The Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW) has offered the Freedom of Press Foundation (FPF) a $5.8 million (£4.28 million) grant. A press release disclosed this news earlier today, noting that this grant seeks to help FPF enhance free speech for journalists. Reportedly, the program runs for three years, and it aims to underpin the development of infrastructure that will help improve the user experience and security for journalists across the globe.
According to the news release, FPF will also use the funds to explore the launch of a zero-trust architecture for SecureDrop. This platform supports secure documents exchange and communication between journalists and anonymous sources across the globe. Additionally, the funds will be instrumental in helping the Freedom of Press Foundation preserve critical information.
Per Trevor Timm, the Executive Director of the Freedom of Press Foundation, this grant is by a wide margin the largest the organization has ever received. He noted that the foundation seeks to use the funds to expedite the release of new upgrades on SecureDrop. The funds will also go toward fostering the mass adoption of the platform.
Timm added that,
We’re also extremely excited to explore how the decentralized web can help further press freedom and transparency in the coming years.
A mission to preserve humanity’s most important information
Explaining why FFDW decided to offer FPF the grant, the group’s Board Chair, Marta Belcher, said the organization’s beliefs align with its mission to permanently preserve humanity’s most important information. Belcher added that this shared goal makes the Freedom of Press Foundation a natural partner for the Filecoin (FIL/USD) Foundation for the Decentralized Web.
Apart from using the grant fund to improve SecureDrop, FPF will leverage its partnership with FFDW to fund projects that safeguard free speech and a free press to preserve vital information. One of these projects is FPF’s US Press Freedom Tracker, which keeps comprehensive records of press freedom violations in the US. These include arrests and assaults of journalists, denials of access, surveillance orders, among other trespasses.
Another project that will run under this grant is the Preservation of FPF’s Threatened Media Outlets archive. Through this initiative, FPF seeks to publish an exhaustive archive comprising backup versions of lost news websites on the decentralized web. In so doing, the organization believes it would ensure all key reports from such outlets remain available and accessible indefinitely.
FPF also seeks to roll out new privacy-conserving tools within the decentralized web ecosystem. With these tools, the foundation aims to introduce network-level anonymity in decentralized web projects. The organization currently depends on the Tor network.
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