Bypass Big Data on the Bloomington Byway

What if, instead of tech giants and e-commerce monopolies capturing personal data, dictating terms of service, and controlling the market, we as consumers took the driver’s seat? What if the Internet, as a peer-to-peer, end-to-end environment, supported marketplaces where we are fully independent and could operate as free agents without fear of surveillance or unwanted control by others, just like we long enjoyed in the physical world?

Visionaries Doc and Joyce Searls of Customer Commons are working to restore the balance of power, respect, and trust between individuals and organizations that serve them. Together with the Ostrom Workshop at IU, they’re building a whole new way for buyers and sellers to connect over the Net. It’s called the Byway, and it routes around tech giants and e-commerce monopolies—in ways that may outperform them by powering local economies and communities of small businesses.

Bloomington is one of only three communities in the US where they’re prototyping a Byway community! Join us at The Mill to learn more about this revolutionary project, share your ideas, and participate in building the Bloomington Byway. Developers, business people, and the general public are all invited. We’ll meet at The Mill to introduce the concept and brainstorm, and after the session we’ll walk over to Upland Brewing to continue chatting. We hope to see you there!