Core Values
Ownership
Users should own their social data. Our digital identities, made up of content, preferences, relationships, and audiences, are reflections of the individual. The price of participation in social technologies should not be the forfeiture of ownership of our digital selves.
Control
Users should have control over how their data is accessed. This includes: who can access their data (individuals, groups, and applications), what parts of the data they can access (by identity and audience), and how often they can access the data (once, by request, whenever, etc.). Users should be able to modify or turn off access without depending on the cooperation of outside parties.
Freedom
Users should be free to change which interface and hosting provider they use without having to sacrifice their social data accumulated in other systems.
Transparency
Data about what we do collectively should be available to all. Not personalized data, but the aggregate of human interaction online is valuable to the growth of our civilization and ought to be transparent.
Security
No entity but the person or group who is explicitly granted access to users’ data should ever be able to access it. Companies and governments change. We cannot rely on a EULA or law to guarantee a secure social system. It must be secure by design.
