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Companies and individual break promises all the time. A Self Guaranteeing Promise is verifiable in non-reversible. It doesn’t require you to trust anyone.
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Props to Steph Ango on coining this term.
File Over App is a self guaranteeing promise. The app may change, but the format and file standard will not.
DNS in Networking, HDMI cables, Stainless Steel, IP, are an example of “standards” in their fields. No matter what they are not controlled but an organization and their standards are publicly known and enforceable. You know that for example a company cannot implement their own DNS protocol, as no device will know how to use it.
Pricing guarantees (Google and their services) , promises (Firefox and selling data) and company motos (Don't Be Evil by Google) change the moment the company representing them needs to make their Quarterly Quota.
Terms And Conditions change in a whim. As an individual you likely rarely read the TaC as they are long, written to confuse you and above all else are dynamic. The TaC change becomes more evident by just checking your inbox and taking note of all the notifications that there had been a change in the TaC of certain services you may just. Tracking those changes then becomes a huge nuisance, that people will happily look the other way and just accept.
A self-guaranteeing promise about privacy gives you proof that the tool cannot access your data in the first place.