An Open Letter

For too long Google, Facebook, and Twitter have defined the marketable social experience on the Internet.  Like the highways of Brazil, they have lined as much of the Internet that they can with clickable billboards; pushing products and services they think are most likely to grab an errant click.  With the blessings and adulation of so called "thought leaders," they have attempted to rule over us as so many peasants.  In fact, peasants is too kind of a term.  They see us as their property, their cattle; mechanically picking apart our preferences, our relationships, and even our private thoughts, in order to maintain their increases.  A corrupt politician would be proud of their methods, deviously misdirecting all inquiry, while carefully preserving the facade of "Do no evil."  Even further evidence has shown that they are pursing their goals with a sinister delight, believing in no privacy but their own.

Factually, the list of grievances is almost innumerable.  How many breaches of privacy have there been?  How many rogue employees watching us in secret?  How many archives that have secretly leaked to advertisers?  How many people censored?  How many client businesses have they killed?  In the end, how many times have they sold us?  Millions?  Billions?  Trillions?

Enough!  We shall be slaves no longer!  While the Internet is still a free network, there is another way.  There is another land on which we may build the future.  A land where we are not cattle, but customers.  A land where we own our data, and our privacy is sacrosanct.  A new frontier, being blazed by sites and services such as App.net, DuckDuckGo, and Fastmail.  We are being calling to join them in building a new world.  A world, where for the price of a fancy coffee per month we can be secure in the fact that we no longer need to suffer information abuse.  A world where we can be sure that our information is our own, and we can do with it what we will, including delete it permanently.

Therefore, today I am going Galt; deleting my Twitter account, shortly deleting my Facebook account, and declaring my independence.  I also issue the call to you.  If you are tired of Twitter, if you are Facebook's huddled masses, and if Google has you yearning to be free, then pick up your data and join me.

We the people of the Internet are revolting, and the revolution will be live-blogged... on App.net.