565
Backers
$26,891
pledged of $10,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding period
Mar 18, 2012 -
Apr 17, 2012
(30 days)
- First created · 2 backed
- Sean McGregor 774 friends
- Website: priv.ly
Pledge $1 or more
20 backers All gone!
Try it out! We'll give you a temporary account on Priv.ly. The account ends when the Kickstarter ends. Message us your email to get an account.
Estimated delivery: Apr 2012Pledge $5 or more
100 backers All gone!
1 invitation to the closed beta
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $9 or more
77 backers
5 Invitations to the closed beta.
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $10 or more
100 backers All gone!
5 invitations to the closed beta, a note, and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $25 or more
45 backers Limited (55 of 100 left)
100 invitations to the closed beta, a note, and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $50 or more
23 backers Limited (77 of 100 left)
Privly Tshirt, 1 invitation to the closed alpha, 100 invitations to the closed beta, a note, and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $80 or more
55 backers Limited (45 of 100 left)
Get a Forever Account (no Tshirt or stickers) and 100 invitations to the closed beta. We are valuing Forever Accounts at or near a $50/month credit on Priv.ly, forever.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $100 or more
100 backers All gone!
1 forever account on Priv.ly, permanent recognition on the Donor Roll on Priv.ly, Privly Tshirt, 50 invitations to the closed alpha, 1000 invitations to the closed beta, a note, and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $170 or more
17 backers
2 forever accounts on Priv.ly, permanent recognition on the Donor Roll on Priv.ly, Privly Tshirt, 50 invitations to the closed alpha, 1000 invitations to the closed beta, a note, and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $350 or more
7 backers Limited (93 of 100 left)
5 forever accounts on Priv.ly, permanent recognition on the Donor Roll on Priv.ly, Privly Tshirt, 50 invitations to the closed alpha, 1000 invitations to the closed beta, a note, and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $1,000 or more
2 backers Limited (98 of 100 left)
20 forever accounts on Priv.ly, permanent recognition on the Donor Roll on Priv.ly, Privly Tshirt, 50 invitations to the closed alpha version, 1000 invitations to the closed beta, a note, and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $2,000 or more
0 backers Limited (100 of 100 left)
50 forever accounts on Priv.ly, permanent recognition on the Donor Roll on Priv.ly, Privly Tshirt, 50 invitations to the closed alpha, 1000 invitations to the closed beta, a note and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $5,000 or more
0 backers Limited (100 of 100 left)
Recognition as a founding partner, 100 forever accounts on Priv.ly, Privly Tshirt, 50 invitations to the closed alpha, 1000 invitations to the closed beta, a note, and Privly stickers
Estimated delivery: May 2012
Creator Doctah Love on June 27, 2012
Hello... I hope things are going well.
Creator Sean McGregor on May 23, 2012
We have started a development home at www.privly.org, setup a development server at dev.privly.org, got some Tshirt designs: http://www.privly.org/content/potential-tshirts
and added several capabilities to the development branches of the software. We also have an organizational plan we are about to execute on.
I dropped all my classes, but I am still contractually obligated to work half-time through June 15th (research). Things will pick up speed then, and I'll have the backer surveys out soon.
The frequency of updates and discussion on this list-serve (http://groups.google.com/group/privly) will be greater than that of the Kickstarter, but there will be more Kickstarter updates shortly.
Creator Ryan on May 23, 2012
It's been over a month since your last update and I have heard nothing from you since the project was funded. Please keep us in the loop.
Creator Kent Liu on May 12, 2012
When will alpha testing being?
Creator techie on April 18, 2012
@Atley I asked Sean McGregor about SurfEasy integration.He said that SurfEasy is powered by Mozilla,so it could conceivably work,but no one has looked into the technical details yet.He also said that his "guess" is that SurfEasy integration will not be difficult,but won't be a focus unless users of Privly or developers of Privly push for it. fyi. LET'S PUSH FOR SURFEASY INTEGRATION FOLKS ! Thanks
Creator Sean McGregor on April 18, 2012
The classical answer on release dates is "when it's ready," which is not very helpful ;). The plan is to build basic functionality ASAP, and push out incremental security and usability updates over the course of time. So expect the private Alpha pretty soon, and a forecast of when we'll have a private beta version will be available when we hit Alpha. We'll keep you all informed.
Creator Johnny Vraek on April 17, 2012
Yay, it's funded! Now, how long until we get a closed beta invitation (approximately, not exact date)? :)
Creator A. Joseph on April 17, 2012
@techie I have been emailing the project leader about Surfeasy from the first day I discovered this project! Even sent a msg to SurfEasy but have not heard back. This would so be great if SurfEasy would allow the Priv.ly extension to install to their browser.
Creator fab on April 17, 2012
https://priv.ly/posts/199
Creator techie on April 17, 2012
Does anyone else want this to work with SurfEasy ? (another former Kickstarter project) If you do please let yourself be heard here in the comments section or by messaging the creators of this project.Thanks!
Creator Sean McGregor on April 14, 2012
Thanks for the support!
Regarding subpoena, backdoors, etc: Backdoors can't remain secret when the encryption is performed with an open source extension to your browser. The second question of security is one of logs. We are working to make the remote server store the minimal set of information to maintain functionality, which is only your encrypted content and optional access restrictions. We will disclose what information is collected and work with counsel and cryptographers to establish the legal and technical guarantees Privly can offer before any request is served on Privly.
Creator MrAleks on April 14, 2012
Though I'm not as tech savvy as some posters here I decided pledge on principal.. I've stayed away from placing anything meaningful on any social networking site largely over privacy concerns.. Free and private communicaitions are a cornerstone of having and maintaining a free society so Thanks! This initiative is very important indeed!
Creator Lance Heckerman on April 14, 2012
I see that you have already communicated with EFF. They will surely address the same challenges I outlined in my last comment.
Creator Lance Heckerman on April 14, 2012
Sean, get ready for the challenges ahead. How will you handle CALEA demands, warrants, etc from local and federal law enforcement? They will try to get their hooks into your operation by mandating back-door access to any encryption that you may develop. I wonder if they will require direct connection to your servers through CALEA type equipment.
The scenario I envision is:
Local or federal LEA's will serve Priv.ly with a warrant for records (you will be deleting them on a scheduled basis) and for an active remote connection to monitor a suspect that is using your service to communicate to members of their organization that the US feels are a threat to national security. Even though you destroy logs of this activity regularly, they may demand record and log retention in the future.
There will also be the threat that your company poses to social media revenue. They will of course react and possibly lobby for additional regulation in an attempt to negate the value of your service. I recommend that you seek allies such as Electronic Freedom Foundation and others if you have not already done so. At a minimum, consult with them regarding possible risk so that you may be prepared.
Our government is moving at light speed to control information with very little to no 3rd party oversight. I work in the telecom and data service provider field and speak from experience having dealt with lawful intercept warrants and LE requests. It is only a matter of when they will play their hand.
I am very encouraged by this project! Feel free to contact me at my email address.
Creator Cynthia Hickman on April 12, 2012
Congrats on achieving your funding target.
Creator Michelle Tackabery on April 12, 2012
Hi Team, I am proud to be one little backer of Priv.ly, protecting content on the web. I have had enough of advertisers and social networks making hay, money, and connections with MY content. I want to freely distribute it, just not to some people. In the words of a certain comedian in "Ghostbusters:" I love this idea! I'm excited to be a part of it!" But, sincerely.
If you need help with a little marketing or comms, give me a holler. Cheers!
Creator singingstrings on April 12, 2012
Keep up the excellent work guys. We need you....
Creator Johnny Vraek on April 10, 2012
This seems like a great idea, I like the automatic process for those less involved around encryption and a decentralized network preferably with added anonymity.
I wonder though, those people that run social media probably gets a funding, one way or another, via targeted ads and by collecting data for what people say and then sell that to certain organizations. Won't they retaliate in one way or another to avoid this? I mean, even some law enforcement agencies use facebook and such to help catch criminals but that would be virtually impossible with something like this in place especially if catches on.
Creator A. Joseph on April 10, 2012
Any chance that a plugin can be made to work with the SurfEasy browser in the future? https://www.surfeasy.com/
Creator Tyler Dugoni on April 10, 2012
Congrats! You are fully funded!!
(Love workin on graphics for you ;) )
Creator Brantley Love on April 8, 2012
Congratulations! You're funded! :D
Creator Brandon High on April 6, 2012
This is crazy. I was just thinking about some disjointed components of this a while ago and now I am amazed to find that someone else was thinking similarly! I'm even more stoked because I went to OSU for my CS undergrad! Go Beavers! :D Wishing your team the best of luck on this project and perhaps even some development assistance if I can get myself motivated enough.
Creator Matt Brown on April 5, 2012
This is a fantastic idea, and I was just talking to a friend about a similar concept. It is great to see individuals taking charge of privacy rather than depending on the powers that be. Looking forward to upcoming alpha and beta testing!
Creator Sean Bonner on April 4, 2012
I'm pretty excited about this project, my feeling is that most people are weary of how much control they give companies yet don't have any idea what other option there might be. Something like Privly has the opportunity to reshuffle that deck and give everyone a new way to think about this. I love that it's not just another app. I wouldn't have backed it if it was, but as it stands now I think it's a gamble worth betting on. Good luck!
Creator Sean McGregor on March 31, 2012
Erik,
The Roadmap (https://priv.ly/pages/roadmap) declares our mission to be the development of protocols. The first step is to build an organization, Privly, that can build and protect the protocols as they develop. The organization model I am looking at is Drupal. They have an effective open source development model, where profit (http://www.acquia.com/) comes from knowledge of the underlying system rather than designing the system around a revenue model.
We mention our desire to distribute the data via P2P in our Road Map, but we need more developers if we are going to build this functionality. When you submit uniquely identifiable links to a website, that link becomes something the host can use to track you. Our plan is to either build a network of trusted hosts that don't keep logs, or preferably decentralize data distribution in a way that guarantees browsing privacy.
We have a solution to make it easy and automatic, but we need more people to contribute expertise if we are going to distribute hosting. In short, Priv.ly does not need to be a central part of this system, and we will work to make it an optional piece of the privacy framework.
Thanks for the Pledge!
-Sean
Creator Erik Kuefler on March 31, 2012
Really fascinating project, it would be awesome to see something like this takes off. I guess the only problem I see is that it's introducing a single point of failure in the priv.ly server. If a government wanted to shut down all private communication they could just block priv.ly, and if priv.ly goes out of business then all my content will disappear. Encryption means it's safe to trust you not to read our secrets, but we still can't trust you to hold on to them.
What if priv.ly were a protocol rather than a website? That way I could point a priv.ly link at my own server that I have full control over (and the extension could bounce through an anonymizing proxy). Even better would be if anyone could run a priv.ly server and connect them in a peer-to-peer network that replicated the cyphertext across multiple machines. That would let the user keep control over their data while making it impossible for someone else to block or destroy it.
Very cool idea either way and I'm looking forward to following the project.
Creator Sean McGregor on March 26, 2012
Jesse,
Great comment!
For what it's worth, we aren't trying to change the internet (http://cheezburger.com/6031407872), but we do want a new deal where participation doesn't require giving companies the right to sell your data. We wish this wasn't necessary, but we've seen too many examples of sites violating their users privacy, and of everyone from stalkers to employers to governments tracking and misusing information. You should have the right to protect your content. You should have the right to delete your content. We'll deliver the tools that allow you to do so, and hope the need doesn't grow further.
Most posts to Reddit can and should be public, but like many other sites, they assert ownership over content their users post. A perfect example is the story of a movie concept a Reddit user posted that was subsequently bought by Warner Brothers. Condé Nast (the owner of Reddit) could assert ownership rights of the movie per their user agreement (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/does-warner-bros-have-movie-250726). If we post links to Reddit, instead of actual content, we reduce Reddit to their core offering: a social voting system. Privly's assertion of complete poster's rights then protects their content even in the case where the content is made public.
These are important questions, and are the principal reason why we are pursuing this as a public project.
Thanks for the Pledge!
-Sean
Creator Jesse Phillips on March 26, 2012
I thought I should write something as there are probably many potential backers that feel the way I do. My first impression is that this is not something I'd want to use, and more importantly not what I want my web experience to become. The web is a place of information sharing, an open platform for expressing ideas. When I'm posting to places like reddit, I intend them to be read and copied, I don't wish for a layer of encryption between the public and my statement.
However, there is a need for this, or something similar and I hope the team the best of luck in brining anonymity and control to peoples posted content, and maybe even authenticity.
Creator Sean McGregor on March 25, 2012
Michael,
It is encouraging that a leader of the public web is among our backers. Congrats on your latest "launch." Some things deserve to be shouted from the rooftops, others, are more private.
Thanks for the Pledge,
-Sean
Creator Sean McGregor on March 25, 2012
mvime: Thanks, and will do!
Creator Michael Hussey on March 24, 2012
The future of the public Web is pretty clear. The future of the private Web, for it to be effective and trusted, needs a solution like Priv.ly. I wish the team the best of luck and look forward to tracking their progress.
Creator mvi on March 21, 2012
This touches a very important matter for me. Love the idea. Make it work! ;)