Dear fellow people from the Internet. We know that social network services changed the way we handle information and relationships. But we also know that social network services create certain problems that come with storing large amounts of personal information. We are concerned about our privacy on those services. The centralized nature of current social networks forces users to trust third parties that are not trustworthy. We do not have to surrender to technology as it is. We have to shape technology in a way that is suited to human nature. This is why the goal should be to create a network that enables all of its users to communicate freely. They must be able to use it in the way they want to, without being hindered by restrictions like censorship or the risk of losing control of their own content. It is not about creating an alternative to existing social network services – it is about creating something even better. There are different approaches to bringing this about, and they all have different up- and downsides. You are working on them. We are working on them. So we ask you to join forces, with us and with each other, to create what we all are hoping for, what is driving us and what we need: A free and secure means of communication for everybody and everything. To achieve this, we think the social network must satisfy these requirements: 1. Free software. 2. Good usability. 3. Decentralization. 4. End-to-end encryption. 5. Mandatory privacy: no plaintext data stored on servers. 6. Scalability. 7. Innovation over standards. 8. Better than what we currently have. We would love to see you on our mailinglist: https://mail.foebud.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/socialswarm-dev To have a closer look at the project, go to our wiki: http://socialswarm.net Best wishes, the folks of Social Swarm