Dat is a community-driven project for distributed data syncronization. The Dat Foundation imagines a web of commons created by global communities on open and secure protocols. We set out to improve access to public data and created a new protocol along the way, read more at datprotocol.com. In our work on developing Dat, we found a under-served need. User-driven software has potential to return control of digital information to the people. Today, building peer-to-peer applications presents both technical and ethical challenges but Dat is slowly changing that.
To encourage people to experiment and innovate with peer-to-peer technology, we aim to make Dat foundational software for peer-to-peer applications – one that is sponsored by a mission-driven nonprofit. To realize this future, we aim to make Dat good at supporting the core needs of peer-to-peer applications. We hope that with our small but critical focus, we can create a strong building block for the Dat ecosystem.
The first code went into Dat on August 17, 2013. Throughout its history, Dat has had a primary focus on Dat sharing in civic data and research, only recently with a wider focus on more general user-owned applications. Dat has been almost exclusively funded by grants from private foundations, read more on the funding history.
Supporters
Dat Foundation is sponsored by Code for Science & Society, a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We received initial funding from the Knight Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
