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Human-centered design at Least Authority

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

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Project Update: Tahoe-LAFS for Human Rights Defenders

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

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Adapting Secure File Storage Tools for Human Rights Defenders

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

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The Path from S4 to PrivateStorage

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),

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Introducing P4: Private Periodic Payment Protocol

Least Authority has recently designed a protocol called the Private Periodic Payment Protocol, or P4, which aims to define the way in which subscription services can be funded using end-to-end private cryptocurrency payments. P4 incorporates the use of Zcash shielded transactions for private payments and leverages the Tor anonymity network’s onion services to radically reduce the amount of personally identifiable information (PII) available to merchants. In addition, P4 introduces…

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Least Authority performs User Tests at RightsCon Toronto

Least Authoritarians attended RightsCon – the world’s leading conference on human rights in the digital age – that took place in Toronto from May 16th to May 18th, 2018. Like every year, RightsCon Toronto brought together a diverse set of social tech, digital rights policy, and open internet advocacy groups, as well

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