From users to owners

There's a case for reclaiming the internet. The User Cooperative, founded by Matt Martensen in Durango makes that case compellingly.

The illusion of free services

The digital economy is built on the illusion of free services. It's a simple but extractive model: offer a free service, collect user data, and turn that data into advertising revenue. We browse, search, and engage with platforms that promise convenience at no cost; in reality, we are paying with something far more valuable: our attention, data, and content. While shareholders - and executives - reap financial rewards, users remain mere consumers with no stake in the vast profits they help generate.

The phrase If you’re not paying, you’re the product has become a shorthand (and somewhat lazy) critique of this attention economy; I see it as an oversimplification that reduces users to passive commodities rather than active participants in digital systems. I am not a passive product.

The economic relationship between users and platforms is more complex: users are not products being sold but rather laborers contributing value, whether through their attention or content. That's an importantly different perspective.

We must remember that economic structures are not fixed laws but social constructs that can be reshaped. If we recognize that users are engaged in unpaid digital labor, the conversation shifts from mere resignation (we are being exploited) to one of agency and collective action; we are stakeholders with the right to demand economic justice. And we can: Facebook needs users more than users need Facebook.

Even better, we can plough our own furrow.

There is an alternative

Instead of simply accepting monetization as a necessary evil, we can propose a radical restructuring: if users create value, they should also govern and profit from the platforms they sustain. We can rethink the economic relationship not as transactions between corporations and passive consumers but as ecosystems of mutual responsibility. If digital platforms are essential infrastructure in modern life (and I believe they are), then users can do better than just withdrawing from social media or accepting exploitation; we can organize to reshape the rules, whether through cooperative alternatives, regulation, or collective bargaining over data and digital rights.

The User Cooperative, based in Durango, challenges the inevitability of exploitation first by introducing a user-owned and governed web browser. Unlike Chrome or Safari, where users are treated as passive consumers, the Surge Browser would function as a cooperative business, meaning that those who use it would also own it.

Instead of profits flowing to corporations, they would be reinvested into the cooperative, distributed among members, or used to fund ethical tech development. The platform’s governance would be democratized, ensuring users, not advertisers, determine its future direction.

The User Cooperative’s choice to start with a browser is ambitious, and if successful, it could set a powerful precedent for ethical digital ownership. For sure, scaling a browser is difficult due to entrenched competitors and user inertia and cooperative innovation must balance idealism with practical implementation. But there are advantages here; the browser still serves as our primary interface to the digital world. Get it right, and it becomes a cornerstone of a larger user-owned digital ecosystem.

Power and the money, money and the power

Minute after minute, hour after hour

Everybody's runnin', but half of them ain't lookin'

It's goin' on in the kitchen, but I don't know what's cookin'

Owning the platforms we rely on daily could fundamentally change the digital economy. A cooperative browser would introduce:

• Financial stake: Users could receive dividends or shared profits based on their contribution to the platform’s success.

• Decision-making power: Users could vote on policies affecting privacy, advertising, and software features, ensuring the platform remains aligned with their values.

• A more ethical tech ecosystem: By eliminating the need to maximize ad revenue, a cooperative browser could prioritize user privacy, open-source development, and community-driven innovation.

As I understand it, the User Cooperative isn’t just about redistributing profits. What's going on in this kitchen is about shifting the fundamental power structures of the internet away from corporate near-monopolies and toward the people who actually use these technologies.

Cooperatives are not a new concept. Grocery co-ops, credit unions, and worker-owned businesses have demonstrated that shared ownership can be both financially viable and ethically responsible.

Alison and I are members of consumer co-ops like PCC (Tagline: Shop your values without sacrifice) and we bank with a credit union, a user-owned financial institution. Our son was distillery manager for the first community-owned distillery, Glenwyvis. In other words, we know this model.

And there are already some co-operative models in the digital world: Mastodon (a decentralized alternative to Twitter) and Stocksy (an artist-owned photography platform) are notable.

A call to co-operate

As I'm sure you can tell, I am passionate about mutualism. Economic models are choices, and we can make those choices. Of course, I am a member of the User Cooperative. Check us out here at the User Cooperative and please join us. It's free, but I hope you will consider making a contribution.

Here are some good interviews with Matt Martensen, the founder of the co-op. I think you’ll enjoy his vision and passion.