A Better Internet is Possible
Today I’m getting ready to launch Princeton SocietalAI, a bold new research initiative to examine AI on the ground in our knowledge institutions. Today’s event will include luminary speakers Brian Merchant, Audrey Watters, and Alondra Nelson alongside our terrific group of faculty. Stay tuned for more details!
A few weeks ago, Tech Policy Press editor Justin Hendrix invited me to discuss whether or not we should abandon the Internet as it currently stands. Reaching out to significant voices in technology policy, Justin asked us to imagine an Internet without data dredging, without a personal data economy, without AI slop. What would it take to get there?
It seemed obvious to me, having lived evasively, dodging data detection yet still interacting online for 15 years. That better, alternative internet is already here!
It’s already here in the kinds of tools that people are already building, from established products like Signal that millions of people use every day, to newcomers like the Veilid project who have built a new fundamental layer for internet communications.
It’s already here in the free LibreOffice suite that now works so much better than Microsoft Office software because it is not laden down with bloatware and Co-Pilot. It’s in the alternative cell phone operating systems, in new startups that re-imagine “AI” …
We just have to be bold enough to reject what we have always been told is “innovation” and dive into the stuff that will actually help us live a better digital life, online and offline. Opting out, after all, is always about opting in: to a better world with better systems.
You can listen to the podcast here, or read through the transcript. As you do so, ask yourself: what would it take for you to get off, to make one change, to start the process of extracating yourself from Big Tech?
And now that you know what that one thing is — time to get started!
You don’t have to do it all at once! Because you really, honestly don’t. In fact, please don’t do it all at once. Because quitting everything cold-turkey almost never works for anyone, and because you need time to change your habits. Read on for more inspiration!
In other opt out news from around the web:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has rounded out their “Opt Out October” with a series of posts about your resources for opting out. The Opt Out Project and the Tech Reclaimers are on the list, along with other tremendous projects, groups, and partners — check them out!
Since John Deere’s subscription features are all over their tractor lineup, frustrating farmers for years, this Canadian company is making waves for not digitally augmenting their tractors..
Google is now officially using all your data, including photos and chats and emails, to train their AI. If you have a Pixel or another Android phone, consider the easy move to CalyxOS or GrapheneOS. You can install them literally from the browser on your phone. These de-Googled systems won’t track you or use your data to train AI. Make sure you back up your phone first, and make a list of the apps you’d like to reinstall on the other side!
A recent publication shows that outdoor time for teenaged boys has halved since around 2011-2012, involving less time with friends and more time on screen. The downhill slope didn’t start with ‘the internet,’ or with computer games at all. But it is notable that the personal data economy ramped up starting in 2011-2012, with products like Snapchat, Instagram, the Facebook IPO, and YouTube instituting notifications, predicted preferences, and endless scrolls…
And if this all sounds a bit like Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation (which has struck a chord with the public, but hit a nerve with scholars), even I would argue it isn’t entirely straightforward (what happened with adult leisure time during that period, hm?). Yet with recent news that social media companies tried to discredit Haidt, my colleague danah boyd (an expert on digital teens) says more about what happens when your research goes up against the powerful— and reminds parents to put down their own phones too.
So if there is one thing you’ll do to disentangle this week, what will it be?
