that. Any volunteers? I am willing to help

Thanks,
Björn

[bjoern]

They had an info call on the fund today, which I attended.

Summary: we should apply for the $10000 grant.

We need to have formed the e.V. in case we get selected - but we do not need to have it in place on time of application. And the expected time until the grant is granted are a few months, so we should have it registered then - at least temporarily.

We might not be what they expect, but I feel that we are covered. In any case, they are interested in building up networks and might guide us to other grants, so an application will be extremely helpful.

[bjoern]

How did you hear about the Infrastructure Fund?
Other networks

I am applying for:
Idea Phase

Amount Requested (USD)
10000$

Project Title
privact.org

Project Purpose: What issue of privacy, agency, bias, or transparency in the data life cycle does your project attempt to address?
The project aims to establish a holistic system of decentralised data storage as the new normal in society, addressing several key issues:

• Privacy as the norm: Our basic idea is a social hack that puts everyone back in control of their own data (and not just a privacy-conscious elite).

• Establish a standard: To be useful, all personal data of a single user must end up in the same local database. We will create and maintain the necessary standard / database schema.

• Put the user in control: Users will get full transparency and easy control over their personal data.

• Completeness: The trusted environment we create for users will make it easy and motivating for them to add more data to their database and keep it up to date.

• Processing: We will provide an SDK that allows access to individual personal data for (free and paid) services, while keeping the user in full control.

• Improved services: The rich individual data allows for better customised services

• Statistics / Research: We will provide an infrastructure that allows anonymous participation in surveys on this large and rich collective dataset. We will ensure broad and fair access to this pool.

• Data donation: Users will be able to donate access to personal data for research purposes. Access will be subject to other criteria, such as carbon footprint, which will provide an additional benefit to society and allow users to experience the value of their data.

• Trust centre: Although decentralised data storage returns control of personal data to the user, trust is still required. We will create this trust centre, which will, for example, provide the official software, maintain the database schema or check the criteria for data donation.

• Transparency: A seal will indicate that a particular product is privacy compliant and that the issuer follows the required governance. This allows the user to make an informed decision at the point of purchase/use.

• Other benefits: In addition to privacy issues, the project will bring other benefits to society. The survey system will encourage research and innovation. It will also encourage participating companies to reduce their carbon footprint in order to gain wider access.

Concept Summary: Describe your project and how it addresses this issue (200 words or less).
privact has a technological and a social dimension.

Technologically, several systems will be created:

• A database that implements the common standard.

• Applications that put the user in control.

• A platform for conducting anonymous surveys.

• An SDK for services to access and process personal data.

Socially, it brings together various stakeholders:

• Initiatives and services working on decentralised data storage solutions to define a common standard.

• Free software as initial services and to spread our software.

• NGOs to enable the donation of personal data for research.

The privact community includes members of

• the former Polypoly and other privacy projects

• various free software communities

• environmental NGOs .

and builds upon their knowledge, technology and personal network.

We will pervade society with privact technology. Collaborating for a common standard will allow us to find the best technological solution. Partnering with free software projects will spread the software. privact will return the power personal data to the user. Alliances with NGOs will create an environmental impact.

Our focus on pervading society, together with our allies, to unlock the benefits of personal data for individuals and society is what makes privact unique.

Beneficiaries: List the main beneficiaries of your work (100 words or less).

• Everyone: Establish effective digital privacy and control over personal data, empowering everyone in the online world.

• Free Software: Allowing to conduct privacy-preserving user research to improve their UX.

• Innovators / Services: Access to a rich pool of high-quality individual user data for the development of privacy respecting innovative business models and services.

• Researchers: Gain open access to reliable and comprehensive data to conduct accurate studies.

• Free societies: Benefit from individual digital privacy as the new normal, increased organisational transparency, incentives to improve the carbon footprint / ethical behaviour of organisations and more.

Do you have a public repository of code or a demo for this project? If yes, please provide the URL.
https://www.privact.org

[Kevin]

Hi Björn, you can find some of my observations below. I have no experience with applying for grants myself, so not everything might be super relevant. Also, so far I’ve not been as deeply involved in this project as some of you guys, so some of my questions might be superfluous. Lastly, if a comment sounds mean, I’m just trying to exaggerate, not offend you

@bjoern

How did you hear about the Infrastructure Fund?
Other networks

I am applying for:
Idea Phase

Amount Requested (USD)
10000$

Project Title
privact.org

Project Purpose: What issue of privacy, agency, bias, or transparency in the data life cycle does your project attempt to address?
The project aims to establish a holistic (--> A popular buzzword, but what exactly makes our solution holistic?) system of decentralised data storage as the new normal (--> That's a pretty loaded term. How about "... system of decentralised data storage with a high level of acceptance among the general public"?) in society, addressing several key issues:

• Privacy as the norm: Our basic idea is a social hack (--> What exactly makes this a social hack? What makes it a "hack" even?) that puts everyone back in control of their own data (and not just a privacy-conscious elite (--> Does this elite really exist? Is it the financial elite we're talking about or just people with profound technical knowledge?).
• Establish a standard: To be useful, all personal data must end up in the same database (--> Sounds like a single point of failure to me. Are we talking one database per user? Will it be stored on-device or on a server?) We will create and maintain the necessary standard / database schema.
• Put the user in control: Users will get full transparency and easy control over their personal data.
• Completeness: The trusted environment we create for users will make it easy and motivating (--> The fact that I trust the solution makes me worry less about my data getting into the wrong hands, but it doesn't really "motivate" me to add more of it.) for them to add more data to their database and keep it up to date.
• Processing: We will provide an SDK that allows access to individual personal data for (free and paid) services, while keeping the user in full control.
• Improved services: The rich individual data allows for better customised services
• Statistics / Research: We will provide an infrastructure that allows anonymous participation in surveys on this large and rich collective dataset. (--> This is a bit unclear to me. Am I as a user being surveyed? Do I just provide access to my data? How is this different from the data donation mentioned below?) We will ensure broad and fair access to this pool. (--> How?)
• Data donation: Users will be able to donate access to personal data for research purposes. Access will be subject to other criteria, such as carbon footprint (--> I'm guessing we have someone on the team from an (environmentally-focussed?) NGO, because you mention that later in the application. Are we absolutely sure that we'll link carbon emissions to data access, though? Because if not, I'd leave this detail out at this early stage.) , which will provide an additional benefit to society and allow users to experience the value of their data.
• Trust centre: Although decentralised data storage returns control of personal data to the user, trust is still required. We will create this trust centre, which will, for example, provide the official software, maintain the database schema or check the criteria for data donation.
• Transparency: A seal will indicate that a particular product is privacy compliant and that the issuer follows the required governance (--> Where would someone put this seal, especially if we're talking about software?). This allows the user to make an informed decision at the point of purchase/use.
• Other benefits: In addition to privacy issues, the project will bring other benefits (--> You should write "privacy improvements" then. "Privacy issues" are not beneficial.) to society. The survey system will encourage research and innovation. It will also encourage participating companies to reduce their carbon footprint (--> See my comment above.) in order to gain wider access (--> "to useful data"?).

Concept Summary: Describe your project and how it addresses this issue (200 words or less).
privact has a technological and a social dimension.

Technologically, several systems will be created:

• A database that implements the common standard.
• Applications that put the user in control.
• A platform for conducting anonymous surveys.
• An SDK for services to access and process personal data.

Socially, it brings together various stakeholders:

• Initiatives and services working on decentralised data storage solutions to define a common standard.
• Free software as initial services (--> What exactly do you mean by "initial services" and why just "initial"?) and to spread our software.
• NGOs to enable the donation of personal data for research.

The privact community includes members of

• the former Polypoly (--> Can we just leave the name like this and assume they know what we're talking about?) and other privacy projects
• various free software communities
• environmental NGOs .

and builds upon their knowledge, technology and personal network.

We will pervade society with privact technology. (--> At this point I'm still not sure how users benefit from using the solution. Seems like only the actors that gain access to the data benefit from it, but not the users providing it. Is there a monetary incentive, as was planned for the polypod?) Collaborating for a common standard will allow us to find the best technological solution. Partnering with free software projects will spread the software. privact (--> It's okay to stylise "privact" in lower-case letters, but let's capitalise it at the beginning of a sentence. Otherwise it looks like a typo.) will return the power (--> "of") personal data to the user. Alliances with NGOs will create an environmental impact.

Our focus on pervading society, together with our allies, to unlock the benefits of personal data for individuals and society is what makes privact unique.

Beneficiaries: List the main beneficiaries of your work (100 words or less).

• Everyone: Establish effective digital privacy and control over personal data, empowering everyone in the online world.
• Free Software: Allowing to conduct privacy-preserving user research to improve their UX. (--> This kind of comes out of nowhere.)
• Innovators / Services: Access to a rich pool of high-quality individual user data for the development of privacy respecting innovative business models and services.
• Researchers: Gain open access to reliable and comprehensive data to conduct accurate studies.
• Free societies: Benefit from individual digital privacy as the new normal (--> See my comment above.), increased organisational transparency, incentives to improve the carbon footprint / ethical behaviour of organisations and more.

Do you have a public repository of code or a demo for this project? If yes, please provide the URL.
https://www.privact.org (--> So far, there's neither a repository nor a demo here, right?)

[bjoern]

Hey Kevin, thanks a lot for your input. Due to time issues, I did not manage to integrate a lot of your comments on the current application, but they are very valuable for future grants and discussions.

[bjoern]

The application has been submitted. Let’s see what comes out of this.

[bjoern]

Unfortunately we did not get accepted this time. We will try again