Techrights in a Nutshell, in Very Generic Terms
Techrights "for dummies"
We're 5 months away from our twentieth anniversary (or birthday of Techrights). Later this month we'll improve the site some more and we're still drafting an introduction which targets an audience previously unaware of the site and its history (it ought to be vendor-neutral, no names of people, companies, or products), seeing that it's imperative to have such an introduction for people who don't understand technical jargon but are nevertheless interested in critique of modern technology or abusive "tech giants". This is the latest iteration:
Techrights is an online community and platform that came together in 2006 (with some precursors in newsgroups). It is large and fast-growing because it covers topics many other platforms are too afraid to cover. Starting with a narrower focus following major obstacles, it was renamed to cover a broader range of topics in 2010, became more mainstream around 2015, and then began focusing on video publication around 2020 in response to COVID-19 lock-downs, impacting how work was done all across the world (more indoor time).
Techrights is a large hub for investigative journalism and critical assessment of "tech giants" or monopolies, patents on software, and all forms of corruption. It routinely offers a voice to whistleblowers who no other site would entertain or have the courage to speak for.
Techrights exists and thrives owing to its large and very principled community, including informants and whistleblowers. It does not seek popularity or affirmation from "Establishment" outlets; it serves as an independent alternative to these. It's a hub for suppressed information and it uses less conventional means to spread this information unimpeded.
In spite of technical attacks (e.g. DDoS attacks since 2008), legal attacks, and well-sponsored (by "tech giants") attacks on the reputation of Techrights, the platform continues to deliver information and moreover attracts new sources of information.
While a lot of its operators prefer to keep their anonymity (if unmasked, they would almost certainly face harassment and reprisal), the public faces of the site are not publicity-shy and have devoted their entire time to the unique causes.
Techrights promotes self-hosting, publication that is robust to censorship, absolute protection for whistleblowers, and resistance to injustice (including bullying in all its forms).
Curation of links (news) by Techrights is an activity nearly as old as the Web site and it's regarded as increasingly relevant due to rapid decline in quality of material online, due primarily to spamfarms, SEO, social control media clickbait, and LLM slop.
For 20 years the community's work was a living testament to the world's sudden neglect if not abandonment of public interest journalism. A lot of sites are more interested in spreading the soundbites of large corporations that sponsor them, not question whether it's truthful or not. Techrights isn't a niche site, it just happens to cover many niche topics that are subjected to rampant censorship, ridicule, and straw man arguments. █
Image source: Techrights Turns 18