It's not like 'decentralized alternatives' can't tag photos using AI, track users, sell their profiles or do any other shady stuff.

You cant sell what is already public (i mean you can, but close to $0)

Are your browsing and spending habits public?

if using a blockchain for example? yes they can be

I don't really see the problem, they can't do it now.

One of the first things we teach people is, that once a picture is on the net, it will never be deleted.

My understanding is, that people have been falsely led to believe the opposite. The rise of snapchat ( a total hack in terms of keeping things impermanent), various promises from social media companies, and the constant insinuation by news articles that it is possible to be private on the internet have created a totally false belief. People used to be conscious about what they put online, nowadays it doesnt seem they are.

While all that has happened, I don't think, that's the reason for people's behavior. So many people (also smart people) just don't care about privacy #nothingtohide.

And, secondly, nowadays the web is a lot more crowded, all the less technically minded people go online with a very sparse understanding of the web. Early adopters had a different demographic than the current userbase.

> the less technically minded

The less tech minded usually do what the more tech minded tell them. The problem is we 've lulled people with "security", green lock icons. We all know that all security is temporary, but we also chose to appeal to people's natural need for safety. The point is even the best digital security measure is nowhere near good old physical security.

that won't happen. Something that is decentralised but still runs on public infrastructure can be blocked or legal entities can be held accountable. Something that is floating around in the "dark web" or some obscure private server is for practical purposes not accessible to vast amount of users.

You don't need to look to the future. We already have p2p solutions and encryption that if hacked together could serve as some sort of decentralised storage. The public doesn't use it.

> We already have p2p solutions and encryption that if hacked together could serve as some sort of decentralised storage. The public doesn't use it.

The public doesn't use it because it hasn't been hacked together and that for all intents and purpose the experience has more friction than what is available today.

> have p2p solutions

Had. Torrent is mostly banned at ISP level.

> The public doesn't use it.

They will if there is no alternative. The public uses email because there was no WhatsApp in 1989.