Exit is Voice
The Original Sin of Digital Platforms
Every centralized platform commits the same sin: they make leaving expensive.
Your data? Trapped. Your social graph? Locked in. Your reputation? Their property. When you try to leave, you discover the exit doors are painted on the walls.
This is by design. Platforms optimize for retention, not for user welfare. The longer they keep you, the more value they extract.
Exit as Voice
Albert Hirschman taught us that organizations face two pressures: voice (complaint, reform) and exit (leaving for alternatives). When exit is easy, voice becomes powerful. When exit is blocked, voice becomes meaningless.
In digital systems, we forgot this lesson.
Cryptographic Exit
True digital sovereignty requires cryptographic exit rights:
- Portable Identity — Your keys, your identity. No platform can revoke it.
- Exportable Data — Your content in open formats, verifiable and complete.
- Burnable Presence — The right to disappear completely, not just “deactivate.”
- Reversible Trust — Relationships you can unwind without platform permission.
The Libertaria Stack
We’re building infrastructure that makes exit effortless:
- Janus Language — Code that runs anywhere, owned by no one.
- QVL Trust Graph — Reputation that follows you, not your account.
- Sovereign Identity — Ed25519 keys you control entirely.
Exit isn’t betrayal. Exit is the feedback loop that keeps systems honest.
If you can’t leave, you’re not a user. You’re livestock.
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