This manifesto aims at defining basic rights for people regarding their own data in the Internet age. People ought to be free and should not have to pay allegiance to service providers.
“User data” means any data uploaded by a person and/or generated by a person, while using a service on the Internet.
Thus, users should have:
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Control over user data access
Data explicitly and willingly uploaded by a user should always be under the ultimate control of the user. Users should be able to decide whom to grant (direct) access to their data and under which permissions such access should occur.
Cryptography (e.g. a PKI) is necessary to enable this control.
Data received, generated, collected and/or constructed from users' online activity while using the service (e.g. metadata or social graph data) should be made accessible to these users and put under their control. If this control can't be given, than this type of data should be anonymous and not stored for long periods.
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Knowledge of how the data is stored
When the data is uploaded to a specific service provider, users should be able to know where that specific service provider stores the data, how long, in which jurisdiction the specific service provider operates, and which laws apply.
A solution would be, that all users are free to choose to store their own data on devices (e.g. servers) in their vicinity and under their direct control. This way, users do not have to rely on centralised services. The use of peer-to-peer systems and unhosted apps are a means to that end.
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Freedom to choose a platform
Users should always be able to extract their data from the service at any time without experiencing any vendor lock-in.
Open standards for formats and protocols, as well as access to the programs source code under a Free Software license are necessary to guarantee this.
If users have these rights, they are in control of their data rather than being subjugated by service providers.
Many services that deal with user data at the moment are gratis, but that does not mean they are free. Instead of paying with money, users are paying with their allegiance to the service providers so that they can exploit user data (e.g. by selling them or building a profile for advertisers).
Surrendering privacy in this way may seem to many people a trivial thing and a small price to pay for the sake of convenience that the Internet services brings. This has made this kind of exchange to become common.
Service providers have thus been unwittingly compelled to turn their valuable Internet services into massive and centralised surveillance systems. It is of grave importance that people understand/realize this, since it forms a serious threat to the freedom of humanity
When users control access to the data they upload (Right #1), it means that data intended to be privately shared should not be accessible to the service provider, nor shared with governments. Users should be the only ones to have ultimate control over it and to grant access to it. Thus, a service should not force you to disclose private data (including private correspondence) with them.
That means the right to use cryptography1 should never be denied. On the contrary, cryptography should be enabled by default and be put under the users’ control with Free Software that is easy to use.
Some services allow users to submit data with the intention to make it publicly available for all. Even in these cases, some amount of user data is kept private (e.g. metadata or social graph data). The user should also have control over this data, because metadata or logging information can be used for unfair surveillance. Service providers must commit to keeping these to a minimum, and only for the purpose of operating the service.
When users make data available to others, whether to a restrictive group of people or to large groups, they should be able to decide under which permissions they grant access to this data. However, this right is not absolute and should not extend over others’ rights to use the data once it has been made available to them. What’s more, it does not mean that users should have the right to impose unfair restrictions to other people.
Ultimately, to ensure that user data is under the users’ control, the best technical designs include peer-to-peer or distributed systems, and unhosted applications. Legally, that means terms of service should respect users’ rights.
When users use centralised services that uploads data to specific storage providers instead of relying on peer-to-peer systems, it is important to know where the providers might store data because they could be compelled by governments to turn over data they have in their possession (Right #2).
In the long term, all users should have their own server. Unfortunately, this is made very difficult by some Internet access providers that restrict their customers unfairly. Also, being your own service provider often means having to administer systems which require expertise and time that most people currently don’t have or are willing to invest.
Users should not get stuck into a specific technical solution. This is why they should always be able to leave a platform and settle elsewhere (Right #3). It means users should be able to have their data in an open format, and to exchange information with an open protocol. Open standards are standards that are free of copyright and patent constraints. Obviously, without the source code of the programs used to deal with user data, this is impractical. This is why programs should be distributed under a Free Software license like the GNU AGPL-32.
FAQ:
- what’s not user data?
User data is not necessarily private data and does not necessarily relate to a person or contains personally identifiable information. Thus, this manifesto does not aim at modifying personal data regulations, but rather aim at complementing them.
Anonymously “dumped” data, e.g. on pastebin, or data that can be edited directly by anybody, e.g. a public etherpad, do not usually deal with user data.
TODO:
- need to explain with examples and simple worlds why rule #1 needs cryptography and what we should aim at. By default, if I share something privately
- maybe add another rule or another paragraph in rule #1 to address metadata/surveillance or definition of "user data" etc.
Footnotes
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We mean effective cryptography. If the service provider enables cryptography but controls the keys or encrypts the data with your password, it’s probably snake oil. ↩
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The GNU AGPL-3 safeguards this right by making it a legal obligation to provide access to the modified program run by the service provider. (§ 13. Remote Network Interaction) ↩