This is a familiar pattern. There's a new website or app that's so good you just have to try it. It's free, so why not? You and millions of other people quickly become hooked on it, using it every day. But then everything starts to change.
Some of your favorite features are now only available for a fee. Ads start to interfere with your user experience. Everything is the same, only now a little worse, a little more corporate, a little less fun.
What has happened, to use a term coined by author Cory Doctorow, is “enschittification” (see Has life become crap today? Cory Doctorow's new book explores). Users are no longer a priority; there are shareholders.
The Internet is filled with examples of this, so much so that it now defines the history of the web itself. Most of us rely on just a few apps and websites owned by the tech giants, many of which aren't as good as they used to be.
As a result, according to Tim Berners-Lee, his creation, the World Wide Web, “causes both anxiety and joy.”
Damn words. But, as he explains in “Mostly this is good”: Tim Berners-Lee on the current state of the InternetIt shouldn't be like that. The problem is that we don't control our own data. We give it to technology companies. Leaving is hard; if you do this, you will lose this data.
“ Most of us rely on just a few apps, many of which aren't as good as they used to be. “
His solution is the so-called data module. Whenever you generate personal data, it goes into the module. You can then share it whenever you want, with whomever you want, but you can just as quickly revoke the sharing permissions and move your data elsewhere.
Data bundles would certainly make it easier to divest tech companies that are heading down the path of enchittification. Instead of being locked out, you can walk away and just take all your data with you. The bullwhip is in the hands of users to balance shareholder profits.
But how to imagine this? Berners-Lee believes a critical mass of early adopters will eventually be able to demand it, but tech companies are unlikely to voluntarily give up some of their control. What remains is the state. As governments increasingly look for ways to reduce the power of big tech companies, forcing them to take back control of our data would be a good start.
