The Technology Commons Trust foundation operates a cryptocurrency based trust fund to advance the open internet. TechnologyCommons.org is legally established in a safe and stable jurisdiction (The Netherlands) as an independent not-for-profit entity. The foundation ("Stichting") is governed by a non-remunerate board. The Trust wants to "contribute to the vision of an Internet that empowers humanity".
By design TCT does not get involved with individual efforts to advance the technology commons. Effective philantropy in the technical space at scale requires more than budget and in-depth expertise — it requires long term commitment, a global network and a clear vision. Instead the trust focuses on its key role as a transparent and efficient cryptocurrency based trust fund.
The User Operated Internet Fund is a fund managed by the Technology Commons Trust in partnership with the NLnet Foundation, a recognised philantropic organisation — and with the support of the Network Steward of the PKT Cash project. The User Operated Internet Fund is designed to fulfil the vision of "internet by the people for the people", and more generally to promote open innovation in service of the public interest. This is achieved by way of microgrants for independent developers of free and open source hardware and software.
It is clear that open firmware is the right way towards a safer, more secure and more open future: it has the potential to make the technology we depend on as society last longer (which prevents e-waste), be more responsive and robust, and because it is open allows everyone to innovate or just keep on using their existing equipment — regardless of whether a vendor still feels like supporting it or not. We believe users themselves should always be in full control of whatever technology they depend on, on every layer of technology. The Open Firmware Fund is operated by NLnet Foundation.
Here are some projects currently made possible with funding from Technology Commons Trust. For a full overview of the projects, please check the overview of projects at the User-Operated Internet Fund.
ARM-based single board computers, first popularised by the Raspberry Pi, have resulted in an ever increasing ecosystem of small computing platforms that are low-cost yet increasingly powerful. This makes them popular with many computer enthusiasts and electronics tinkerers, also in low-income regions of the world. Armbian Linux provides an actively maintained and optimised Linux operating system for these devices, based on the Debian family of operating systems. This uniform base allows the devices to function as e.g. a router, the core of a 3d printer or as the heart of a low-cost laptop. Armbian has a unique custom image building tool. In this project, the Armbian community will create a new generation of armbian-config - the critical core component that configures the hardware and software features.
When we go on the internet these days, we often forget or even don't know what gets us there. Hidden in our broom closets and underneath the sofa, there are physical devices like wireless home routers that can make a big difference in how good our internet connection really is.
This project is about upgrading the quality, security, and queue management of home routers - continuing the work of Cerowrt that successfully re-architected the Linux WiFi stack to include pioneering new Flow Queueing (RFC8290) algorithms that successfully reduced working latencies for WiFi at all rates and ranges by 10x or more. This improved throughput under contention by a lot.
This project from the Osmocom community delivers an important contribution towards a fully open source mobile infrastructure, by implementing the first open source Enhanced Packet Data Gateway or ePDG. Inside the 3GPP cellular network architecture, the ePDG is the interface between the operator network and the public internet. Phones connect to the gateway in order to use VoWiFi (voice over WiFi) services. ePDG sits between the phone and the IMS core (same for VoLTE, VoWiFi and VoNR in 5G), and acts primarily as an IPsec gateway with ISIM card based authentication and key generation.
With efforts underway to create a fully open source FOSS based 4G network with a FOSS based IMS core with VoLTE functionality, having a FOSS ePDG is the only missing part for operating VoWifi from FOSS.
Are you looking to donate cryptocurrency to charity and not sure how to go about? In many places in the world, cryptocurrencies are still a complex legal area, and unfortunately there are still quite a few regulatory pitfalls and fiscal uncertainties — not to mention running the risk of fraud, conflict of interest, corruption etc.
With the help of the Technology Commons Trust, you can structure your own fund to give crypto assets to charitable organizations in the structure of your choosing.
We ourselves work through an established and fully audited philantropy with decades of proven track record ߞ which is not just efficient, but creates a clear legislative context for everyone involved. It brings along professional financial management, strict governance oversight, and delivers transparency throughout our entire operations.
Contact us to discuss possibilities.
Contact us
If you have any questions or remarks about our work or this website, you can send us email through contact [@thisdomain].
Please note that we do not handle individual grant requests for your project, as explained elsewhere we only work through intermediaries which are established public benefit organisations. If you are seeking a grant, we would kindly like to refer you to the User Operated Internet Fund.
If you would like to send us physical mail, our postal address is:
Stichting Technology Commons Trust