# user data manifesto

defining basic rights for people to control their own data in the
internet age

1. Control of user data access

    The data that the user stores should be under control of this
    person. Users should be able to decide whom to grant
    direct access to their data and under which permissions.

    [What happens when the data is used by somebody else, e.g.
    creating a thread of discussion. Should the original user have
    a right to withdraw the content? The doc focuses on data,
    maybe we should leave the "social relations" bit out of it.]

2. Know where the data is stored

    Users should be able to know: where their data is physically
    stored, how long, in what country, and what laws apply. It is
    recommended that all users have their own server in the long
    term.

3. Right to leave

    Users should always be able to extract and delete their
    data at any time without being locked in to a specific
    service.

    For this, open standards for formats and protocoles are
    a necessity.

5. Protect the data from loss

    Everybody should be able to protect their data against
    surveillance and to federate their data for backups to prevent
    data loss or for any other reason.

    [?: should it be there?]

7.  Server software distribution

    Server software should be distributed as Free Software so that
    the source code can be inspected, replicated and modified.

    [?: Let's explain here exactly why Free Software is important
    to build a true distributed Internet.]

    [The distinction between server and client should go.]

[Note: I think we should have less points. Ideally 4. The details
should then be laid out in explanations below the points. A little
bit like http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html ]