Awesome Humane Tech

Contents

• About this list
• Community
• Humane design
• Ethics
• Security
• Privacy
• Tracking
• Consent
• Analytics
• Blocklists
• Fediverse
• Social networks
• Translation
• Freedom
• Geolocation
• Voice Assistants
• Internet of Things
• Gamification
• Health
• Mindfulness
• Inclusion
• Awareness
• Censorship
• Unmaintained
• Related awesomeness
• Contributing

About this list

Tech and social media is having a big impact on our society. While many innovative technology inventions are improving our lives, there is increasing awareness on negative impacts that come with these trends, such as large-scale privacy invasion, surveillance capitalism, and tech monopolies. They lead to social media addiction, mental health issues, and are even eroding the fabric of our society.

This list aggregates open-source projects that are directly related to humane tech topics. Please read the guidelines for contributing before sending your PR's.

Important: The resources presented below were collected in good faith by the contributors to this list in hopes they may prove useful to you. But as per the License we can give no guarantees on the quality or fitness of the software that is referenced. This list is not authoritative, merely informative. So inform yourself properly, and if you encounter something that is inappropriate or wrong, then please file an issue in our Issue Tracker so we can take appropriate action. Thank you!

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Community

Our mission is: To Help Improve Wellbeing, Freedom and Society!

We gladly invite you to our Humane Tech Community Forum to read more about interesting Humane Technology subjects, participate in our discussions, and become a true ❤️ Humane Tech Activist!

You can also follow us on the fediverse at @[email protected].

Humane design

Humane design is a subset of humane technology and an upcoming field in information technology. Resources in this space are tracked separately in a curated list that is part of the delightful project on Codeberg.

• delightful-humane-design - A curated list of humane design resources for UX designers and developers.
• delightful-small-ai - A curated list of open humane artificial intelligence resources.

Ethics

• Machine Learning Ethics References - Machine Learning and Data Science discrimination, bias and ethics.
• WikiTruth - A Wikipedia and Quora-like system with a vetting mechanism to verify facts from trash.
• Programmer's Oath - An ethics oath for programmers, comparable to the Hippocratic Oath.
• Ethical Design Manifesto - The Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for sites and projects practicing ethical design.
• Ethical OS Toolkit - A guide to anticipating the future impact of today's technology.
• ACM Code of Ethics - The Association for Computing Machinery's code of ethics and professional conduct.
• Ethics Pledge - Global initiative aimed to adopt our ethical framework and principles into your data work.
• Hippocratic Oath for Technologists - An optional oath for building ethically considered experiences.
• IoT Design Manifesto - A code of conduct for everyone involved in developing the Internet of Things.
• The Critical Engineering Manifesto - A manifesto of critical thinking concepts applied to engineering attitude.
• The Digital Product Ethics Canvas - Identify and mitigate the risk of digital products to individuals and society.
• Fairwork Foundation - A project working to set and measure standards and certification in the platform economy.
• Guidelines for Trustworthy AI - Guidelines based on fundamental rights and ethical principles for trustworthy AI.
• Ethical Web Dev - A guide for ethical website development and maintenance.
• Declaration of Digital Autonomy - Our technology must respect the rights and freedoms of people who use it.
• A New Digital Manifesto - Our inalienable rights within the digital age.
• Society Centered Design - Move beyond human-centered design. We must design for the collective, for society.

Security

Security is an important aspect of humane technology. It is also a vast field we leave to the experts. For a good top-level entrypoint please refer to:

• awesome security - Software, libraries, documents, books, resources and cool stuff about security.

Privacy

• Privacy Guides - Knowledge and tools to protect your privacy against global mass surveillance.
• Privacy Respecting - A curated list of privacy-respecting Services and Software.
• Ungoogled Chromium - Chromium without Google integration, enhancing privacy, control, transparency
• Signal - Signal is a messaging app for simple private communication with friends.
• Local Sheriff - Browser extension to help identify what sensitive information (PII) is shared / leaked to 3rd-parties.
• Webbkoll - An online tool that checks how a website is doing with regards to privacy.
• PrivacyScore - A web privacy measurement platform.
• arkenfox user.js - A user.js template for configuring and hardening Firefox privacy, security and anti-fingerprinting.
• user.js - Configuration for Firefox to harden browser settings and make it more secure.
• Decentraleyes - Browser extension that emulates Content Delivery Networks to improve your online privacy.
• User-Agent Switcher - Browser extension allows posing as another browser by changing User-Agent header.
• Random User-Agent - Browser extension that automatically replaces User-Agent after a specified time interval.
• Smart Referer - Browser extension that automatically hides the referer when changing domains.
• Canvas Blocker - Browser extension that prevents fingerprinting via Javascript Canvas API.
• Disable WebRTC - Browser extension to disable WebRTC to avoid leaking IP address from behind a VPN.
• Syncthing - Replaces proprietary cloud services to synchronize files across multiple devices, decentralized.
• Tox - A peer-to-peer instant messenger aimed at making security and privacy easy to obtain for regular users.
• Oversec - Android app that captures and encrypts texts you type, then passes it to the actual app.
• Cloud Firewall - Addon that enables to choose & block top 5 cloud companies based on their IPv4/6 ranges.
• Librefox - A project that aims at enforcing privacy and security of Firefox without forking the project.
• amp2html - Browser extension to automatically redirect Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to the actual page.
• Location Privacy - Privacy filters for shared location links.
• DeepPrivacy - A fully automatic face anonymization technique for images and video.
• PrivacyFlash Pro - Generate a privacy policy for your iOS app from its code.
• Reveal Frame Component - A privacy-minded iFrame placeholder (JS script). Only loads after user consent.
• FreedomBox - Easy to manage, privacy oriented home server.
• EteSync - Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and privacy respecting sync for your contacts, calendars and tasks.
• Image Scrubber - A browser-based tool for anonymizing photographs and scrubbing EXIF metadata.
• LocalCDN - A browser extension that emulates Content Delivery Networks to improve your online privacy.
• Universal Android Debloater - Debloat non-rooted smartphones, to improve privacy, security and battery life.
• RethinkDNS - DNS over HTTPS and Tor, DNSCrypt client, firewall and connection tracker for Android.
• Databunker - Databunker is a network-based, self-hosted, GDPR compliant, secure storage for personal data.
• LuLu - A firewall that aims to block unknown outgoing connections, protecting your privacy and your Mac.
• pihole-antitelemetry - Block non-consensual telemetry Google and Apple are collecting using pihole.
• personalDNSfilter - A DNS filter proxy to filter unwished hosts based on a host list.

Tracking

• Privacy Badger - Privacy Badger by Electronic Frontier Foundation blocks spying ads and invisible trackers.
• uBlock Origin - An efficient blocker add-on for various browsers. Fast, potent, and lean.
• Exodus Privacy - Analyzes privacy concerns in Android applications.
• Exodus Android App - App for Exodus Privacy that lets you know what trackers are embedded in apps.
• Exodify - Wondering if an app is tracking you? Now you can see it directly in the Play store.
• Firefox Multi-Account Containers - Keep your online life separated into color-coded tabs that preserve privacy.
• Mozilla Facebook Container - Isolates Facebook activity from the rest of your web activity, to prevent tracking.
• Google Container - Isolates your Google activity from the rest of your web activity, to prevent tracking.
• Tracking Token Stripper - Browser extension that strips Google Analytics (UTM) tokens from URL query strings.
• SilverDog - An audio firewall to block ultrasound tracking applications.
• Blokada - A compact, fast ad blocker for Android that works for all apps and does not require root.
• Better - A privacy tool for Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac that blocks behavioral ads and trackers.
• Firefox ProfileMaker - A tool to create Firefox configuration profiles with good defaults.
• Searx - A trackerless, privacy-respecting metasearch engine that can be self-hosted.
• DNS66 - A DNS-based Host Blocker (and lightweight ad blocker) for Android.
• Cookie-AutoDelete - Browser extension that deletes cookies as soon as the tab closes, unless site is allowListed.
• ClearURLs - Addon that removes tracking elements form address bar URLs using 130 rules.
• Pi-hole - A DNS sinkhole to block ads or trackers on a local network without installing any client-side software.
• Shariff - Enables website users to share their favorite content without compromising their privacy.
• Social Share Privacy - jQuery plugin for adding social share buttons that don't allow social sites to track users.
• TrackMeNot - Browser extension that hides your real search-queries by adding noise and obfuscation.
• Deda - Printer tracking Dots Extraction, Decoding and Anonymisation toolkit.
• MailTrackerBlocker - An email tracker, read receipt and spy pixel blocker plugin for macOS Apple Mail.
• Warden - App management utility for Android that detects and disables trackers and loggers.
• TrackerControl - Monitor and control trackers and ads.
• Tracker Zapper - A menubar app for Mac to remove link tracking parameters automatically.

Consent

• re:consent - Browser plugin to view / change the consent you have given to websites for data processing.
• Trackless - Add a GDPR-friendly Google Analytics opt-in/opt-out button to your site.
• ConsentCookie - Customizable script that allow users to opt-in for cookies on a case-by-case basis.
• GDPR Transparency and Consent Framework - Help for compliance to EU data protection & privacy rules.
• Klaro - A simple and powerful tool to manage user consent on websites.

Analytics

• Matomo - The leading open alternative to Google Analytics that gives you full control over your data.
• Fair Analytics - A Google Analytics-alike server that doesn't undermine user's privacy.
• GoAccess - A real-time web log analyzer and interactive viewer that runs in a terminal or in a browser.
• Countly - A real-time, mobile & web analytics, rich push notifications and crash reporting platform.
• Ackee - Self-hosted Node.js based analytics tool for those who care about privacy.
• Koko Analytics - Plugin for WordPress that doesn't use external services and respects your visitors’ privacy.
• freshlytics - A self-hosted privacy-friendly, reliable and easy-to-deploy analytics service.
• Plausible Analytics - Simple, lightweight (< 1 KB) and privacy-friendly web analytics. Hosted in the EU.
• Goatcounter - Simple web statistics. No tracking of personal data.
• Open Web Analytics - Stay in control of how you instrument and analyze the use of websites and application.
• Shynet - Privacy-friendly and detailed web analytics that works without cookies or JS.
• PostHog - Developer-friendly, open-source product analytics.
• umami - A simple, fast, website analytics alternative to Google Analytics.
• AWStats - Free real-time logfile analyzer to get advanced statistics.
• Offen - Fair web analytics. Gain insights while your users have full control over their data.
• Kindmetrics - Privacy focused website analytics made in Crystal - Hosted in the EU.
• Counter - Web Analytics made simple and therefore privacy friendly.

Blocklists

• Hosts - Consolidates several reputable hosts files, and merges them into a single unified one.
• Blocklists - Shared lists of problem domains people may want to block with hosts files.
• Referrer Spam List - Community-contributed blocklist of referrer spammers.
• FilterLists - Directory of filter and host lists for advertisements, trackers, malware and annoyances.
• hosts-blocklists - A host and domainname based blocklist specifically designed for use with dnsmasq.
• All In One Customized Adblock List - Adblock list that thoroughly blocks trackers, ads, unwanted cookies.
• Web Annoyances Ultralist - Fix and remove annoying and distracting web elements from many websites.
• Wiper - Firefox extension that strips Google search results based on a blocklist you define.
• EasyList - Sets of rules that automatically remove unwanted content from the internet.
• Black Mirror - Automatically compiled and maintained malicious domain & IP blacklist.

Fediverse

The Fediverse is the place of hope for humane technology with regards to social networks. Only most well-known applications (taken from fediverse.party front-page) are shown. See Feneas Watchlists for a complete overview.

• Mastodon - Your self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community.
• Pleroma - A free, federated social microblogging server built on open protocols.
• PixelFed - A free and ethical photo sharing platform, powered by ActivityPub federation.
• PeerTube - ActivityPub-federated video streaming platform using P2P directly in your web browser.
• Funkwhale - A federated social platform to enjoy and share music.
• Socialhome - A federated personal profile with social networking functionality.
• Misskey - A forever evolving, sophisticated microblogging platform.
• Diaspora - A privacy-aware, distributed, open source social network.
• friendica - A decentralized social communications platform.
• GNU Social - The free/libre software social networking platform.
• Lemmy - A link aggregator / Reddit clone for the fediverse.

Social networks

• Humnub - A feature rich and highly flexible open-source Social Network Kit written in PHP.
• Patchwork - A decentralized messaging and sharing app built on top of Secure Scuttlebutt (SSB).
• Pump.io - A stream server that does most of what people really want from a social network.
• Facebook Demetricator - A web browser extension that removes all the metrics from the Facebook interface.
• Twitter Demetricator - A web browser extension that removes all the metrics on Twitter.
• News Feed Eradicator - A browser extension that replaces your Facebook news feed with a nice quote.
• Granary - The social web translator that breaks silo's by converting data between social networks.
• Neocities - Social network that brings back the lost individual creativity of the web.
• DeleteFB - Selenium script to delete all of your Facebook wall posts.
• Minimal Twitter - Minimal Theme for the new Twitter UI.
• Talk - An open-source commenting platform focused on better conversation.
• Invidious - An alternative front-end to YouTube without Ads.
• Delta Chat - Decentralized Whatsapp-like chat via email, without the tracking and central control.
• Nitter - An alternative Twitter front-end focused on privacy.
• Invidition - Firefox extension that redirects YouTube and Twitter requests to their alternatives.
• Bibliogram - An alternative front-end for Instagram.
• Privacy Redirect - Redirects Twitter, YouTube, Instagram & Google Maps requests to privacy friendly alternatives.
• UnTrackMe - App that transforms Twitter, YouTube links to Nitter, Invidious and delegates to another app.
• FreeTube - A private YouTube client for Windows, MacOS and Linux.
• NewPipe - A libre lightweight streaming YouTube alternative for Android.
• Tweak New Twitter - Browser extension to stay on Latest Tweets timeline, reduce "engagement", tone down UI.
• Barinsta - A libre, alternative, and lightweight Instagram client for Android.
• SocialAmnesia - Electron app to ensure your social media accounts only show your posts from recent history.
• YouTubeSearchFixer - Firefox addon to fix search, de-clutter home page and make UI less distracting.
• Teddit - Alternative Reddit front-end focused on privacy.
• Libreddit - Private Reddit front-end written in Rust.
• YouTube2PeerTube - A bot that automatically mirrors YouTube channels to PeerTube channels.
• Watomatic - Auto reply for WhatsApp so you can stop using it.
• Scribe - Privacy-respecting and minimal alternative front end for Medium.com.
• Piped - An alternative privacy-friendly YouTube frontend which is efficient by design.

Translation

• Lingva Translate - An alternative front-end for Google Translate.
• LibreTranslate - A self-hosted Machine Translation API, no limits, no ties to proprietary services.
• Argos Translate - Open source neural machine translation.
• gtranslate - Front-end for Google Translate that doesn't track you and works without JavaScript.
• SimplyTranslate - Simple front-end for SimplyTranslate, a facade to multiple search engines.

Freedom

• Alternative Internet - A collection of interesting new networks and tech aiming at decentralization.
• GlobaLeaks - Software intended to enable Secure and Anonymous Whistleblowing initiatives.
• SecureDrop - Whistleblower submission system to securily interact with anonymous sources.
• EdgeDeflector - Force Windows 10 to use your preferred web browser instead of Microsoft Edge.
• Wayback Everywhere - Redirect all pages to snapshots in Wayback Machine and auto-save pages.
• 996.ICU - Collection of resources advocating against 996 work schedule (9am – 9pm, 6 days per week).
• DeGoogle-FOSS - A list of free and open source software containing proprietary Google binaries.

Geolocation

• OpenStreetMap - A crowdsourced map of the world with many layers, free to use under an open licence.
• OSM StreetComplete - Surveyor app for Android to allow users to contribute to OpenStreetMap with ease.
• Mozilla Ichnaea - API to get geolocation coordinates from other sources (Bluetooth, cell or WiFi, GeoIP, etc).
• Qwant Maps - A map application, based on OpenStreetMap, that respects your privacy.
• Owntracks - A privacy-respecting mobile app that allows you to keep track of your own location.
• Hauk - A fully open source, self-hosted location sharing service.

Voice Assistants

• Almond - The Stanford open, privacy-preserving virtual assistent.
• Rhasspy - A fully offline voice assistant toolkit for many languages.
• Mycroft AI - The open and private voice assistant.

Internet of Things

• Home Assistant - Home automation that puts local control and privacy first.
• GadgetBridge - Replace gadget vendors' closed source Android apps (Pebble, Mi Band, Liveview, HPlus, etc).
• Gladys Assistant - A privacy-first, open-source home assistant.
• OpenRGB - Open source RGB lighting control that doesn't depend on manufacturer software.
• Jellyfin - A Software Media System that puts you in control of managing and streaming your media.

Gamification

• Security Belt - A framework for improving the IT-Security of your teams through gamification.
• Habitica - Gamify your life. Motivate yourself to achieve your goals.

Health

• Stanford HabitLab - Change your online habits, set goals, try interventions, view progress.
• redshift - Redshift adjusts the color temperature of your screen according to your surroundings.
• Safe Eyes - Safe Eyes is a tool for Linux users to reduce and prevent repetitive strain injury (RSI).
• Prisma Care - App to strengthen relationship between people with memory loss and people close to them.
• Loop Habit Tracker - An Android app for creating and maintaining good habits.
• If me - A community for mental health experiences encouraging people to share their stories with loved ones.
• Stretchly - A cross-platform app that reminds you to take breaks when working with your computer.
• ActivityWatch - An automated time-tracker that is cross-platform, extensible and privacy-focused.
• Red Moon - An android screen filter app for night time phone use.
• Workrave - A program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).
• Grayscale Mode - A macOS menu bar app that gives you more control over Grayscale Mode.
• FitoTrack - A privacy oriented Android fitness tracker for logging and viewing your workouts.
• OpenTracks - A sport tracking application that completely respects your privacy.
• Winddown - Write code and stay healthy. A VS Code extension that encourages you to take a break.
• dijo - A scriptable habit tracker that runs in your terminal.
• Golden Cheetah - Performance software for Cyclists, Runners and Triathletes that reads from many devices.
• gammastep - Linux tool to adjust the color temperature of your screen to your surroundings.
• MediLog - Android app to capture medical data, e.g. Blood Pressure and Weight as well as a simple Diary.

Mindfulness

• Mindfulness at the Computer - Helps you stay mindful of your breathing while using your computer.
• Chomper - Internet blocker for Linux with allowLists/blockLists and timer to be more productive at work.
• Jobs Done - A ritual app for ending the work day inspired by Deep Work.
• Break Timer - An application for taking periodic breaks and preventing RSI, eye-strain and tiredness.
• MindBell - Mindfulness bell and meditation timer for Android.
• Detoxify - Generate a fake app to replace any addictive app.
• Nudge - A Chrome extension that makes the internet less addictive.
• SelfControl - A macOS app that lets you block your own access to distracting websites and mail servers.
• DelayWebPage - A Firefox add-on that makes you wait before wasting time on the internet.
• Leechblock NG - A simple productivity tool designed to block time-wasting sites at the specified times.
• Introvert - Audiovisual experience encouraging to do, to focus, to relax while it generates a unique artwork.
• Slim Launcher - Replaces Android home screen with a minimalist version and a maximum of seven apps.
• Breathing: Exercise your breathing.

Happiness

• Happy DB - HappyDB is a corpus of 100,000+ crowd-sourced happy moments.

Inclusion

• AlexJS - Catch insensitive, inconsiderate writing.
• Buster - Browser extension and Captcha Solver for Humans.
• The A11Y Project - A community-driven effort to make web accessibility easier.
• IETF Inclusive Language - Terminology for inclusive language conventions (latest version on github).

Deaf and Hard of Hearing accessibility resources:

• Remote Workplace Communications Access - Recommendations for Employers In Times of Expanded Telework.
• Improving Virtual Workspace Meetings - Accessibility Tips for a Better Virtual Meeting Experience.

Awareness

• Hack the Media - Media literacy guide highlighting how our media sources can give a flawed worldview.
• Hack an Engineer - A media literacy guide for software engineers.
• Facebook Data Analyzer - Analyze the Facebook copy of your own data.
• HTTP Leaks - All possible ways, a website can leak HTTP requests.
• Who Tracks Me - Bringing Transparency to online tracking - built by Cliqz and Ghostery.
• Awful AI - A curated list to track current scary usages of AI - hoping to raise awareness.
• Firefox Lightbeam - Addon that visualizes Web requests between 1st and 3rd-party sites in real time.
• OpenWPM - Princeton Web Transparency & Accountability project, a privacy measurement framework.
• Email Privacy Tester - Check your email provider and client protection against many tracking techniques.
• Browser Autofill Phishing - Demonstrates phishing for autofilled form fields that are hidden to the user.
• Facebook Political Ad Collector - Browser extension to help ProPublica collect political ads on Facebook.
• Who Targets Me? - Browser extension that tracks which entities are targeting which demographics with ads.
• Where are the Eyes? - A program for detecting and mapping surveillance cameras.
• IMSI-Catcher Detector - An Android app to detect IMSI-Catchers aka Stingrays (project in Alpha).
• Dogsheep - Export data from big companies (e.g. Google, Twitter) into Sqlite for personal analytics.
• Tracking Exposed - Research, browser addons on tracking, profiling, and influence of algorithms.
• Social Media Awareness Toolkit - An open and intuitive way to scrutinize what’s trending on internet platforms.
• Deletion Day - A holiday on April 4th focused on the privacy concerns of today’s Internet.
• quitsocialmedia.club - resources on why it is important to quit mainstream social media + wonderful alternatives, and much more.

Censorship

• OONI Probe - Observation network to detect censorship, surveillance and traffic manipulation (first read risks).
• Green Tunnel - An anti-censorship utility designed to bypass ISPs that block access to certain websites.
• Wikiless - Alternative Wikipedia front-end focused on privacy and anti-censorship.

Unmaintained

This section is for inactive projects that are nonetheless still of interest regarding their topics or code.

• Wi-Fi Privacy Police - Prevent smartphone or tablet from leaking privacy sensitive information via Wi-Fi networks.
• Data Selfie - Track yourself on Facebook and analyze your data (server discontinued, code still usable).
• Breathe - Take a moment to breathe. A Pebble app for breathing, written in C.
• Mozilla Stumbler - A scanner that collects GPS and wireless network data for our crowd-sourced location db.

Related awesomeness

• Awesome Self-hosted - Locally hosting and managing applications instead of renting from SaaS providers.
• Awesome Decentralized - A curated list of decentralized, P2P, and distributed platforms and applications.
• Awesome Peer-to-peer - A curated list of peer-to-peer resources.
• Awesome Activism Tools - A curated list of awesome digital tools for activism.
• Awesome Empathy in Engineering - A curated list for building more compassionate engineering cultures.
• Awesome Diversity - A curated list of amazing articles, websites and resources about diversity in technology.
• Awesome Free Software - A curated list of free as in freedom software.
• Awesome Ad-Free - A curated list of ad-free alternatives to popular services on the web.
• Awesome Alternatives - A curated list of (F)OSS / Federated alternatives to proprietary software and services.
• Open Sustainable Technology - Projects preserving stable climate, energy supply and natural resources.
• Awesome Sustainable VPS - A list of sustainable VPS (Virtual Private Servers) providers.

Also check out these sites for great alternatives to the monopolistic, privacy-invading software you may now be using:

• degoogle - A huge list of alternatives to Google products. Privacy tips, tricks, and links.
• switching.software - Ethical, easy-to-use and privacy-conscious alternatives to well-known software.
• ReverseEagle-Developers - Privacy-conscious, ethical and safer alternatives to software for developers.
• ethical.net - Ethical alternatives & resources.
• JustPrivacy - An in-depth list of alternatives to Google and its products.
• Tromjaro Apps - A curated collection of trade-free applications.
• delightful project - Similar to awesome project, but only for FOSS, Open Data and Open Science.

Contributing

This list is maintained by Arnold Schrijver. Contributions are welcome! Read the contribution guidelines first.