My name is Barry. I’m a Canadian designer and developer, and I’ve spent my career designing and building digital products for people all over the world. I’ve worked across startups, agencies, and companies often in situations where technology had real consequences for how people worked, communicated, or stored their information.
cDox didn’t begin as a business idea. It began as a question that kept resurfacing as my work evolved and as the world around us changed. Why do so many of our most important documents live somewhere we rarely think about, governed by rules we didn’t choose, under systems we barely understand? For a long time, I accepted that as the cost of convenience. Most of us did.
Working globally changed how I thought about data
Because I work internationally, the way I think about data has changed. I’ve seen how different legal systems treat information, how political climates shape infrastructure, and how quickly assumptions fall apart once you step outside a single country or regulatory framework.
In some places, people assume their data is protected because strong privacy laws exist. In others, people assume the opposite and behave accordingly. The tools may look identical, but the experience of trust is completely different.
Data stops feeling abstract when you realize it lives in physical places. Servers sit in real buildings, in real countries, subject to real laws. Once you internalize that, phrases like “the cloud” start to feel misleading.
The moment we are in now
We are living in a time of increasing geopolitical tension, shifting trade relationships, and growing scrutiny of large technology platforms. At the same time, our digital lives are more centralized than ever. A small number of companies now hold an extraordinary amount of personal, professional, and institutional data.
This is not a prediction about the future. It is a description of the present.
I am not interested in fear-based narratives about technology. But I do think it is reasonable to ask whether our current defaults still make sense, especially when the stakes are rising and the systems we rely on are becoming more opaque rather than more transparent.
The problem with big tech
Most people do not choose where their data lives. They choose tools that work, tools that are familiar, tools that are fast. Google Docs is a good product. It is reliable, collaborative, and deeply integrated into how many of us work. That convenience comes with trade-offs that are rarely visible at the moment of choice. Jurisdiction, data residency, and long-term access are abstract concepts until they are not.
We have normalized the idea that our most important documents can live anywhere, under any legal system, without us ever being asked if that is acceptable.
Data sovereignty in plain language
Data sovereignty simply means that data is subject to the laws of the country where it is hosted. Those laws determine who can access it, how it is protected, and what recourse exists if something goes wrong. This isn’t about borders for their own sake. It’s about making sure the rules governing your data are clear, enforceable, and aligned with the values of the place providing the service. This distinction matters even when data is physically hosted in Canada, because services built on U.S.-based cloud providers such as AWS remain subject to U.S. corporate governance and U.S. law, regardless of where individual servers are located.
Why this matters for Canada
In Canada, we tend to assume a baseline of privacy and public accountability. We expect our healthcare data, financial records, and personal information to be handled with care. Many people assume the same is true for their digital documents.
In practice, much of that data leaves the country instantly. It is stored, processed, and governed elsewhere. That disconnect between expectation and reality matters, especially for individuals, organizations, and institutions that operate under Canadian privacy obligations.
cDox is my response to that gap.
What cDox is, and what it is not
cDox started with a simple question. Why is there no straightforward document tool that keeps Canadian data in Canada? Not a sprawling platform. Not an ecosystem. Just a calm, reliable place to write and collaborate, built with clear boundaries and transparent infrastructure choices. I was not interested in competing on features. I was interested in offering an alternative that respected location, law, and trust as first-class concerns rather than afterthoughts.
cDox is intentionally simple. It is not trying to replace every workflow or outpace existing tools. It is not built for aggressive growth or global dominance. It is built for people who care where their data lives and want that choice to be explicit. It is designed to be boring in the best way possible. Predictable, transparent, and dependable.
cDox is not for everyone, and it does not need to be. This is not a call to abandon existing tools overnight. It is an invitation to think more carefully about where we place our work and why. Asking where your data lives should not feel radical. It should feel normal.