Open protocols for privacy-first applications.
Surveillance platforms failed to protect us. Journal Foundation stewards infrastructure that keeps sensitive data in personal custody, minimizes metadata, and lets anyone build AI-ready apps without surrendering control to an intermediary.
Existing "decentralized" solutions stop at removing a central company. As software dissolves into intent, they still rarely solve custody, metadata exposure, or selective collaboration with frontier AI.
Infrastructure primitives that work together—but can evolve independently.
What: Encrypted, graph-aware personal data storage
Purpose: Where your data lives
What: Network access layer with capability-based sharing
Purpose: How data is shared safely
What: User-facing applications
Purpose: How humans interact with their data
Apps are swappable—your data stays in your vault.
Picture three layers of stewardship: Vaults hold data (local or mirrored with peers you trust), Cipherlots govern how encrypted packets leave, and apps request temporary capabilities. Each layer is independently auditable and open specification.
Encrypted knowledge graph with segmented indexes and large-object storage.
Capability broker issuing scoped tokens and routing traffic through blind relays.
Interfaces—mobile, desktop, or agents—that request capabilities and render experiences.
Decentralization isn't enough.
You can't just decentralize—you have to anonymize.
Mastodon and other federated systems solved centralization but created new surveillance vectors.
"Even though the data is encrypted, you still don't want it shared with everyone on the Internet. You don't want a state-level adversary to vacuum it up today, wait for new decryption capabilities, and unlock everything you've ever said."
Track where each layer sits in the development cycle.
Choose the path that fits your role.
Prototype apps on open protocols with end-to-end custody.
Support protocol development with radical transparency.
Build literacy in surveillance, metadata, and digital sovereignty.
