2. But we have a very long way to go.

Writing as a developer of a platform that enables two-way communication between company and (potential) customer, I need the customers to be able to control/manage/maintain their personal data. But the solution doesn’t currently exist on the customer-side, so I have to provide one, thus creating yet another silo.

I’m not sure how helpful it is to “Insult, berate and make fun of any company” that is trying to solve their particular problem in the absence of a solution. I think ignoring them would be sufficient.

I think the solution starts with a data standard, upon which all kinds of tools, systems, apps etc. can be innovated and built. Without the data standard in place, we are all just wanking (”circle jerk” comes to mind).

I suspect that we all have to wait for the Data Portability folks to come up with a data standard before any real solutions can be created.

Meanwhile, as a developer I have problems now that can’t wait for a solution that doesn’t currently exist. Please don’t mock me for trying to solve a problem.

BTW — I have been making some significant changes at MyMindshare. Please check it out.

and it’s not about trust either, it’s about wanting tools that enable me rather than provide me with this or that usually on the provider’s terms.

it’s about doing things on my own terms and having technology that enables that better than what we have now.

And there is also distributed ’storage’, my data encrypted and distributed doesn’t require much trust in where it sits, really. There are many issues with entities that provide ’storage’ legal ones one of them. I don’t want any backdoor to my data is the bottom line.

I don’t think you can make your data safer on you PC or in some kind of P2P fabric. I agree that many companies asking you to trust them are lying. But the companies producing desktop operating systems, applications and P2P fabric are asking you to trust them as well. Although that’s somehow implicit and hidden, they can pull your data into a hole as well. And all of the data. Both these stored on your PC, in your P2P store or in some kind of social site. Your PC has access to all of that. Your PC is really the key to your kingdom. Do you *trust* your PC?

I would not rule out one class of data storage in favor of other. It is the entity that *provides* the storage that really matters, not the specific storage method.

If you really want security and privacy there’s a bad news for you: you cannot have that. Not with current technology and society. Not in any foreseeable future. Now the real question is: how can I get the least harmful security and privacy violations? And what is the price?