What are essential features for a privacy-first platform?

Wrote about this a little in a blog post here.

The core issue of having end to end encrypted blogs is that no one can read them... a blog is public by default right, or you're wanting to build something that only approved viewers can see?

In short no cookies, no tracking, hard delete are what you're looking for. Also consider the data portability aspect, a better web doesn't just include privacy, but no walled gardens. Data should be owned by the user, so make sure it's easy for them to get access to.

My 2 cents that would probably upset some people:

Privacy as the main value proposition isn't going to work well, not enough people would be willing to pay for that and you won't reach a critical mass to monetize the app and make a viable business out of it. Just look at how many privacy related scandals Google and Facebook have and how many people just don't care about that and keep using their services.

Encryption at rest (ideally encrypted with the users password so not even you can decrypt but that makes password reset challenging). And true, hard delete when the user deletes their account.

I think the biggest feature/functionality is clear communication with the user. Privacy is all about understanding and control. It's ok if someone gets/uses your data so long as you made an informed decision in advance. Privacy is not simply a lack of data or locking data away, in my opinion.