Standing Together to Build a Brighter Digital Future

There are powerful forces standing in the way of the world we want to build, but with you by our side, we keep moving forward.  

In a recent meeting, our Executive Director, Laura Tribe,asked our team to imagine a world where OpenMedia could shut its doors because we’d accomplished our mission.  

What would a world with an open, accessible, and surveillance-free Internetlook like?

Well for starters, each of us would be connected to one another through high-speed access to the open Web, regardless of how much money we have. Our ability to communicate, collaborate and share would be accelerated and our Internet and telecom markets would no longer be under the behest of a few notorious behemoths that make us cringe when we say their names.

In order to build the digital world we want, we need to make sure that governments can’t monitor every move we make online and weaken our ability to keep our sensitive, personal information private. As Laura has explained, “The ability to think, learn, and communicate privately helps us create our sense of self. It’s how we grow.” In a world where so much of our experiences exist online, we need the privacy to be ourselves. Otherwise, we’ll never achieve a society where everyone can reach their full potential.

Neither will we achieve our fullest potential if access to information is cut off by insatiable corporations that are given a free pass to extend ownership of intellectual property from one lifetime to the next, and call the shots on which websites, uploads and hyperlinks get banned completely.

There’s no shortage of powerful forces standing in the way of the world we’re working to build. But that’s not the only reason why OpenMedia won’t be shutting its doors any time soon. Our work is kept alive by an amazing community of supporters — you truly are the backbone of everything we do.

Since OpenMedia’s inception ten years ago, we’ve been able to build relationships with hundreds of thousands of incredible people who provide more than 50% of our funding through grassroots donations. I can’t tell you how proud of this support we are and how happy it makes us!

I also can’t express how grateful we are for the awesome supporters in the tech sector that are doing a really good thing by giving some of their money to OpenMedia, so we can fight for digital rights.  

At the end of each year, we ask some of our favourite businesses and organizations to step up and support us so we can keep working to build a brighter digital future in the year ahead. I want to thank the ones who did step up this year, right here, right now:

Independent Internet Service & Mobile Providers

Teksavvy, Distributel, Vmedia and Start.ca are leading, independent Canadian providers that are standing up for an open Internet. At OpenMedia we’ve long fought for a more decentralized telecom market with more choice and affordability for customers. These providers definitely represent the kind of providers we’d like to see more of.

VPN Service Providers

If you’re looking to keep your internet browsing secure, a VPN is a big piece of the puzzle.

VPN technology is about safeguarding our privacy and civil liberties. So we are happy that in addition to providing access to that technology our friends at TunnelBear, PureVPN and Private Internet Access, stepped up to support our work.

Golden Frog

We're really excited to have Golden Frog standing behind our work — they are a progressive business working to optimize Internet connections to increase performance and speed, enable privacy and provide access to a free and open Internet. Golden Frog also provides VyprVPN for private internet browsing.

Internet Society's North American Chapter

The Internet Society (ISOC) is a trusted independent source of leadership for Internet policy, technology standards, and future development. More than simply advancing technology, ISOC works to ensure the Internet continues to grow and evolve as a platform for innovation, economic development, and social progress for people around the world. ISOC and OpenMedia are definitely on the same page, so we were thrilled when the North American Chapter stepped up to support the work we are doing.

OpenMedia is proud to be a leader when it comes to grassroots donations and diversity of supporters. Being a crowdfunded organization is a big part of who we are, and — whether you’re a business, an organization, or a grassroots donor — our work just wouldn’t be possible without all of you.

Thank you to everyone who is backing OpenMedia.  If you’ve been following our busy start to the year you know there’s no shortage of work to do!

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