Gregory's Server|
8 comments
@jannem @ThePlant this is not true. A website can be set up using open protocols and free software for non-profit activities, #Threads is a private company using closed source, undisclosed filtering algorithms and uncontrolled metadata harvesting, monetizing also hate speech for profit. We are not retreating, we are still open to the #Fediverse, but closed to evil companies. Nobody could force me to pay storage for federation data of a company used as a tool for genocide according to UN reports.  @gubi @ThePlant Again, I'm not blaming anyone give up on the open web. There's lots of very good reasons to do so. I'm a little sad that it's happening, and I also feel we are losing something important. Obviously a lot of people disagree @jannem @ThePlant the protocol is open but the source code is closed. That's why #Mastodon users are owners of their data, and can migrate their account on another #Mastodon istance keeping all the followers, but #Threads users won't be allowed to do the same. Besides the technical limitations, though, there should be also ethical considerations because of the bad record of misbehaviours of the company, supporting from white supremacy to genocide. But everyone has a different ethics. @gubi @ThePlant But I still create and promote open source software. The benefit to humanity at large far outweighs the damage from those entities also getting access. The overall benefits of being open is worth my loss of control over who gets to use it. @jannem @ThePlant first of all, there is a difference from open source and free software, where the free is the one of freedom. Second, putting blocks on a Mastodon server to keep out evil companies and their monetization of hate speech will not make the fediverse less open, just like putting antispam blocks on Postfix mail server to keep out evil companies and their monetization of spam will not make the internet less open. It's so open that you can stop antispam filters and federate with Meta. @gubi @ThePlant You disagree with me. That is fine. Reasonable, well informed people disagree with each other all the time. I understand and sympathize with your standpoint even if I don't agree with the conclusion. @jannem @ThePlant the GPL cannot be compared to Activitypub because if you are using GPL code you are forced to release any modification with the same freedom, while Activitypub doesn't oblige companies using it to disclose malicious proprietary code for harvesting metadata, filtering contents and monetizing hate speech. My conclusion is that we should not support companies that made the world a worse place, but you are free to come to the opposite conclusion, we're in the Fediverse after all 🙂 |
@gubi @ThePlant
You could make the same argument to people setting up a website. Yes, it's a strained equivalency but it's not ridiculous.
On the other hand there is a real trend of people doing just that: retreating into private chats, private spaces and leaving the open net.
I don't blame them. But I also increasingly think we're giving up on something fundamentally important. And I increasingly feel we really need to fight to keep it and restore it, not give up.