I am very keen on the idea of a decentralised web, insofar as that is possible (centralisation due to ISPs, data centres, DNS servers, etc. notwithstanding), and while I love the idea of 100% peer-to-peer communication, I don’t believe it is a feasible way to organised the web. I don’t really have the technical expertise to argue the details of crypto/blockchain-based Internets, but from what I see regularly on Hacker News I am certainly not a proponent of those technologies for this particular issue.
I should point out that this isn’t entirely about privacy - though I do care about being able to maintain the privacy of internet users - nor is it entirely about P2P protocols - but I do think those are pretty cool! Rather, what I want to see is a way to enable access to an internet that has personality instead of branding, that is organic instead of defined by market studies and A/B testing.
Given how much technology is in our lives now, how defined by it we have become, I suspect we would all be better off being at least somewhat familiar with the workings of the internet; in particular, with how we are able to express ourselves on this medium without explicit reliance on third-party controls. What I mean by this is depending on TikTok, Google, Microsoft, etc. for access to the largest communication network in existence seems like a poor choice.
Not that I would like to propose we all become experts in IT or networking wizards. Far from it: learning how to host a simple website - such as this blog - on a Raspberry Pi or a small node on a Linode VPS is a relatively small time investment for near complete control of at least one slice of our digital presence. There are even companies, such as KubeSail, that manage and integrate the deployment of web applications on homeservers.
Ultimately, what I want is for each of us to have control over our identity and how that identity is expressed. By hosting or managing our own slice of the internet, that identity can truly come forth, change, and evolve - not just by the content itself but by the aesthetic of the site, by the way we interact with it (as opposed to the algorithm-driven way in which we interact with, say, Facebook). After all, I imagine most of us are interested in people (hence the popularity of social networks) and not so much in corporations. What if instead of being told who we are and what we want by algorithms and corporations with vast resources we could simply choose who we want to be by manner of expressing that very idea?
For example, in making this very blog I spent a couple of days looking around for frameworks or guidance that could help me deploy what I want. There are many guides and walkthroughs on blog creation, but the vast majority of them have titles such as “How to Start a Blog (and Make Money)” or “How to Motivate Yourself For Blogging When No One Knows You”. Invariably, these guides offer guidance on free services that allow the inclusion of various analytics, advertisements and constant eye on audience growth and revenue creation. Indeed, even the very frameworks that are offered for those who are more tech savvy are often platforms, such as Ghost.
I understand the need for such services when trying to create a presence online for a particular business, for marketing of a specific service, etc. However, finding a reliable and simply way to express oneself online without reliance on third-parties, without trying to get more subscribers or increase membership sign up, is surprisingly difficult.
I don’t believe that the community I’d like to see would be very difficult to create. A community like that would not be too difficult to create - using Matrix protocols for instant communication, RSS feeds for expressions that want more permanence. Running servers on Linode, or having them managed by KubeSail can help close the gap - indeed, publishing via the Indie Web is a very good solution.
All we have to do is focus on ourselves and others, rather than on products and companies.