Freedom Box Workshop

Session Topic: FreedomBox Workshop

Thursday 4H

Convener: Markus Sabadello

Notes-taker(s): Markus Sabadello

During this relaxed lunchtime session, we looked at the current state of the FreedomBox project, which is about creating a simple plug computer that protects your privacy online and gives you control over your personal data. Among other things, a FreedomBox can be used as a Personal Data Store / Personal Cloud.

We had 2 Dreamplugs, 3 Guruplugs and a Raspberry Pi, which are all potential hardware platforms for the project.

We discussed two basic functions of the FreedomBox:


 * 1) The FreedomBox can be used as a gateway between one's home network and an Internet connection. In this case, the purpose of the FreedomBox is to filter Internet traffic, and to remove ads as well as tracking scripts from web pages. This is done using a variant of the Privoxy software.
 * 2) The FreedomBox also aligns well with the Unhosted project, whose idea is to separate applications from data on the Internet. With Unhosted apps, a user is given a "remoteStorage" account (i.e. a kind of personal data store). Unhosted apps then use that remoteStorage for all their data storage needs. RemoteStorages can be chosen from a number of existing providers, or self-hosted. Or in our case, the FreedomBox could be one's remoteStorage, which basically means that you can run applications on the web, but have their associated data stored on your box at home.

Many more plans and ideas for the FreedomBox exist.

We had great discussions about some of these ideas, and we considered the feasibility of productizing the FreedomBox.