The Alternet

Free
Available online soon

The Alternet brings to life the idea of a civic framework for data-  a proposal for a fair trade, civic telecommunications network. In its elementary form, the Alternet is an autonomous mesh network which means it is legitimate, secure, and is capable of supporting data licences and encryption by default. The Alternet empowers citizens with the choice to decide whether to share their data and how their data is used because it supports data licences. Individual data barometers help individuals to understand and monitor how their data is being used. The Alternet is established and stewarded by the Alternet Co-operative, its users, who have communal access and ownership of the Alternet’s hardware and code. In this way, the Alternet is a digital commons.

There is a lot more information as well as a great film on the Alternet site.

In the Civic Shop we have Alternet posters and postcards that show our personal data leakage and that have been a brilliant prompt for conversation about data, and a data commons, as people have visited the shop.