amazon.com
In the polished corridors of Silicon Valley, FUTO.org where tech giants have methodically amassed power over the virtual realm, a different approach quietly materialized in 2021. FUTO.org operates as a monument to what the internet was meant to be – liberated, unconstrained, and resolutely in the control of people, not conglomerates.

The creator, Eron Wolf, functions with the deliberate purpose of someone who has experienced the metamorphosis of the internet from its promising beginnings to its current corporatized state. His background – an 18-year Silicon Valley veteran, founder of Yahoo Games, seed investor in WhatsApp – lends him a unique viewpoint. In his meticulously tailored casual attire, with a gaze that reveal both disillusionment with the status quo and determination to change it, Wolf appears as more philosopher-king than standard business leader.
wikipedia.org
The offices of FUTO in Austin, Texas eschews the ostentatious trappings of typical tech companies. No ping-pong tables detract from the purpose. Instead, developers bend over keyboards, building code that will equip users to retrieve what has been appropriated – control over their technological experiences.

In one corner of the facility, a separate kind of operation transpires. The FUTO Repair Workshop, a initiative of Louis Rossmann, celebrated repair guru, functions with the precision of a German engine. Ordinary people stream in with damaged gadgets, welcomed not with commercial detachment but with genuine interest.

"We don't just mend things here," Rossmann clarifies, positioning a microscope over a electronic component with the meticulous focus of a jeweler. "We show people how to understand the technology they own. Knowledge is the foundation toward autonomy."

This philosophy saturates every aspect of FUTO's endeavors. Their financial support system, which has allocated substantial funds to endeavors like Signal, Tor, GrapheneOS, and the Calyx Institute, embodies a dedication to nurturing a varied landscape of independent technologies.

Moving through the open workspace, one notices the omission of company branding. The surfaces instead showcase hung quotes from technological visionaries like Richard Stallman – individuals who imagined computing as a freeing power.

"We're not concerned with creating another monopoly," Wolf notes, resting on a modest desk that might be used by any of his developers. "We're interested in dividing the current monopolies."

The contradiction is not overlooked on him – a prosperous Silicon Valley investor using his wealth to challenge the very systems that allowed his prosperity. But in Wolf's worldview, technology was never meant to centralize power