We were already building PigeonBox — self-hosted infrastructure, degoogled devices, open source replacements for everything Google.
Then someone asked the obvious question: what is your Zoom alternative on this stack?
Jitsi. Open source, self-hosted, works. Then the harder question:
What happens to the data on the server hosting it?
That question punched through everything. Securing the app was not enough. The internet itself is the surveillance layer. Some VPNs you trust are owned by Facebook. Others actively surveil their own users.
We have to secure the whole path. Device to network to infrastructure. No gaps.
We could not trust a single VPN. But there was an open source alternative. VLESS, also known as Xray. An encrypted tunnel through the internet, not around it.
So what was the alternative to Jitsi and Zoom?
Keet. Serverless and peer-to-peer. Runs on your phone or laptop. Nothing to subpoena while your data is in transit.
And how do you secure the device itself?
GrapheneOS. Device-first security. No Google. No backdoors. No data leaving before it reaches your infrastructure.
Proton for email. Self-hosted everything else.
We are not spies. We are not criminals. We just followed the question to its logical conclusion.
PigeonBox is that conclusion.