I don't think the answer is alternatives, as you would just be trading one master for another. What we need is 1) for clients to retain control of their data an

I don't think the answer is alternatives, as you would just be trading one master for another. What we need is 1) for clients to retain control of their data and 2) standardized formats and interfaces for handling data. If moving off of Facebook was as simple as creating an account somewhere else, then things would be different. If Google doesn't own your data you can tell them how they are allowed to use it. As for Google, I've given up on anything revolutionary from them. They have a lot of smart people with good ideas but they've grown so big that they can't "move fast and break things" without breaking whole sectors of the economy--and given the number of anti-trust suits Google is embroiled in, I think the governments of the world know it. That said, Google generally seems to at least try to do the right thing, even if no one there seems to know exactly what that is.