Thursday post

The increasing desire for alternatives (and the problems)

Over the last year, there have been a number of successful crowdfunding campaigns geared towards putting the user back in control, many of which are related to the Internet of Things. One of the promising signs of the successful campaigns is the degree to which they are oversubscribed, which can be taken as a signal of the latent demand for these kinds of products.

Some of them are purely software based, such as Sandstorm, which allows users to run open source applications in their own personal server. The aims are to make it easy for anyone to self-host web-apps like WordPress or Etherpad and also to empower developers and enterprises to get the benefits of software as a service without the risks of third-party infrastructure.

Many of the other projects also have similar aims but they focus more on a hardware device. Some of those that come to mind include the Pixeom, based around the Raspberry Pi and includes pre-specified software, or the Wedg, which uses an Intel board and more flexibility around software. Yet other projects modify well known software and put more effort into hardware design such as [EzeeCube][], which uses XBMC. These projects aren't unique to 2014 as variations on this theme have been getting funded for a number of years now. Some might argue that devices like these are merely enhanced Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices but that misses the point that users are looking for certain features, including ease of use, that the existing options don't provide.

However, it's not always clear that the teams behind the projects have the technical capabilities to deliver them. For example, one Kickstarter project Anonabox, aimed to provide a hardware device that would allow users to use the TOR network with ease. The project was oversubscribed by 800% but observers exposed fatal flaws in some of the software and false claims about hardware, which ultimately caused the campaign to be shut down. Despite this controversy, the campaign was restarted on Indiegogo less than a month later and was recently funded — this time oversubscribed by 400%. Other failed projects don't generate as much press but simply shut down without explanation. An example is Nanohive, which intended to provide a personal server in the form of a plug computer. When technically literate backers received vague or conflicting answers to their questions, the mood soured and the team quietly cancelled the project (no money was taken).

On a more positive note educational projects have also been funded, such as Data Dealer, which aims to provoke users to understand how their personal data gets used (and abused) and the ecosystem around it. It's an online game that takes a satirical viewpoint by making the player harvest and monetise as many user profiles as they can.