At the same time, the S3 api is so ubiquitous that there implementations for it in multiple clouds, it frequently comes with hardware storage vendors as well, and there are projects like minio that provide a solution to host your own s3 compatible data architecture.

All things considered, I’m much more concerned about the centralization of eg browser technologies than this.

Eh… the thing about cloud storage is that it can be efficient in ways that smaller players cannot. A system like Amazon S3 can pack its hard drives to the brim with data and pay a fairly small overhead for replicas & unused drives.

If you try to decentralize the data, or keep your data yourself, you end up with something that uses more resources, has worse durability, or is worse along some other axis.

I am not so worried about centralization yet. There is still healthy competition between different cloud storage vendors. My impression is that cheap storage is used to make other cloud services more attractive—which means that Amazon’s incentives here are somewhat aligned with mine (as a customer). Personally I am much more worried about the centralization of the shopping experience.

I think it’s fine as long as people know what they’re getting themselves into. I’m sure I would’ve found whatever was happening on Parler abhorrent, but in the same way Merkel and Macron were concerned by the tech deplatforming that followed the capitol riots, so am I.

I don’t think filecoin will ever demolish a fantastic business like S3 based on stealing away customers. The interesting value proposition from the protocol is probably more about censorship resistance and adjacent issues.