The future of the web belongs to people, not platforms

Zero hour: From first-party to first-person

We’re often told to fear AI: that it will centralize power, erode democracy, further polarize societies, and lock us into dominant platforms even more.

But what if the same force that threatens to disempower us could also set us free — if we dare to build the right foundations?

This is not wishful thinking. It’s possible in the near future. With a different digital infrastructure. Infrastructure that is already being built. Imagine explaining to someone that all European roads and railways were invisibly owned and controlled by US or Chinese companies acting as gatekeepers. They’d think you lost your mind. Yet in the digital world, that’s exactly what has happened over the past three decades — while we were blinded by, and in love with, the limitless opportunities of the early web.

Photo by Bekky Bekks on Unsplash

From third-party to first-person

For decades, the language of personal data has been written from the perspective of companies: third-party, first-party, zero-party. These terms describe how businesses track, follow, and profile us and turn your personal data in their first-party data. But where in this taxonomy is the person? The user? The individual? The citizen?

I believe the next category is clear: first hand personal data or first-person data. Data that starts with you, belongs to you, is validated by you and flows with your consent. Not data about you, but your data. Data from you.

This is the shift:

• Third-party data is surveillance.

• First-party data is observation.

• First-person data is participation.

AI trained on stolen attention (your personal data) turns us into first-party products. AI trained on first-person data makes us participants. You get to decide.

From surveillance to consent

Today whoever owns the most first-party personal data owns the market. And without a scalable alternative. The same becomes true for ‘personal’ AI.

Twenty-five years ago, when the web gained mainstream adoption globally, there were two things that urgently needed fixing: privacy and piracy. Global monopolies were built on fixing everything except those two. Privacy and piracy.

ChatGPT now collects personal data (privacy) and rips unlicensed content (piracy) at an even higher speed than Google in its early days. History repeating. Your personal data is no longer yours — it is their “first-party” data, even if you pay for the service. In real life, that would be theft.

The first-person core principles:

• Every citizen should have a personal data store (PDS), a digital homebase for personal data they own and control.

• Consent must be embedded in every data flow by design — you decide what to share, with whom, and for what purpose.

• Businesses shouldn’t compete on who can harvest the most, but on who earns the most trust.

That’s the foundation of first-person data.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Trust takes time

As Ruben Verborgh argues: trust takes time. You can’t legislate it, and you can’t fake it. It comes from consistent, transparent interaction.

A personal data store enables exactly that dynamic:

• You can see, change, and revoke your personal data at any moment.
• Institutions only get what you allow to be accessed — not copied — and only for as long as you allow it.
• The more trust you build with a brand or service, the more you’re willing to disclose your preferences and intentions — even beyond the service itself.

First-person data is relational, not extractive. It grows with trust. This is how we rebuild confidence in media, retail, and public services: by giving people the ability to check, control, and consent

Systemic change: Why trust needs a business model

But here’s the hard truth: we can’t make a u-turn from first-party web to first-person web without a business model. As Doc Searls nicely puts it: human agency needs a business model.

• Public values rarely rarely beat commercial platform logic unless they are embedded in systems the market itself adopts. Systemic change in digital infrastructure only works if the market actively participates.
• Without scale, no standard. Big Tech wins not because it’s better, but because it’s universal. Human agency-based infrastructure must become as ubiquitous as cookies and “login with Google” once were.
• Without revenue, no sustainability. Signal inspires, but donation-driven models don’t survive at scale. Dependence on goodwill alone won’t defeat market dominance. Creating a new category and a real market is the only way.
• Market validation proves value. When companies adopt consent-based systems — even if it gives more control to users — it proves that trust itself can be a competitive edge.
• New infrastructure without adoption is asphalt without cars. Infrastructure only matters if businesses actually use it to…do business.
• Regulation alone can’t compete with Big Tech. Without better alternatives, without real companies using it and high growth user adoption we risk sliding back into extractive ecosystems.
• The public interest must win in the market. Think of M-Pesa, iDEAL, Bancontact — public infrastructure that succeeded because it became the default for citizens and businesses both embracing a new ecosystem.

Building a true new ecosystem or category that fundamentally changes the way we treat personal data needs a dual symbiotic businessmodel with public values on one side; commercial viability, European scalability and rapid user adoption on the other.

• The non-profit/ public side as a solid foundation (ideally open source) to ensures that the PDS infrastructure exists and is safeguarded ethically while the securing that users are their own data’s gatekeeper.
• The business/ commercial side to accelerate adoption — making it easy and attractive for businesses to connect and users to engage, so that mass adoption of personal data stores becomes reality.

This dual and symbiotic structure enables and fuels real change into a healthy digital ecosystem. A level playing field based on shared trust values and open empowerment tech to make true impact.

The third wave always wins

History teaches us that pioneers rarely prevail.

• The first generation of browsers, search engines, and social networks opened the door, but failed to scale.
• The second wave drove first adoption, but often failed to build sustainable models.
• The third wave — those that drove mass adoption by cutting edge usability combined with the right business model define entire new categories.

Just as the web shifted from third-party to first-party in it’s 1st search-wave and 2nd social-wave, the 3rd wave into the AI era will be the fundamental shift towards a human centric first-person data ecosystem.

Solid-based personal data stores based on Linked Data principles represent that third wave for the agentive web:

• Technically mature enough to scale.
• Intuitive enough for mainstream users.
• Backed by a symbiotic businessmodel aiming for impact

The moment is now — not because it’s too late, but because the conditions for mass adoption are finally here. The technology is there. The use cases are validated, product market fit proven and now gearing up for market introduction.

Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

Europe’s chance to lead

Rather than seeing only threats, we must see the opportunity. Europe is uniquely positioned:

• A tradition of privacy as a fundamental right.
• Regulatory frameworks like GDPR, Data Act, and Data Governance Act.
• Innovation apetite for digital autonomy and sovereignty.

This is Europe’s chance not ‘just’ to regulate Big Tech, but to make a fundamental turn, and invest in a real innovative alternative: a human-centric digital stack grounded in consent, trust, democratic and human values.

We are on a mission. To give millions of Europeans a free digital homebase for their own personal data while we allow businesses to compete on trust over tracking. To prove that Europe can thrive in the AI era. Lead, not follow.

That’s why this is Zero Hour. The infrastructure is here, the model is ready, the moment for market introduction a couple of months away. Fasten your seatbelts and let’s make that (e)u-turn.