Human-centered design is one of the key approaches Least Authority adopts alongside security- and privacy-by-design. Our human-centered design process involves building an understanding of user needs and experiences, while using those learnings to shape design and development goals and iterations. The case studies below provide examples of this approach. The
2021 seems to be the year that we all accepted the term “Web3” as the way to refer to the collective movements of decentralizing infrastructure and empowering users to be in control. It means the next generation of the Internet and beyond, which includes the tokenization of things for digital
In March, Least Authority marked one year of working entirely remotely; twelve long months punctuated by frequent video conference calls keeping us connected. Fortunately, Least Authority is accustomed to operating as a remote-first company since it was founded in 2011, with teammates spanning across 19 time zones. Nevertheless, we are
Least Authority is launching the HRO Cloud to offer a secure file storage system to human rights organizations that cannot or do not want to host and maintain their own storage servers. Digital files—such as photographs, recordings, written accounts, planning documents, and databases—are invaluable resources to the work of human
Before highlighting Least Authority’s accomplishments from 2020, I must first acknowledge that this year has been a difficult year for so many people around the world, and on many levels. There has been suffering from health issues and significant economic consequences, and as a result we all see 2020 as
This summer, Least Authority has been wrapping up our project funded by the Open Technology Fund (OTF) to make Tahoe-LAFS a more usable tool for human rights organizations. (Read about the background on this project in our earlier post.) While secure file storage is a necessity for most everyone, human
Least Authority is committed to supporting privacy as a fundamental human right and to actively participate in making privacy-focused open-source tools available for everyone. In the case of human rights defenders, protecting their sensitive files—including reports, photos, videos, and other documentation—is a necessity, and at times, a matter of the
In March 2019, Least Authority announced PrivateStorage, our new joint venture with Private Internet Access, a privacy-focused VPN provider, to launch a new secure cloud storage product based on Tahoe-LAFS. Since then, we have been asked questions about how PrivateStorage relates to our currently offered Simple Secure Storage Service (S4),