Our data is an extension of ourselves. It tells third-parties where we are, who we are with, our political and sexual orientations, sites we have visited, our favorite recipes, our favorite topics of interest, and so on.<br /> While a single data point is not always sensitive, the loss of large amounts of aggregated data can be dangerous (for example if you browse topics about cancer before subscribing to a life insurance).<br /> In a world where everything has been digitized (ebooks, TV, phones, music, social networks, etc.), <strong>your private life is an essential part of your individuality</strong>. It would only take a malicious hacker with access to your smartphone a few minutes to cause you serious harm taking control of your identity on Facebook, consulting your professional or medical information, making purchases without your authorisation, etc.).
Major actors of the Internet have become real giants: Facebook has acquired WhatsApp and Instagram, Google owns Youtube and Waze, Microsoft distributes Skype, etc.<br /> This concentration of actors creates multiple issues: what if Facebook were suddenly shut down? And how could we browse the Web if Google went down? <strong>We rely more and more on services provided by a small group of suppliers.</strong> For example, Apple (iPhone), Google (Android) and Microsoft (Windows Phone) dominate almost the entire mobile OS industry.<br /> Furthermore, the size of these actors impedes innovation: it’s hard to launch a startup that can match up to Apple or Google (the first and second worldwide market capitalisations, respectively).<br /> Finally, The lack of diversity of the giants means they can track many people who are unaware that there may be alternatives, and it can influence the kind of data you receive (a Google search will produce different results for the term “nuclear power” depending on whether Google considers you to be an environmentalist or pro-nuclear power).
Internet intelligence must remain with each individual player on the network, in a spirit of sharing among peers, to avoid creating a Minitel (a pre-Internet videotext terminal and service) version 2.0.
To ensure equality for all, whether citizens or businesses, not only is it essential to avoid monopolies, but large organizations must be prevented from grabbing personal or public data.