The Project Liberty Alliance consists of over 100 organizations—tech companies, policy groups, impact initiatives, academic institutions, and more—committed to a people-powered internet.

The Alliance serves as a learning and collaboration engine through which members of the community can advance their organizational goals, all while strengthening the overlaps in our missions. It is designed as a way to share learnings, build relationships, and spark collaborations throughout the responsible tech ecosystem and related fields.

Source: Website

The Project Liberty Institute is an independent 501(c)(3) at the center of the global effort to build an open, pro-human AI ecosystem. We bring together technologists, researchers, policymakers, investors, and civic leaders to ensure that people have a voice, choice, and stake in the future of AI.

Our work spans three areas: building open technology infrastructure that puts people in control of their data and digital identity, advancing policy frameworks that align legal code with technical architecture, and generating the research and models that prove pro-human AI can be technically excellent and commercially competitive.

Joe Riley is the Chief Executive Officer at Project Liberty and Project Liberty Labs where he leads the team building solutions that empower individuals to exercise greater autonomy and control over their data, translating principles into practical, consumer-facing solutions.

Outside of his position at Project Liberty, he is the Chief Financial and Operating Officer at McCourt Global. He joined the McCourt enterprise in 2019 and oversees the financial management of McCourt’s portfolio in Europe and the United States. He previously served as Managing Member and Chief Administrative Officer of the Psilos Group, a healthcare-focused private equity firm. There, he oversaw finance and treasury operations, fundraising and investor relations, regulatory compliance, infrastructure, and administration. Joe spent six years at PwC, where he served as a key accounting partner to Apollo, advising them on buyout transactions in the healthcare and media sectors.

He holds a MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS from Georgetown University.

Braxton Woodham, Co-Founder of Frequency, is a technology leader with 20+ years of experience building scalable platforms. At Project Liberty, he develops infrastructure for decentralized social networking.

Previously, he led product and technology at Fandango, co-founded Sun Basket and kuma.capital, and built Tap11, a real-time media analytics platform. He also held key roles at Sony Music and InfoSpace.

Braxton began his career as a Lead Propulsion Engineer for Atlas missions and served as a U.S. Air Force Captain. He holds a BE in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Source: Coindesk

Sarah Nicole is a governance specialist bridging the technical and policy worlds of emerging technologies. She has shaped tech policy at Microsoft during France’s EU presidency in 2022 and supported Huawei’s public affairs and cybersecurity strategy. She frequently publishes and speaks publicly on the governance of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, decentralized systems, quantum computing, and immersive environments. She serves as an Expert Next Generation of Emerging and Critical Digital Technologies for the European Commission, and a Point of contact Data Governance for the Internet Technical Advisory Committee at the OECD. Sarah Nicole also dedicated a decade to leading Graine d’Orateur 93, a nonprofit equipping students with rhetoric and critical thinking skills. This led her to co-create “J’Aime à Dire,” France’s first public television program giving young people a platform to debate without competition.

As Policy & Research Manager at Project Liberty Institute, Sarah designs governance frameworks for open protocols such as the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP) alongside Internet pioneers. Through strategic international initiatives, she advances human-centered data governance and business models. She works closely with governments and international organizations to help shape better digital systems for citizens.

Her international experience spans Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Boston, Shanghai, and Washington D.C. She holds Master’s degrees from Sciences Po in European Affairs and Digital Policy, and from Shanghai JiaoTong University in International Relations, with executive education from MIT and Kyoto University.

Paul Fehlinger is Senior Director of Policy, Investment & Innovation at Project Liberty Institute, where he leads global strategic initiatives at the intersection of capital, entrepreneurship, and governance to shape the future of the AI and data economy. He works with institutional LPs, venture investors, family offices, founders, and policymakers across North America, Europe, and Asia to advance investment frameworks, governance models, and incentives that influence how technology is built and scaled.

His insights on tech, investment, and governance have been featured by The Economist, The New York Times, Politico, Fortune, New Private Markets, ImpactAlpha, or Mary Meeker. He frequently speaks at leading investor, policy, and technology forums, including SuperVenture, Private Equity International, FRAME, Norrsken Impact Week, and the AI Action Summit. He has served on advisory groups for the World Economic Forum and other international initiatives. He is also the publisher of VC+POLICY and works with Harvard and the Hertie School on venture and regulated markets.

Previously, Paul spent over a decade as an entrepreneur, co-founding and scaling a pioneering global multistakeholder platform for cross-border digital markets, partnering with senior leaders across governments, leading technology companies, and institutions, including the UN, OECD, EU, and G7.

Frequency is a blockchain designed to support decentralized social networks to give people control over their online presence. With Frequency, users can freely choose and connect on social apps while retaining ownership of their data.

Built on the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), Frequency offers scalable tools for message discovery, flexible storage for social and identity data, and a unique cost-sharing model that allows apps to deliver smooth, secure experiences that put users in charge.

The internet as we know it is broken. Here’s how we can seize back control of our lives from the corporate algorithms and create a better internet—before it’s too late.

Project Liberty builds solutions that advance human agency and flourishing in an AI-powered world.
The Project Liberty Institute is a nonprofit research and convening hub that advances democratic values and governance to shape a people-centered digital economy.

Technology: Frequency gives people control over their interactions with AI and social platforms.

Governance: Uniting frontier tech and policy to build a people-centered digital future.

Community:  Bringing together 150+ organizations to align AI and innovation with humanity’s interests.

Source: Project Liberty

Your weekly briefing on AI, tech policy, and digital rights so that you can help shape how the future gets built.

Project Liberty is a global initiative dedicated to ensuring that artificial intelligence advances human flourishing. Founded in 2019 by civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt, Project Liberty operates at the intersection of technology, policy, and civic life to shape how AI is built, governed, and experienced.

This Substack is where we report on the forces remaking the internet and what’s being done about it. We cover the intersection of technology, power, and democracy—tracking how AI is reshaping society, how platforms are held accountable, and how the policies and infrastructure being built today will determine who controls our digital future.

Lara Galinsky
Executive Director, Project Liberty Alliance

The DSNP Advisors assist the Project Liberty Institute with its research into Decentralized Social Network Protocols.

CURRENT ADVISORS
David Clark is a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School.
Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland has helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India, and is  a HAI Fellow at Stanford.
Deb Roy is professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT where he directs the MIT Center for Constructive Communication (CCC).
Wendy Seltzer is a lawyer and technologist, currently consulting through the Law Office of Wendy Seltzer
Audrey Tang is a Taiwanese politician and free software programmer who served as the first Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan from August 2022 to May 2024.

In this post are short summaries of each DSNP Advisor with a link to a profile post with more detailed information