Right, thanks. I’m at the point where I think it would be just easier to redesign the internet than try to “fix” the way services currently run on the internet.
Have there been any suggestions of creating a new internet protocol or interoperability standard for the purpose of improving privacy and being more humane? It seems to me that the internet is more than ready to evolve to some next level, it’s just that at the moment the next level doesn’t seem to exist.
As many have suggested, I would think a new internet standard could let users keep their own data, probably on trusted third party cloud services. Any internet services would only ever be able to “borrow” your data and only when you allow it, and these services would have to agree to the terms that they can use this information for nothing and must not save it. For example, if you purchased something online they would never even know your email address. If you posted something to a social network, they would never have any information at all, it would all be stored in your own cloud services and you could move it or delete it at any time. The data could be stored and served privately from your cloud(s), say in JSON format with an open and interoperable format similar to schema.org. New businesses could be built on top of this and attract many new users.