These projects could seriously backfire in unanticipated ways. There are a lot of important matters to explore in this space by law and philosophy wonks. I th

These projects could seriously backfire in unanticipated ways. There are a lot of important matters to explore in this space by law and philosophy wonks. I think that Solid and the other emerging platforms are more likely to create new revenue streams for those already in the business of selling PII than helping individuals protect and manage their PII. If each of us can control personal information about ourselves, the Supreme Court may rule in favor of this information as property. The problem is that this is not a realistic scenario. Most of our personal information involves parties other than ourselves. Counterparties can rightfully stake a claim to information they helped to create. Why wouldn't they? There is no clear breach of ethics by doing so. So, let's assume the world adopts Solid pods to manage this data. Is each pod really a single source of truth? Any pod organized by an individual could just as easily be created by a counterparty, with some modification. Then, suppose a marketplace exists for this information. Who is dedicating effort to monetizing their pods? How will individuals, who work for a living, compete with organizations mandated to maximize pod revenue? Both have legal claims. My prediction is that contrary to what Lee, Pentland [2], Mazzucato [3] and others envision, Solid and its growing number of equivalents will spawn a new generation of business models and go even further than they do now, by introducing financial products linked to monetization. The main beneficiaries are those already monetizing personal information and those who will securitize them. [1] https://enigma.co/ https://enigma.co/ [2]https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611489/lets-make-private-data-into-a-public-good/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611489/lets-make-private-...