Freedom, openness, interoperability, and the ability to connect without a single gatekeeper defined the internet's core promise 25 years ago. Today, most of our online life happens on centralized platforms that control our data, shape our experiences, and set the rules for communication. This monopolization brings real risks: digital surveillance, censorship, and a loss of user agency.
The fediverse offers a different model. Instead of a single platform, it’s a network of independent, interoperable services that connect using open protocols like ActivityPub. Like email, people can choose different providers yet still communicate across the network. Users can build online spaces that reflect their communities’ needs and values. Organizations can host their own services or partner with trusted providers, gaining control over their data, reducing reliance on corporate platforms, and fostering more localized approaches to online community.
Join Babette Ngene and Rory Mir of EFF, in conversation with renowned PIT technologist Bruce Schneier, and Social Web Foundation Executive Director Mallory Knodel about what the Fediverse can and cannot offer users. Rather than asking if decentralized platforms can replace today's dominant social networks, we'll focus on a deeper question: What would it take to build an internet where people and communities have real choices about participation, data control, and governance of their digital spaces?
EFFecting Change Livestream Series:
How to Build a Decentralized Web That Truly Works for All
Thursday, September 17th
11:00 am - 12:00 pm Pacific - Check Local Time
Livestream followed by Q&A
This event is LIVE and FREE!
Accessibility
This event will be live-captioned and recorded. EFF is committed to improving accessibility for our events. If you have any accessibility questions regarding the event, please contact [email protected].
Event Expectations
EFF is dedicated to a harassment-free experience for everyone, and all participants are encouraged to view our full Event Expectations.
Upcoming Events
Want to make sure you don’t miss our next livestream? Here’s a link to sign up for updates about this series: eff.org/ECUpdates. If you have a friend or colleague that might be interested, please join the fight for your digital rights by this link: eff.org/EFFectingChange. Thank you for helping EFF spread the word about privacy and free expression online.
Recording
We hope you and your friends can join us live! If you can't make it, we’ll post the recording afterward on YouTube and the Internet Archive!
About the Speakers
Babette Ngene
Babette Ngene is the Director of the Public Interest Technology team at EFF. She provides strategic oversight for EFF's technological initiatives, ranging from cybersecurity to the development and deployment of open-source technologies dedicated to safeguarding and defending rights in the digital space.
Before joining EFF, Babette drew from her extensive experience in both the private and public sectors, where she focused on overseeing digital rights and digital safety initiatives in over 50 countries across the globe. She is an expert in leading and managing initiatives that foster diversity and inclusion in the digital rights sphere by engaging new representatives and organizations from the global majority. She has also played a pivotal role in introducing and implementing digital rights programs across four regions spanning more than 20 countries, with a primary focus on defending and protecting the rights of at-risk communities. Babette is an active speaker at digital rights forums, including IGF, RightsCon, DRIFT, and FIFAFRICA.
Babette holds a master's degree in international law from American University and hails from Yaounde, Cameroon.
Rory Mir
Prior to joining the EFF, Rory was a psychology researcher and instructor at the City University of New York. Their research centered liberation pedagogy and adolescents' use of social media, and on campus they advocated for protections of student and worker privacy, open science, and open education. They have also led digital security trainings for more than 10 years, primarily through the Brooklyn-based CyPurr Collective.
At EFF, Rory works to build community and foster collaboration among grassroots advocates. Their advocacy work focuses on keeping the internet as a true digital commons—an ecosystem that advances equity through open access and democratic digital infrastructure.
Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist and the New York Times bestselling author of 14 books, including A Hacker’s Mind. He is Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, a board member of EFF, and Chief of Security Architecture at Inrupt, Inc.
Mallory Knodel
Mallory is a feminist technologist and Executive Director of the Social Web Foundation. She works to reshape internet infrastructure so it serves people, not platforms, through design, implementation, and governance.
Mallory co-chairs the Human Rights Protocol Considerations research group of the Internet Research Task Force and contribute to global technical standards processes to advance human rights, security, and an open, interoperable web.
