I’m a FOSS (free and open source software) contributor and enthusiast. So I prefer to use such products (Lemmy instead of Reddit, Linux instead of Windows, Firefox instead of Chrome, Signal instead of WhatsApp, you get the idea). Was just thinking that if everyone moved to such solutions, the tech and ad industry would lose billions of dollars. That would translate to governments losing billions of dollars in tax revenue. Would such a move ever be encouraged then by the governments?
What are the chances that the instance owners join together and buid a cartel or corporation. Then sells our data.
Fairly little right now, right now nobody cares about lemmy. They don’t need to sell your data because all the data on the fediverse, especially /kbin and lemmy is available for free via the API to everyone to take. Nobody would pay for it.
Besides the unsettling idea that we are like a message board in public display. It’s good to know that our data are somewhat immune to being monetized. .
We are never immune to being monetized. I guarantee right now there are MBA chucklefucks who’s jobs are hinging on finding a way to monetize the fediverse, and then implement it. Meta is working on the right now. The question is how do we defend our spaces from corporate bullshit.
I think it depends on how much the majority of users end up caring. Anytime something gets fucky, anybody in the world can create a new instance, or new community and if users care they can move to and support that one.