Just skimmed the comments (I know, I know, never read the comments) but here are couple of facts in case you care about that sort of thing (but please don’t let these get in the way of a lively discussion) ;)
- re: drug dealers/users, see: analogy
- Yes, six years ago, we thought we could fix the problem with a phone. Then we started working on the problem and realised we couldn’t possibly raise enough money to do so, then we did a crowdfunding campaign that never included the phone (we promised the alpha of an initial peer-to-peer Mac-based social networking client and promised to keep working on the problem, both of which we delivered on). Also, anyone who asked for a refund from the crowdfunding for any reason got one. If I could do it again, we wouldn’t have held the crowdfunding and I wouldn’t have started on Mac. But this was all part of the process of us learning about the problem.
- It wasn’t on Kick Starter, we built our own crowdfunding system because I wasn’t happy with how Kick Starter, etc., were gathering data (we didn’t want your privacy violated for trying to support us)
- Since then, I’ve sold the three family homes we had (apartments in Turkey, total worth about ~€200,000 or so) and we’ve kept working on the same problem for the past six/seven years with the the initial crowdfunding + those funds + sales of our tracker blocker (Better Blocker) on Mac/iOS + professional speaking fees when we speak at conferences, etc. + donations to our not-for-profit (which basically pay our hosting fees every month).
- Unless IndieWeb is suddenly about building single-tenant web nodes as part of a peer-to-peer future / topologically decentralised Web for everyday people, I don’t see how it’s the same as Small Web. If that is what they’re about now, then sure but, last I checked, they thought we were deranged zealots for publicly calling out Google, Facebook, etc., for being surveillance capitalists.
- Re: not having done anything since: we created Better Blocker, I personally spoke at over 50 events to raise awareness of the issue, including three times at the European Parliament, I spearheaded the creation of progressive tech policy at one of Europe’s most progressive political movements, and we worked with the City of Ghent on evolving what is now Site.js and the Small Web initiative.
- Finally, someone mentioned that some “privacy projects” say “Don't trust others, trust us.” If anyone tells you that, don’t trust them. We know how to, can, should be (and are) building technology where you don’t have to trust us.
Also, PS:
Small Web is not about having your own Static Web page or having yet another tool for geeks. It’s not about going back to the 90s (been there, was fun, wouldn’t want to go back), it’s about taking the best of that ethos and implementing it for 2020 and beyond. Right now, I’m trying to build a tool for developers (including us) so that we can use it to build everything things for everyday people that don’t require a Faustian pact to give up your privacy, freedom of speech, or your personhood to use.
Whether or not this “succeeds”, who knows? But we’re sharing everything we make under AGPL and trying to share every brick in this bridge we’re trying to build between where we are (the sewer that is surveillance capitalism) and where we want to be in hopes that if the stuff we build doesn’t work, at least others can use the tools to build other solutions.
Here’s a recent talk if you’d like to learn more about what we’re working on:
You don’t have to like what we do and you definitely don’t have to like me but I do hope that you will consider the ideas (and ideals) we’re working towards.
Your coworker gets it :) It’s simply a matter of business models – you don’t even have to like Apple or think they’re lovely people (everyone I’ve met there has been).
Google’s business model is to digitise you and own that digital copy. They use this proxy of you to manipulate and exploit your behaviour for profit and to indirectly rent access to aspects of you to their customers (currently, advertisers).
Apple’s business model, on the other hand, is to make great tools and sell them to you at a price that makes them happy.
(So if you were to buy an Android phone and never use it, Google would be very unhappy. If you buy an Apple phone and never use it, Apple’s still made their profit.)
To cut a long story short, privacy is an absolute competitive advantage for Apple. It is a thing that they can compete on without breaking a sweat (as it doesn’t impact their bottom line negatively) whereas, if Google was to try, they would go bankrupt (as their business model depends on profiling you and violating your privacy).
All you need to understand to grok why Apple is protecting your privacy is that multibillion-dollar corporations don’t get an absolute competitive advantage over their main rivals everyday and – if you do find one – you’d have to be an absolute idiot to squander it. (And I don’t believe the folks at Apple are idiots.)
So yes, Apple’s systems are proprietary and closed, and no, you don’t have to love everything they do, but when it comes to protecting your privacy, all you need to do is trust that under our current system of capitalism, a publicly-traded corporation won’t act against the interests of its bottom line/the interests of their shareholders to squander an absolute competitive advantage against its main rival.
(PS. Longer term, I hope that we will radically alter the topology of technology so that we are not reliant on a handful of kings – benevolent or otherwise – to safeguard our rights. That’s what the Internet of People initiative we just launched with DiEM25 in Europe is all about: https://ar.al/notes/towards-an-internet-of-people-with-diem2...)
Indeed :) And thanks for the heads up, Arthur. Was a bit of debugging code left in by mistake. Fixed it when I was skimming these comments yesterday but haven’t had a chance to reply and say thanks until now :)
Just skimmed the comments (I know, I know, never read the comments) but here are couple of facts in case you care about that sort of thing (but please don’t let these get in the way of a lively discussion) ;)
Also, PS:
Small Web is not about having your own Static Web page or having yet another tool for geeks. It’s not about going back to the 90s (been there, was fun, wouldn’t want to go back), it’s about taking the best of that ethos and implementing it for 2020 and beyond. Right now, I’m trying to build a tool for developers (including us) so that we can use it to build everything things for everyday people that don’t require a Faustian pact to give up your privacy, freedom of speech, or your personhood to use.
Whether or not this “succeeds”, who knows? But we’re sharing everything we make under AGPL and trying to share every brick in this bridge we’re trying to build between where we are (the sewer that is surveillance capitalism) and where we want to be in hopes that if the stuff we build doesn’t work, at least others can use the tools to build other solutions.
Here’s a recent talk if you’d like to learn more about what we’re working on:
https://small-tech.org/videos/eastern-partnership-civil-soci...
You don’t have to like what we do and you definitely don’t have to like me but I do hope that you will consider the ideas (and ideals) we’re working towards.