The "secret power" of Pocket is that someone is making money off selling detailed information on what people red, probably including when, where, probably how long a given document is read. They aren't offering their bandwidth and storage as some sort of charity; those server costs are obviously being covered by surveillance-as-a-business-model.
The database Pocket is building is an incredibly tempting target for many different groups (governments, insurance companies, etc). Even if Pocket isn't using that data (unlikely), the probability of leaks/theft is high.
Building a better bookmark system is a good idea. Such a system doesn't need network access. If for some reason you need to share between devices, a socially responsible bookmark/read-it-later tool would be encrypting at the endpoints so an opaque encrypted blob is the only thing stored remotely. (prior art: the original Firefox "sync")
Safari has a Reading List which also syncs between devices and downloads the content in case one doesn't have internet access. It may not be an open-source solution and it's only within the Apple ecosystem but at least it's run by a company that is increasingly differentiating itself by how it is NOT monetizing its users' content. For me, that's good enough.
Having said that, I'd love to see an open (or at least extensible) and private bookmark system.
The database Pocket is building is an incredibly tempting target for many different groups (governments, insurance companies, etc). Even if Pocket isn't using that data (unlikely), the probability of leaks/theft is high.
Building a better bookmark system is a good idea. Such a system doesn't need network access. If for some reason you need to share between devices, a socially responsible bookmark/read-it-later tool would be encrypting at the endpoints so an opaque encrypted blob is the only thing stored remotely. (prior art: the original Firefox "sync")