Developers of secure server Protonet asked for some $136,000 on a local crowdfunding website – and were rewarded with $1 million in an hour and a half. The record campaign, one year after Snowden’s NSA leaks, ended with more than $2 million raised.
Hamburg-based startup Protonet, which launched its first private
cloud device in July 2013 – a month after the NSA whistleblower
Edward Snowden revealed the scale of US internet
surveillance – on Wednesday proved the spying scandal is still in
full swing.
The small team of 23 asked for
100,000 euros in funding ($135,830) to support its products,
including a new model of a secure server for small companies, on
the German crowdfunding site Seedmatch. While Protonet had already raised twice
as much on the same website last year, the developers were amazed
at the speed the people responded to their cause.
In just 89 minutes, the startup raised 750,000 euros (over $1
million), breaking the world crowdfunding speed record registered
at Kickstarter. The previous speed record was held by the
Veronica Mars movie project, which took just over 4 hours to
gather the same amount.
.@protonet is getting to its funding limit in just evil speeds - 78 minutes in snapshot - pic.twitter.com/0LKqtTjkVB
— Kjell Otto (@Kjellski) June 4, 2014
However, this time the funders were not looking for
entertainment, but instead lined up to buy small orange storage
and communication devices, which they hope will protect their
enterprises from the prying eyes of the spy agencies. Actually,
Snowden’s revelations on the activities of the NSA and GCHQ were
actively used in Protonet’s marketing
campaign.
Eventually, the fundraising closed with a staggering sum of
1,500,000 euros ($2,037,450).
Wahnsinn: 1,5 Mio € in 10h & 8 Min! @protonet & die Crowd haben gestern Geschichte geschrieben http://t.co/12m5yYu45Dpic.twitter.com/UpmTyRbPi9
— Seedmatch (@Seedmatch) June 5, 2014
While the private servers do not come cheap, costing between
1,200 euros and 4,700 euros ($1,630-6,380) depending on the
model, they are said to be unique in having a built-in Protonet
SOUL OS software package, which includes “homegrown”
analogues of such services as Dropbox, Skype, and Yammer. The OS
itself is Linux-based.
The developers believe that medium and small enterprises should
be able to have the convenience of working within a cloud, while
not having their data stored on a US server or elsewhere within
the immediate reach of the NSA. Protonet devices offer generous
storage capacity of up to 16 terabytes.
While Protonet does not promise a totally NSA-immune digital
environment, it boasts secure SSL encryption in all the
communications within the cloud, which both Snowden and the June
5-launched #ResetTheNet campaign urge users to employ.
Revelations about the scale of US mass
surveillance and allegations of the NSA’s industrial espionage
have prompted huge privacy concerns from European users. German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who allegedly had her personal phone
tapped by the NSA, as well as some other EU
leaders, have since called for a separate European internet,
bypassing American servers.