https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45706429

I haven't looked in detail but seems to make sense, I agree that something needs to change

Interesting. I think a lot of it depends on how usable it is. This won't help the average user if they think it's too hard to understand. And pretty much any additional layer of frustration is enough to turn most users away. After attempting to explain Dropbox to my clients, I'm not sure there's a chance of this taking off for a significant portion of web users.

But I agree, something needs to change. I don't know how but at least it looks like good people are working on it...

The linked article above includes a tweet stating that it’s just a web site written in Node.js. Color me skeptical about its prospects.

I get the feeling this XKCD is thinking along similar lines.
https://xkcd.com/2054/

That's only gonna work if the service or site federates with Solid and allows you to keep your personal information there. I can't see Facebook et. al. doing that, since their entire business plan is having unrestricted access to your personal information.

It's not going to work.

For better or for worse, we're well past the point where any one person, even one as well-regarded as Tim B-L, can say "I've got a thing, let's all use it." Even if he worked inside Facebook/Google/Amazon/etc., and even if he had an entire product team there behind him, his ability to get this out would be limited.

My favorite example is the Salmon Protocol from 2009/2010. The idea is that you can federate messaging systems, like Facebook or Twitter, so a reply on one system can "swim upstream" back to where the original post happened. Useful idea. Presumably solid design that appears to have been shepherded through the IETF. And.... nothing.

If anything, there's far less federation today than there was back then, when Twitter at least had an extensive API and encouraged third-party clients. Now? Not so much.

It's true that no one's going to be able to publish a tool that gains universal popularity, and everyone that offers free services is only in it for your data.

The only social media I use are a couple of forums so I'm atypical (even for a 53 year old) but I'm concerned that tech firms know more about my kids than I do.

I'd love to see a way of managing what data you allow access to.

I know it'd be in the form of another layer but would it be that bad? There are various apps that are bringing centralised access to banking across providers, this (or another service) could be similar?