cDc launches Veilid, a free and secure app framework

A group of hackers who call themselves Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) has developed an open-source tool for developers to create apps that respect user privacy and security. The tool, named Veilid, was unveiled at DEF CON, a hacker convention held in Las Vegas, on Friday.

The group has created a coding framework that can be used by app developers who want to use strong encryption and avoid revenue from ads that are based on users’ profiles derived from the data that most apps collect.

As Engadget reports, cDc leader, Katelyn “medus4” Bowden, said that the group’s vision for the internet was different from the current reality. “We feel that at some point, the internet became less of a landscape of knowledge and idea sharing and more of a monetized corporate machine,” she said. “Our idea of what the internet should be looks more like the open landscape it once was before our data became a commodity.”