Welcome to the Session Technology Foundation.

We are a new organisation in the digital rights community tasked with stewarding the Session messaging app.

In its earliest days, the internet promised to usher in an era of interconnectedness, community, and collaboration. Now, that promise is threatened by widespread surveillance, data collection, and exploitation. The very technologies built to help us connect us have been repurposed to control and exploit us.

Our mission is to help reclaim the internet as a space of freedom, trust, and choice. We are committed to supporting secure, decentralised technologies (like Session) and ensuring the fundamental right to privacy is upheld.

Since its inception, Session has been dedicated to decentralisation, open-source, and privacy. Our work will uphold these values and consolidate Session’s standing as a protocol protecting people’s privacy. However, I must stress that the continuation of Session should never depend on just one organisation. This ecosystem is made possible by a diverse, distributed community of punks and professionals, and our governance approach will reflect the decentralisation principles of the technology itself. While our efforts will involve direct contributions to the protocol, we will also support Session’s community of ecosystem contributors.

You may recognise some familiar faces within the Session Technology Foundation: our founding board members are the current directors of Session’s original steward, the OPTF. Although the Session Technology Foundation and OPTF are entirely independent organisations, our members’ shared commitment and understanding of Session will ensure a smooth and effective transition. Prior to joining the Session Technology Foundation as founding President, I served the Session project for the five years and worked as a journalist, developing a deep appreciation of the importance of privacy and secure communication. All members chose to join the Session Technology Foundation to ensure stability and security for Session as it gets started in Switzerland under the stewardship of the Session Technology Foundation.

Initially, development efforts for Session are our primary focus—but looking forward, the foundation can support the ecosystem in more ways than just development. In the coming months, you will hear more specifics about our contributions. Together we can shape the future of privacy and decentralisation.

Alexander Linton

President of the Session Technology Foundation