I don't have a good idea for an experiment but I think it's awesome of you to ask. This is what the Internet should be---constructive. Props!

Some combination of FOAF profiles, StatusNet updates, OpenID, and Drupal 7 would do. Mainly "FOAF" or "Friend of a Friend"---it lets you describe your profile. Drupal 7 is to have some integration with this, and it has modules for galleries and forums and whatnot. Then you'd have a social network you control. Except, I don't think FOAF has any real sort of privacy setting. What I think we need (please point out if someone's taken a good stab at this!) is some similar standard for describing a profile that has good use of public key encryption to allow you to effectively allow different information to different groups, so you can say these few people's friends of friends can see this information, these people over here are coworkers and they can see this but their friends can't see anything except what is already public, etc. without having to trust some central broker to provide this privacy as you do currently.

video codec is spit in the ocean, agreed. the libraries are out there, anyone can encode/decode. the problem i was trying to address is the one you exhibit: the attitude that it's silly/futile/a waste trying to keep the platforms used for global information interchange as open and flexible as possible.

your strawman concept of 'illuminati' and 'crazy' as a response to my preference for openness is especially typical and grating. yes, clearly anyone concerned about the elite is crazy. uh huh. because there's no such thing as abuse of power and we have a long history of egalitarian rule and authoritarian regimes are a thing of the past and will never happen to us anymore because we're free, free, freeeee... and rich. and always will be?

just wow.

okay, how about this: think of the societies that exist and have existed. think about which ones you'd prefer as a model for humanity's future and what you might do to promote the kinds of things that requires.

me, i happen to enjoy my individual freedom. i think having, effectively, everyone as part of the media and being able to put things out there for a global audience with little in the way helps protect that. it's like the aclu but even better! especially since the media has ipo'd and forgotten its job. any little effort in support of free/open/transparent/decentralised/lower barriers to entrepreneurship and competition... to me those are tiny steps towards maybe getting to hold onto this bizarre cultural anomaly for another decade or two. maybe even a whole century if we're lucky. so i applaud the people that do it. cheer for them even.

it doesn't matter if you use exclusively closed software and always get the longest contract from your mobile provider. we don't care. but don't belittle the efforts of the people that have got your back, they need all the good pr they can get---as you sort of point out?

that's bold of you user #31 million some.

but seriously, it's important and i don't know if you're trolling or what, perhaps i'm that idealistic? please help me understand why having formats and software free of legal entanglement and reducing humanity's dependency on a few, often secretive, organisations is not worth the minimal effort that this volunteer-run collective is taking to contribute to a shared ideology?

we joke and belittle 'slashdot' culture but a lot of this here shit is real sir and i think we do ourselves a disservice. and if you're sincere then damn, go read wikileaks for a bit and see if you can't get a sense of perspective. these are the tools with which we increasingly control our personal identities and the global economy of both ideas and goods. anyone who can understand why it's important to keep that as neutral and transparent as possible really ought to step up wherever they can because... it really is.

All I ever wanted was to buy the LICENCE to the content which is what I'm really paying for and nevermind about how I get a copy. I want to sign up somewhere that I have a lifetime personal use licence to say, The Matrix. Maybe I get a free download of the DVD quality file. Maybe I need to pay $1 or so on top of the licence if I want to download a full BluRay of it to offset costs, etc. Why is this so hard of an argument for them? OH RIGHT. They don't want to sell me licences because then they can't sell me the same content over and over, I'd only licence it once. Rather than give this up and adopt something rational, they instead insist on pursuing these crazy schemes and wasting gobs of money and everyone's time.

Why do you think startup companies are thinking in the long? Don't they have to focus on the near term to eek out a niche for themselves?

You work for a hedge fund? Cool. Do you know where we can invest to support long term thought?

The problem with getting funding for long term stuff is that no one wants to pay for things they won't benefit from in this decade let alone their lifetime. Except... we kinda do. What companies are in it for the long haul? I could buy their shares and be glad to improve the world and pass on the ownership to my children who might reap some serious rewards. If there isn't one, and you have some decent capital, why not get some more together and start up a vehicle that for those of us who want to put our money where our mouth is on this to do so. I think there are many on slashdot who'd be able to put $100/mo or more to this.

Why bother when you can block it for $30? Free shipping too :D http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8758

Cheaper to buy it from Dell Canada at $1,999 AKA $1665US or so.

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx ?sku=222-0863&c=ca&l=en&cs=CABSDT1&category_id=619 8&first=true&page=productlisting.aspx