1. We build a new browser with a built in search engine that only lists pre-approved sites.

You don't need an entirely new browser for that, not to mention i don't think you appreciate just how much it takes to create one.

In the short term, just make a github repo and create some domain lists for use with:

• uBlacklist browser extension
• machine host files
• searxng

Other then that support ($) and use the full version of uBO (via helium, Brave, FF, or some other browser), PiHole, and Adguard.

In the long term look into protocols like I2P or IPFS.

I'd say the biggest thing we could do is replace DNS with something better. Because the way it works is insane: costly, very little power to individuals / small business, problems with UX (e.g. inheritence if someone dies without passing on creds), easily susceptible to scams, etc.

1. We actively encourage people to rebuild popular sites, with all the shit removed (and branding changed), then list them as an 'alternative to' which users can search. Like Facebook, but with your friends and community events, rather than politics and influencers.

Dunno where you've been, but that's already happened multiple times over. Friendica, Mastodon, lemmy, OSSN ...

The biggest problem with social networks is discover-ability. If people aren't all on the same service it negatively impacts the perception / conversion rates to said service.

People don't want to have to setup multiple profiles on multiple services and manage the interactions between them all. It's also the reason why once big platforms capture marketshare, they have staying power. For example why do you think SMS is still around even tho' it's an insecure pile of dogshit?

There's been only a couple of efforts to solve this for social media AFAIK (BlueSky AT protocol, https://grayjay.app/).

That said there's coming opportunity.

Looking at the current trajectory of the world with digital ID's being pushed, more people will start looking for alternatives. I think one of the biggest issues with the internet is the original paradigm never accounted for authentication, because universities and institutions relied on their own internal processes to do that.

1. We encourage self-hosting and community hosting ideas, to keep costs down and reduce the need for to monetise everything. Also self-ownership or community ownership, over companies.

Encouraging isn't good enough, people already do that, incentives need to be involved. My strat would be:

1. We sell you (normie) this box (machine about the size of a mac mini). Decent amount of cores + 2 separate SSD's.

2. You hook it up to your router and (perhaps with minor network config) you get access to XYZ selfhosted stuff + a P2P network to leverage things like access to new websites (nu-sites), better caching, etc. While also participating yourself (eg. 1 of the SSD's and some compute cores would be dedicated to "the network").

You'd be paying the upfront hardware cost + donating some bandwidth on your internet connection (say a minimum of 10Mbps up/down). So it wouldn't be for everyone, but still enough of a sizable buyers market.

To give an example and get started: 1: No user data collection (beyond account creation where needed).

Unrealistic. People have become normalized to parasocial relationships now, they'll post about themselves online, account related or not. The thing that must be looked at is how to give them autonomy to their own data.

2: No pop up ads 3: No targeted ads

... So you haven't been using uBO or any kind of internet condom? 😂

Being serious. Advertising is just a reality. However the rules could be stricter.

Make it so that most advertising, can only happen via the seller them self.

Conceptually it's like thinking of websites / services like a traditional brick and mortar store. Yeah they'll stick out flyers / coupons from time to time (social media / email campaign), maybe even buy ad space on radio / tv (paying creatives for review / product placement). But at the end of the day over 50% of their advertising is done on the premises.

Additionally have a rule that no user can be shown more then 3 ads per 24 hours universally (for every service). Each ad can only be a max of 20 seconds long, and each site / service can only show 1.

Because effectively the first 3 sites / services a user visits in each 24 hour period, determine what ads they see. Each site / service has a motivation to provide the best UX possible to entice users to hit it first.

4: No walled-garden social media 5: No political ads pushed via social media 6: Social media algorithms must be opensource and promote healthy content, over out-rage and drama.

I addressed the walled-garden aspect already.

Political ads... Sounds like your algorithm's are algorithming. They know you're susceptible to that kind of stuff, so they're shoving it in your face and you think that's the whole internet.

Going on /r/Eyebleach is hardly political.

Regarding algo's being opensource, i'm more inclined to say: they don't need to exist at all.

7: No addictive design, taking ideas or working with, groups like Time Well Spent, IndieWeb, Solid, The Calm Technology philosophy, etc

The most valuable thing in today's internet isn't attention, it's perspectives.

Sure people give attention because they "doom scroll" or whatever. But it's also because we're drowning in information of questionable quality ie. we're required to give attention and soak up as much information as possible so we can try and figure it out for ourselves.

Originally academics / institutions were supposed to be the authorities for information integrity. But in recent years they too have become ideologically charged (falling standards) / generators of slop, not unlike AI... But this is an adjacent problem.