privacyguides.org/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing Guidelines

Please read this before contributing.

Rules

• Be nice and respectful.
• English only.
• Be constructive.
• Please feel free to review changes in the files changed tab of any pull request at any time.
• See also our Code of Conduct

Quality over Quantity

We're trying to keep it simple and promote the best tools, not all of them.

Software Criteria

Main

• Easy to use. Could your mother use that tool or service? Usability is most important.
• Cross-platform / Accessible.
• Privacy respecting.
• Open Source / Free Software is preferred but not required.
• Prioritize Products without Vendor Lock-in (decentralized/self-hostable) or data interoperability.

There can be exceptions if no software is available that meet the criteria.

Note: This criteria applies to all of privacytools.io

Providers

• Prioritize Products by privacy respecting nationality.

DNS

• supports DoH or DoT (We love DNSCrypt, but there is already https://github.com/DNSCrypt/dnscrypt-resolvers which is directly supported by dnscrypt-proxy, so we don't consider useful to list providers only supporting it).
• supports DNSSEC (https://dnssec.vs.uni-due.de/ can test your current DNS provider).
• doesn't log IP addresses during normal operation (If your suggestion logs, please compare its privacy policy with other servers on our table that keep logs).
• preferably supports QNAME minimization (if you have access to the dig command, dig +short txt qnamemintest.internet.nl or Resolve-DnsName -Type TXT -Name qnamemintest.internet.nl if you are on Windows 10)

VPN

• Prioritize Products by privacy respecting nationality.
• Cannot be based in USA or UK.
• Must be accessible via Open Source Software (i.e OpenVPN, WireGuard)
• Use Encryption
• Accept Cryptocurrency
• No logging policy

Email

• Outside of USA
• Support SMTP SSL
• Accessable Using Open Source Software (i.e IMAP)

Hardware

• Must be H-Node Class A or equivalent (if applicable)
• Must prioritize hardware certifications like RYF, OSHWA, and OSI when avalible.
• Cannot lock users to a particular platform.

Software

• Must be able to download over encrypted network (can be a mirror)
• Must be Open Source Software

Encryption

• Only verifiable encryption is to be trusted

OSes

• Must state if recommends, depends on, or offers non-free software (contrib)
• No Tracking Policy (opt-in analytics is ok)

Images

• Provider logos are 200px x 70px (example)
• Tool logos are 120px x 120px (example)