NLNet application for UOI Call August 2021

Please note:

NLNet privacy statement.
When a project gets selected, it will legally need to retain your information for compliance purposes for at least seven years.

Note for answers:

Please be short and to the point in your answers; focus primarily on the what and how, not so much on the why. Add longer descriptions as attachments. If English isn't your first language, don't worry - reviewers don't care about spelling errors, only about great ideas. Apologies for the inconvenience of having to submit in English. On the up side, you can be as technical as you need to be (but you don't have to). Do stay concrete. Use plain text in your reply only, if you need any HTML to make your point please include this as attachment.

Attachments should only contain background information: Please make sure that the proposal without attachments is self-contained and concise.
Accepted formats: HTML, PDF, OpenDocument Format and plain text files.

Abstract: Can you explain the whole project and its expected outcome(s).

No more than 1200 characters.

A browser extension, "Hachette", (later possibly also an HTTP proxy and custom web browser) will be developed that facilitates browsing websites with custom changes (e.g. substituted page scripts, different site styling, alternative or aggregate interfaces for sites, accessibility&usability fixes, user translations, etc.) and makes it easy to edit such resources or develop them from scratch. Websites that force proprietary javascript, spyware and anti-features upon visitors will become fixable.

A project-maintained default repository, "Hydrilla", will serve as a rallying point, providing not only a comprehensive and trustworthy source of libre, privacy-respecting, secure and generally ethical site resources (including community-developed ones), but also a forum to share opinions about sites and to offer or solicit help with fixing problematic ones. Such a central hub further provides a unified body to negotiate with and pressure or advocate for particular website owners, strengthening the movement for a user-operated Internet.

All parts of the project shall be freely licensed (GPL, CC BY-SA).

Have you been involved with projects or organisations relevant to this project before? And if so, can you tell us a bit about your contributions?

Optional; this can help determine if you are the right person to undertake this effort

Our team currently consists of the following members:

Our experience:

Additionally, we have been consulting on possible security issues of Hachette and the repository with Richard Stallman himself for the past month, and continue to do so.

Requested Amount (in Euro)

Between 5000 and 50000

8376

Explain what the requested budget will be used for? Does the project have other funding sources, both past and present?

If you want, you can in addition attach a budget at the bottom of the form. Fundable activities are (https://nlnet.nl/useroperated/eligibility/):

The requested budget will fund the necessary infrastructure (for 3 years) and 4 months of 2 developers' full-time work, as further detailed in the attached breakdown. This is expected to be long enough to complete the eligible tasks listed there; however, 6 months (€10988) or 8 months (€13600) would give a more polished and well-designed product.

Compare your own project with existing or historical efforts.

What is new, more thorough, otherwise different, etc.

What are significant technical challenges you expect to solve during the project, if any?

Optional but recommended

Describe the ecosystem of the project. How will you engage with relevant actors and promote the outcomes?

E.g. Which actors will you involve? Who should run or deploy your solution to make it a success?

End-users, particularly those with a technical inclination, will be recruited through outreach efforts in fora and locations generally sympathetic to the ideals of a free and open web. They are critical as a community to both support and expand this project and create leverage for the repository to drive change in web design practices.

Support from web developers and website owners is critical for long-term success in changing the web, as they collectively engineer its contents. Any who want our help in ethically (re)designing their creations will be offered as much support as physically possible; however, to break new ground among this group, it is expected that the leverage a strong community and influence over the repository afford will be needed.

Contributors to fill the repository and/or work on the browser extension and infrastructure obviously play an important role in attracting new users and building leverage for the movement. At least while scripts are the primary offering, sufficient capacity for this should be available among the technically knowledgeable user base just as it currently is. Further effort and experience will be sought through GNU, and appropriate organizations for other types of customization as they are added.

Thematic call

Included as a reminder- make sure to set this to User-Operated Internet Fund.

Attachments