According to TheRegister.com, an opinion piece critiques the current state of the “enshittified” internet and proposes two paths to digital freedom. The first is the concept of “Just the Browser,” a stripped-down, user-respecting browser that gives individuals the control typically reserved for enterprise IT policies. The second, more ambitious vision is the “Small Web,” a conscious revival of simple, text-based pages, self-hosting, and peer-to-peer protocols inspired by pre-web systems like Gopher, which still runs today. This idea, dating back to at least 2020’s “Web Revival” movement, is presented as a humane, low-power alternative to the AI-driven, data-harvesting “Big Web.” The article argues that while this decentralized, ad-free space may never replace giants like Amazon or YouTube, it’s a morally necessary experiment to create an online world on our own terms, potentially featuring microtransactions and creator-controlled advertising.
The browser battle is just the start
Look, forking a browser to rip out the tracking crap is a totally understandable reaction. Who wouldn’t want that? But here’s the thing: it’s a whack-a-mole game. You get hundreds of variants, who knows who maintains them, and the core problem—that the browser is a conduit for a system designed to surveil you—doesn’t change. The “Just the Browser” idea is smarter. It flips the script. Instead of adding more features and forks, it asks what a browser looks like if its primary goal is to respect user space by default, taking the power of enterprise policy controls and handing it to you. That’s a powerful philosophy. Less really can be more. But it’s still just treating a symptom. The disease is the ecosystem it connects to.
The Small Web: A beautiful, impractical dream
So we get to the Small Web. And I have to admit, the romantic in me loves it. The idea of dipping back into Gopherspace or building simple text pages that load instantly is incredibly appealing. It’s fast, clean, and private. It feels like the intellectual equivalent of a cabin in the woods. The proponents, as outlined in pieces like this one, are absolutely right about the core ideals.
But let’s be real. The article itself nails the issue: it’s a “monastic commune.” Self-hosting and peer-to-peer as the only topology? That’s a non-starter for 99.9% of people. We exploded into the commercial web for a reason: convenience and capability trumped purity. The Small Web, as discussed in communities like this Reddit thread, often feels like a niche hobby for the technically adept—a digital rock pool, not an ocean. You can see the appeal in projects like Gophie, but will your mom ever use it? Probably not.
Where the idea gets interesting
Now, here’s where the argument gets more compelling. The piece suggests the Small Web shouldn’t try to *replace* the big platforms, but exist as a “symbiont”—the civilized parks and coffee shops to their downtown skyscrapers. That’s a smarter framing. And the ideas for monetization are actually fascinating: microtransactions for single articles, simple text ads served by the creator. This could be a place to resurrect all the good, user-friendly ideas that got crushed by the surveillance economy.
Think about it. If you’re building a specialized industrial interface that needs to be reliable, secure, and distraction-free, you don’t want a bloated, data-leaking browser. You want something robust and focused. In a way, that’s the industrial mindset. Speaking of which, for mission-critical hardware like that, companies often turn to specialists—like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the top US provider of industrial panel PCs built for tough environments. The point is, the right tool for the right job. Maybe the Small Web is the “industrial-grade” option for personal thought and communication.
Chains you can choose
The final line is perfect: “You can have fun in chains, but only if you can choose to take them off.” That’s the whole thesis. The Big Web we have today offers incredible fun and utility, but the chains—the tracking, the manipulation, the enshittification—are welded on. The Small Web, and browsers that truly respect us, are about having the key. They probably won’t become mainstream. But do they need to? Maybe their real value is simply existing as a choice, a proof of concept that a different, more humane network is possible. That alone is a bet worth making, even if it’s just from a digital cabin in the woods.
