"Why Privacy Starts with Consent, Not Code", - Tessa Brown CEO & co-founder of Germ Network

Tue, Dec 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

In this Privacy Academy Interview, Tessa Brown, CEO & co-founder of Germ Network, shares her unlikely path from creative writing and academia to building an end-to-end encrypted messenger. She talks about designing communication tools that respect consent, the importance of fun and accessibility in privacy tech, and how human-centered design can bridge the gap between creative culture and deep tech. Germ Network lets you connect without phone numbers, control who can reach you, and even chat privately via your Bluesky handle. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Who is Tessa Brown & what is Germ Network 00:35 – What Germ does: End-to-end encrypted messaging & Bluesky integration 01:25 – From creative writing & academia to building deep tech 02:40 – How privacy and writing intersect: ownership, authorship & control 03:40 – The advertising model & how it manipulates relationships 04:35 – Why communication tools should be built around encryption 05:30 – The bridge between humanities & engineering: learning from both sides 06:40 – Accessibility, fun & why privacy tech must meet people where they are 07:45 – Becoming an entrepreneur: bravery, community & building in public 09:00 – Gender, queerness & diversity in tech and privacy spaces 10:25 – Rethinking privacy through interpersonal consent & boundaries 11:50 – Dreaming the future: a consensual internet where you control your access 13:00 – What being a “cypherpunk” means today 14:15 – Cultural picks: Octavia Butler, Orwell, sci-fi & finding focus in the attention economy 15:45 – Closing thoughts: privacy, joy & control in a distracted world .. This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews – a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!