The battle for the net takes place today and every day. There are no straightforward solutions. Every turn requires difficult decisions. It is therefore time to involve as many people as possible. We need to broaden the legitimacy of the request to decentralize, and the steps that are taken towards that end.

Unsurprisingly, the powerful intermediaries use their money to influence politicians, academia, and the private sector. Through this influence, these intermediaries have managed to make certain aspects of this debate taboo. Challenge their hegemonic practices and you might be labeled anti-tech and anti-progress.

If we hope to protect the citizens of tomorrow from expected and unexpected scenarios we need to get creative and get the mass of netizens on board. We need open and robust debates. We cannot afford anything less than this. Too much is at stake.

If the reason for much of the misdirected public anger is that the process of centralization is less tangible than its symptoms, perhaps a first step is to make this underlying layer more visible and part of public discourse.
The Neutrality Pyramid seeks to outline a broad agenda towards that end, described as a set of basic steps that should include developing a vocabulary, ensuring coordination by regulatory agencies across the planet, enforcing antitrust provisions and promoting public deliberation. The Shark Patterns project focuses on developing a shared vocabulary on the types of abuses we are facing by the platforms.