Meet the Oxen Privacy Tech Foundation
We’re a passionate team of advocates, creatives, and engineers building a world where the internet is open, software is free and accessible, and your privacy is protected.
About OPTF
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You have a right to privacy.
Privacy is a human right. Everyone knows what privacy feels like — it feels comfortable, safe, and secure. When we are in private, we have the freedom to share ideas and be ourselves. In the physical world, we all take steps to protect our privacy every day. But privacy has fallen by the wayside in the digital world. If we want the internet to be a free, fair, and equal place for everyone, we must design, create, and share technology which preserves people’s privacy and enables them to experience the internet in a safe and secure way.
OPTF’s mission is to equip every digital citizen with technology which upholds their right to privacy. Whether you’re buying a coffee, messaging a friend, or simply browsing the internet, your privacy should always be protected. It shouldn’t have any strings attached — it should be provided by default, and it should be free.
One of the OPTF’s main development achievements is the private messenger, Session. Session is a free and open-source application which allows people to have completely private, secure, and anonymous conversations online. Session is a tool for protecting free speech including for journalists, activists, and other people working in civil society.
We are actively implementing technology projects that help us achieve our mission. These projects include:
Our guiding principles are to:
Build open-source, secure communications tools that are free and accessible.
Produce educational resources to support people and organisations to better understand, use, and implement privacy technologies.
Complete work which serves the interests of the public. Our work helps foster an open, accountable, and unified digital community.
Collaborate with other organisations on work which upholds digital rights.
Support, fund, and assist projects that align with our principles.
Board of Directors
Chris McCabe
Public Officer, Chair
Chris is a co-founder and the CEO of Oxen. He is responsible for leading the future vision of the project, devising and executing Oxen’s strategic direction, and managing day-to-day operation of the company.
Lucinda Lovegrove
Secretary
Lucinda has been working full-time on the Oxen Project since 2018. She currently works as a Product Manager for OPTF products—such as Session—and makes invaluable contributions to the project through her first-class analytical and collaborative problem solving skills.
Simon Harman
Simon is a co-founder and the former CEO of Oxen — the OPTF’s first major project. Simon is a longstanding member of Australia’s blockchain community, and has a long history of blockchain innovation both with Oxen and his current project focus, Chainflip.
Jason Rhinelander
Jason has an extensive background in economics and computer science. He has merged these fields to conduct postgraduate level research focusing on the computational modelling of economic activity.
His first involvement with Oxen came through his contributions as an open-source developer, and joined the Oxen development team full-time in mid-2019.
Alexander Linton
Alexander first gained an appreciation and respect for digital privacy and decentralisation through his work as a journalist. For the last four years, he has been working full-time on OPTF projects across a range of research, communication, and advocacy roles.