>When the web started, you could make your own website so long as you had a computer and an internet connection (admittedly back then this was a big proviso). You could get a domain name like abc.com and put whatever you liked there. You could blog, and link to other blogs. You were part of an incredibly valuable thing from which you seemed to contribute a tiny bit and gain a great deal.
>That feeling of personal empowerment we sometimes call digital sovereignty has since been lost.
It hasn't been lost with the rise of social media. If someone wants to blog their thoughts they still only need a computer with an internet connection, but now it's even easier than before. They can register an X account, for example, for free compared to spending double $xx per year for a domain. Instead of having to build a whole website and finding a server to host it X makes it easy for you. For blogging X is a more attractive platform than the web is for the average person.
Just because there are aspects that are decentralized, that doesn't mean it's better. It's not like you are free to talk about anything on the web. In practice DNS is centralized. The server's upstream is centralized. Instead of making reports to X, they make reports to registrars and ISPs. If you want to fix the danger of being cut off you need to do it via the legal system as it's not something decentralization can entirely fix.
>This is the system that we already have for email — that’s why you can have an email group that includes people using different providers such as Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo.
Sure email exists, but in practice consumers prefer to chat using centralized platforms. The federated nature of email made it stagnant which made it fail to compete with other messaging platforms.
>That feeling of personal empowerment we sometimes call digital sovereignty has since been lost.
It hasn't been lost with the rise of social media. If someone wants to blog their thoughts they still only need a computer with an internet connection, but now it's even easier than before. They can register an X account, for example, for free compared to spending double $xx per year for a domain. Instead of having to build a whole website and finding a server to host it X makes it easy for you. For blogging X is a more attractive platform than the web is for the average person.
Just because there are aspects that are decentralized, that doesn't mean it's better. It's not like you are free to talk about anything on the web. In practice DNS is centralized. The server's upstream is centralized. Instead of making reports to X, they make reports to registrars and ISPs. If you want to fix the danger of being cut off you need to do it via the legal system as it's not something decentralization can entirely fix.
>This is the system that we already have for email — that’s why you can have an email group that includes people using different providers such as Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo.
Sure email exists, but in practice consumers prefer to chat using centralized platforms. The federated nature of email made it stagnant which made it fail to compete with other messaging platforms.