It took many years before the average person realized the privacy implications of the data they left behind on the Internet.
It will likely be many more before people realize what Reddit and other companies recently discovered: modern AI apps have turned their trash (random user comments, posts and photos) into treasure. In response, companies are rapidly throwing up paywalls and licensing access to this data that arguably isn't theirs to sell. (1/2)
The implications once people realize the value of their data are troubling. It's the web3 future with the web stored and sold on the blockchain. It's the classic Snow Crash future where you upload any unique bit of data you capture on an Internet where every search result has a price.
Will every post, chat, and photo include a license and fee as individuals (rightly) claim ownership? Will some GPL their data? What % of the Internet will end up outside the paywall? (2/2)
A person on the Internet is a hoarder keeping stacks of old newspapers, correspondence, journals, photo albums and other sentimental but (they assume) worthless stuff. Eventually they run out of room and a friend offers to store their stuff for free.
How will they respond when they discover their friend made a lot of money selling their stuff on eBay?
