The Calyx Institute, founded by Nicholas Merrill, the first ISP exec to fight the Patriot Act's expanded police powers and win, is attempting to crowdsource the first ISP built with privacy in mind from the ground up.
Hi, my name is Nicholas Merrill and I am starting a new non-profit organization called The Calyx Institute. I have a bit of a track record of fighting for the right to privacy on the Internet, and I have a plan to radically transform the way the Telecommunications industry works.
More after the jump.
This project’s goal is to raise funds for my nonprofit organization, Calyx Institute, which will launch a privacy-focused Internet Service Provider and mobile phone service using end-to-end encryption technology. The software is already under development by another nonprofit, RiseUp, who has given Calyx the green light to be the first commercial provider. The money we raise will go towards setting up a datacenter and implementing the first mass market deployment of this new Internet communications platform, and in a second stage, a mobile phone platform.
Merrill has turned to crowdsourcing his project rather than use traditional venture capital. For those not familiar with the term, crowdsourcing collects pledges of small dollar amounts from many investors, rather than large dollar amounts from a few.
A few bucks kicked his way could go a long way towards showing we value our privacy.
The Indiegogo flexible fundraising campaign
Cnet Article on Calyx
Op ed from Merrill on his case