Anti-Facebook Campaign Generates Cash for Students

[pioneer]

Four students in New York have raised $200,000 (£136,000) to build an open alternative to Facebook.

Diaspora describes itself as a "privacy-aware, personally-controlled" social network.

The students used the fundraising site Kickstarter to raise a total of $200,642 to build the technology.

The project came to attention following attacks on Facebook for its privacy policies that it was eventually forced to change.

Before the funding closed, the team wrote: "You may not hear too much from us in the coming months and we will try our best to provide regular updates, but our silence means we are hard at work." - BBC