Over the last years when I’d notice a thing (project, blog, manifesto…) along the lines of autonomo.us, I’d think for a moment that if autonomo.us were active, we’d note and reach out. Well…

The CitizenWeb Project was announced few days ago.

The CitizenWeb Project is a mission to fight for a free, open, and above all a decentralized Internet. In order to achieve this, it aims to empower everyday internet users with the information and resources they need to take matters into their own hands. We seek to spread the word about how to secure yourself online and how to declare “digital independence” in this age of the Google hivemind and Facebook privacy nightmares. While these services may be convenient, they carry very dangerous implications for our freedoms. This is only getting worse with time, as the corporations behind these services become entangled and indiscernable from government services and real-life social obligation. And it is only getting worse for the most sensitive users: journalists, activists, muckrakers and whistleblowers.

There are viable alternatives to these invasive and ubiquitous services. The CitizenWeb Project is therefore focused on giving the tools to each individual user to become an independent “citizen” of the Web — to decentralize their social networks and platforms, to become the TRUE owners of their data, and to communicate and network in security.

It seems to be a blog+ by Jacob Cook whose site right now says:

Site is down while I move to a new aparment and the Internet service gets changed. Everything should be back to normal by the 4th of February.

- JC, 31 Jan 2013

Like the low uptime of autonomo.us through its history, this is another data point showing just how far self-hosting has to go. But it also has retro/DIY charm.

Read the CitizenWeb Manifesto for a Decentralized Web.

Cook seems to be particularly interested in Tent.io, one of many things I alluded to yesterday with “much outside this tiny universe has happened in the last 30 months that is pertinent and good, or at least curious.”

One heartening thing about CitizenWeb is that it seems aware of software freedom; a coming-soon chapter of their guide is titled “What is Free Software, and Why Do I Give A Damn?” The Case for Making The Switch. Materials they publish are under CC-BY-SA. Not perfect in using proprietary services (at least github and twitter) and not free counterparts, but a project completely in line with Franklin Street Statement guidelines is an extremely rare beast. Let’s hope software freedom plays a big part in CitizenWeb’s future; especially if it does, hopefully you’ll hear more here.