Can We Have Nice Things on the Internet?

Yes, but not without careful consideration of our personal, sensitive data, which is an increasingly valuable and sought after commodity online. In the wrong hands, our data poses threats to our identities, allows us to be manipulated and exploited through marketing, and can be used to the advantage of others, without our knowledge or consent. The internet and social platforms we know and love are an ingrained part of everyday life for most, so these threats to personal data aren’t going away. The recent purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk has raised several concerns around the future of the platform and the personal data Twitter collects. We’re here to affirm that yes, we can have nice things, but it requires some key commitments from tech companies like ours. 

Permanent.org exists for the preservation of your digital legacy, as you define it, not for profit. Whether you realize it or not, everything you do online is part of your digital legacy. Each tweet or photo uploaded has the potential to outlive you. One very important part of our mission is to help individuals take control of their digital legacy and leave behind what they wish. We do this through our cloud-based online archiving platform, where you have the ability to store any type of file or bit imaginable and organize them into meaningful collections. Our preservation and privacy-focused infrastructure ensures your digital assets are stored and shared on your terms, and your terms only, and prevents personal data mining or sensitive data exposure. 

We will never commodify or exploit your digital assets for corporate or financial gain. Because we don’t have a third party advertising based business model, we will never sell, trade, or jeopardize your personal data and assets. We are proudly a not for profit organization using the same tried and true endowment model as museums, meaning we cannot be bought and sold, unlike a private or publicly traded company like  Twitter. Additionally, our organization is guided by a world class advisory and governing board, who all help shape and support our work in data protections for our members.

We are mission-driven and accountable to our members, first and foremost. Much like the Internet Archive, Wikimedia, Mozilla Foundation, and other open web advocates, we are in favor of a healthy internet ecosystem and information marketplace, which requires consumer control of their data. Tech corporations and monolithic platforms that are privately owned are driven by profitability margins. That’s not us. We are open source we operate, develop new features, and grow our platform through transparency and dialogue with our member base. Our commitment to archival practices and long-term preservation provides the foundation for a trusted storage platform. Your financial support makes it possible to fulfill our mission and provide free cloud storage to small cultural heritage institutions, while also providing you with a safe, secure, private space for personal archiving.

If you are considering leaving Twitter or have concerns about your data, just know that you are not alone and that we are here to help. Twitter allows users to download their data and tweet history, which can then be backed up in your Permanent archive.