5th of June 2023, Prague. A special day for the privacy market - the launch of the Web3privacy now ecosystem. A think tank that originated from a GitHub database of privacy-enhancing services is scaling to a standalone privacy-advocacy platform, publishing arm, and events organization.

Last year’s sanctions towards Tornado Cash, active news on banning privacy coins, detention of privacy-services devs and massive surveillance signals a need for extended privacy solidarity among web3 market players.

Privacy as a human right could protect humans from government surveillance, redefine corporate-personal relations, and significantly reduce surveillance capitalism. In other words, accelerate decentralization on both practical and philosophical levels. Moreover, it will lead to thousands of saved human lives in non-democratic countries.

The challenge we are tackling with the Web3privacy now ecosystem - make decentralized privacy accessible to billions of people.

This bold vision impacts on how we communicate privacy and web3, build the UX/UI of those solutions, organize with enthusiasts and human-rights activists, etc. Basically, how we produce and share knowledge.

Welcome to the Web3privacy now ecosystem!

Think tank shaping maturity of web3 privacy from market research to data-driven platform of all existing privacy services (400+), from educational academy to pro-privacy publishing.

The idea behind a vibrating ecosystem originated from an intersection between developers and privacy recipients. They highly depend and can’t exist without each other. The Web3privacy now places itself next to those audiences helping them to hear each other: how privacy is perceived in Brazil, how to check if one service is truly private, and where can an Iranian woman find a guide on web3 privacy.

Research

Long-term goal: create an independent and impactful research institution without gated access to the works

Why it matters: this will help to raise the bar of privacy market maturity from the privacy-readiness of PEDApps to the right problems builders solve.

Delivered

• Already built the biggest privacy-centric database on GitHub with 400+ services delivering web3-privacy.

• Delivered Pagency framework for privacy-ideas generation for builders

• Published 130-pages long market and diversity reports.

• Segmented ZK-centric privacy-services database

• Deliver Privacy market map

Delivering

• Zcash grant on privacy use-case research within the Ukrainian-Russian war

• Approved and soon to be announced a grant for Platform development scoring whenever service is private or not.

• Updating general database with the market stats for future research: % of the token projects, % of the anon/public teams, product liveliness, privacy delivery (year-to-year comparison), ecosystem-to-ecosystem comparison

• And many-many-many more data-driven ideas to come.

Research spirit: minimize product or ecosystem bias, no gated access, no monetization forever.

Platform

Long-term goal: create a one-stop shop for people interested in privacy (both builders and the general public).

Why it matters: privacy knowledge is scattered within many micro-communities, hundreds of conference speeches, personal Twitter opinions, and constant fights between crypto advocates, so we want to build an entry point into web3 privacy shaping the way we learn and build privacy.

The platform is supported by an important foundation (public announcement - soon). Its original idea appeared from the notion that a third party has never audited more than 90% of privacy services. So why should non-tech people believe them? Especially with so highly-sensitive topics as privacy.

100+ experts from the different ecosystems from Nym to Ethereum share their opinions on privacy assessment and the platform is in the creation process. More data: on GitHub

Privacy should be accessible to the general public. Meanwhile, it’s a privilege of tech people who could “trace a transaction” or “understand the docs”. And we want to change the non-techies + techies status quo.

Events

Long-term goal: create cross-continent activation places for cultural collaboration on knowledge creation and distribution

Why it matters: Ethereum Denver shoved how privacy could defend human rights by decreasing spying on Jordi Baylina or empowering Tigrayans within their current genocide by the Ethiopian government. Events could become the opposite of the advertising space - a place for collaboration, active workshopping, and privacy empowerment.

We will run a series of privacy-centric events from Prague to Barcelona but expand to Asia, Latin America, India, Africa, etc. The focus will be a cross-sector collaboration between builders, activists, designers, and marginalized groups.

Knowledge should be a collaborative effort and decentralized within cultures, continents, and people. Especially when it could be facilitated within the 1-week camp brewing the Network state privacy (from tools to social activism).

We are piloting our format in Prague on the 5th of June, Web3 privacy summit: http://prague.web3privacy.info

Publishing

Long-term goal: support people with practical educational materials expanding decentralized privacy impact worldwide.

Why it matters: privacy advocates lack their own “bibles” - useful formats for converting into a pro-privacy mass movement.

Books and zines are the right formats to accelerate privacy as an ideology and human right. We want to start with the basics like the Use-cases zine or Privacy 101 book. And then moving to the Web3 privacy handbook or privacy-activism practical tips from the community.

Publishing is a bridge that connects progressive web3 tech with privacy advocates and global audiences. Making privacy storytelling more mature, bold, and understandable.

Academy

Long-term goal: 100 000 people finish our courses from privacy advocates to the general public.

Why it matters: education is the key to understanding internet literacy, surveillance capitalism, web3 privacy tools potential, practical analytical instruments, and human rights.

We want to re-design the positive message of web3 privacy and innovation within the tools and core concepts so that it will be accessible to global audiences.

Academy will be structured not as our subjective monologue but as a collaborative market voice beyond just privacy. Because we believe that privacy is a road to decentralization ethos, human rights activism, and internet freedom as it should be.

Also, we will link Academy with the privacy market as a future of the work - sharing available vacancies via a job board (this will transition to a future platform).

Community

Long-term goal: build a vibrant global community, as diverse as possible from countries to non-tech/tech mix.

Why it matters: millions of people need privacy now, but their stories could differ from cyberstalking to domestic violence victims. Active collaboration and open-system approach is the key to scaling web3 privacy globally and ensure that it serves the most sensitive audiences.

We will build horizontal organizational practices that will be a mix of digital DAO-alike approach and artistic lumbung-alike practice. Check out the wonderful work of @ruangrupa that shaped the art world in 2022 and made collaboration successful beyond white-dominant cultures.

The Plug’n’Play collaboration model will help to unlock cross-sector co-creation between different ecosystems, DAOs, builders, and privacy recipients.

Summary

We should stop fighting each other for the best chain or cryptocurrency, and start forming one single movement around something we all need and should care for. 

“*Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy… Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world.” - *Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto

The ecosystem approach helps to foster synergies and enhance complementary activities and resources.

Everything sits on the shoulders of contributors and pro-hacktive individuals who commit to this noble cause. Devs, researchers, companies, foundations, event makers… everyone is welcome to contribute.

Stay humane, playful, fun, and open.