Tue 08 December 2015 by Laura Gaetano
Introducing the Admiral of the Clouds
We're back for our second team member introduction: Christoph Witzany. Christoph is the original visionary behind the idea of CloudFleet (of which he is the founder) and is originally from Klagenfurt. A lover of decentralization and software development, while growing up he split his time between chess, programming Conway's Game of life or galaxy simulations, and physics.
Business and Engineering
Backed by his studies in Computer Science and Economics, he combines the skills of an engineer with the vision and know-how of a business man. First engineer of CloudFleet, he created and implemented the basic architecture of the software that runs on CloudFleet devices. "I also designed the workflows that make sure the privacy of our users is protected at the maximum possible level", he says about his role. Passionate about decentralization and Computer Security, he is convinced that CloudFleet is needed. "CloudFleet enables everybody to take back the control over their data."
The importance of privacy
He still remembers being told one evening that people would not care about his vision of a decentralized cloud. "The next morning I woke up to Snowden's revelations about mass surveillance." As Chief Visionary of CloudFleet, he puts focus on decentralization and cloud computing, and envisions a world where privacy is still a human right. He says so very clearly: "I think the centralization of power that is brought on by government and corporate surveillance is a danger to human freedom."
Outside the Cloud
Besides building MVPs for startups – past examples include treats., crosho, fittrack – and focusing on CloudFleet, he loves dancing. "I competed in latin ballroom dances and Rock'n'Roll acrobatics and with the right music my feet just won't keep still", he says when asked about his passion for dance. "To quote Emma Goldman: A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having." After training the body, comes training the mind. Christoph also loves good stories and writing: "whenever I find time I work on my novel."