Fleek launches Space, an open source, private file storage and collaboration platform
Fleek has announced the launch of Space, an open source, private file storage, sharing, and collaboration platform built on top of the distributed web stack, including Filecoin, IPFS, and Textile.
Space’s mission is to enable a fully private, peer to peer (p2p) file and work collaboration experience for users. Space is built on Space Daemon, the open source framework, and backend of the platform. Space Daemon enables other apps, similar to Space, to build privacy-focused, encrypted p2p apps.
As an open source version of Google Drive, it will develop further private, encrypted, p2p G-Suite equivalent apps. Space is compatible with leading file collaboration tools, such as G-Suite and Microsoft Office. The first version of Space is a desktop app available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, with plans to release a web app later this year and mobile app in the future.
Commenting on the launch, Harrison Hines, CEO at Fleek, “Data is the new currency, it’s time to stop letting tech companies take it and to use it against us. The Internet is broken — and we need to fix it now. We have reached a tipping point and with societal attitudes to power and big tech shifting, the growing distributed movement is primed to deliver open source alternatives that will finally restore the freedom and goodwill of the internet’s early days.”
Space enables the private storing and sharing of files; any edits or comments made on the platform are also fully encrypted and sent p2p, meaning they can only be opened, read, and viewed by select collaborators. Space offers the option to store encrypted backups of files, enabling access from anywhere and a recovery option in case of loss or damage to a device. To further protect users’ privacy, the platform can never open or view any of the files stored as backups, and no one else can either.
Upon the launch of Filecoin’s mainnet, Space users will have the option to store their files or backups on the network. Filecoin is building the world’s largest decentralized storage network. Showcasing over 200PiB in its testnet, at mainnet launch Fleek will benefit from Filecoin’s unmatched network capacity, and ultimate of ownership over data, not offered by centralized cloud providers.
“All the issues with the current internet can be traced back to two main flaws: centralization and a lack of encryption. The only way to fix the internet is to fix those two flaws. However, the gatekeepers that control the current internet built their tremendous fortunes, power, and infrastructure around those flaws, so they aren’t going to help fix them. Luckily there are people like Juan Benet, who are creating open source technologies that can serve as the foundation for a new, and improved distributed internet. One that addresses the two main flaws of the current internet and finally gives control, ownership, privacy, and freedom back to users. After 5+ years of several groups building and working on these new technologies/protocols, they are now ready to be combined and used to create a real distributed web stack. Now they can start building products that leverage distributed web technologies to offer privacy, data ownership, censorship resistance, p2p, and other benefits to users, while still maintaining pretty much the exact same user experience users are accustomed to,” added Hines.