Post AhHVHo8dENVPKtvfYu by aral@mastodon.ar.al
(DIR) More posts by aral@mastodon.ar.al
(DIR) Post #AhHLyCrkgWjYeHc1wG by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T11:38:48Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
EU leaving Fediverse (Mastodon & PeerTube) because no one wants to operate the servers“In recent years, a total of 40 institutions have opened an account with EU Voice, including the EU Data Protection Supervisor, the European Court of Justice and the EU Commission. The video platform, on the other hand, was used by six institutions … the EU institutions were thus the largest group of public institutions in the Fediverse worldwide.”https://netzpolitik.org/2024/mastodon-und-peertube-eu-macht-fediverse-dicht-weil-niemand-die-server-betreiben-will/#eu #fediverse #mastodon #peertube
(DIR) Post #AhHMGerHLg6Gg6Bo1o by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T11:42:09Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
“…the EDPS regards the pilo project as a great success. It has proven that public institutions such as EU institutions can offer social media platforms that respect the fundamental rights of the individual. They are thus an alternative to the usual platforms that belong to a handful of large players … Or not - because none of the more than 40 bodies, institutions and agencies throughout the EU can be found that want to operate and moderate two servers permanently.”#eu #fediverse
(DIR) Post #AhHMLp3kqeDZlSUHtw by GatekeepKen@mastodon.social
2024-04-26T11:43:09Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral ------$10-a-year-would-do-it
(DIR) Post #AhHMiQTOQUAyAgG2s4 by shalf@mamot.fr
2024-04-26T11:47:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral “It is a great success, but we have more serious stuff to do, like trade oil and gas for data, CU”
(DIR) Post #AhHN7QuxuTDKn34x2e by fasnix@dresden.network
2024-04-26T11:51:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral It's a shame for them and just sad for us Fedizens :(
(DIR) Post #AhHNGxoKz24fPdWVGK by PiiiepsBrummm@chaos.social
2024-04-26T11:53:26Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
To all reading this:Don't just complain. Write your local EU parlamentarian and ask, if (s)he could intervene on behalf of the #EU #Fediverse presence. Especially with the upcoming elections, this will have at least some impact.By the way:A classic letter - yes, written on dead tree - has more impact than just an email. Keep it polite and explain your personal motivation to write.This is one of your rights as a citizen in a #democracy. Write your parlimentarians!CC @aral @kallekn
(DIR) Post #AhHOfUm2BD1MY6hv1M by GhostOnTheHalfShell@masto.ai
2024-04-26T12:09:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral What social media will they use then? Threads, X and YouTube?
(DIR) Post #AhHP2zcVey7ssUSNxQ by mhaseneyer@franken.social
2024-04-26T12:13:20Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@aral If server maintenance is a thing, There ARE people out to support.Being the service provider for the instances of two education networks in Germany, we would not need to start from zero. And I assume even more experienced people are available if anyone had asked them.
(DIR) Post #AhHQBsbPDlfvfmk3uq by tanghus@freeradical.zone
2024-04-26T12:25:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral https://mastodon.online/@larkim/112337318767529633
(DIR) Post #AhHUmSEQd33GPvgqhc by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T13:17:34Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Wish I could say I was surprised by this but, in my experience, at least, it is par for the course.We do not have predictable funding for technology for the common good in the EU. We have piecemeal funding for features, etc. What I recently referred to as “begging for scraps” when telling someone why I wasn’t going to apply for their latest round of funding (we’ve applied for and never received any EU funding for our work on the Small Web).1/N
(DIR) Post #AhHUyR5wgIkAMmR48O by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T13:19:47Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Six years ago we ran a pilot project with the City of Ghent to explore what it would be like for a municipality to provide every citizen with their own place on the web at a domain they (the citizen) owned and controlled.We prototyped. Everyone loved it. And then? Our budget was cancelled when a conservative local government got elected.We need long-term funding that’s not privy to the whims of the shifting political winds.2/3
(DIR) Post #AhHVES7icnBYBpu0GG by ncrav@mas.to
2024-04-26T13:22:39Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral I think it's more likely to be "because we can't control the narrative and our lobbyist friends say there's porn and terrorists". The EU has plenty of useless sites around and thousands of people to run the servers.
(DIR) Post #AhHVHo8dENVPKtvfYu by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T13:22:45Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
So what do we need, ideally? The equivalent of VC but for tech for the common good.Pick ten organisations working the common good and give them €5M each. Let them experiment. Let them pivot. Let them cooperate. The only thing you don’t let them do is exit. You can’t sell. Build something for the commons that will live on for the next ten, twenty, fifty years… if not more.I said as much 5 years ago at the European Parliament:https://ar.al/2019/11/29/the-future-of-internet-regulation-at-the-european-parliament/3/3#funding #EU #SmallTech
(DIR) Post #AhHVPA4U5B8RO5UnPE by leean00@discuss.systems
2024-04-26T13:24:01Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral That's okay; you could live in the US instead and be completely dominated by giant companies that disrupt your job and ensure that you will never be able to retire or buy a house.At least you have a damn job.
(DIR) Post #AhHVmGpT7haV0UUXS4 by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T13:28:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@leean00 I have a damn job because I sold two family homes to keep us going and because my partner contracts to bring in the money so I can work on the free stuff.It’s not something I’d expect anyone else do for the privilege of contributing to the commons. And it sure as hell isn’t the system we need if we want to encourage young folks to work for the common good instead of at Google, FB, etc.All that said, yes, the US is the standard bearer of everything that’s wrong under capitalism.
(DIR) Post #AhHVqBjrzUUmNUjzxg by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T13:29:22Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jkb Mozilla is just another Silicon Valley tech company.
(DIR) Post #AhHW2pE50IuCJvtgG0 by notsoloud@expressional.social
2024-04-26T13:31:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aralEU closing its Fediverse presence for lack of a few k€?This would be a good thing to ask candidates for the upcoming Europarl elections about.@ErikJonker
(DIR) Post #AhHfBqCVeH8RXMXK2y by davidsabine@mastodon.social
2024-04-26T15:13:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral, "Pick ten organisations working the common good and give them €5M each. Let them experiment. Let them pivot. Let them cooperate. The only thing you don’t let them do is exit."You've just described "government subsidy" - it happens all the time and it consistently produces companies that are tethered to the state and reliant on taxpayers. Please produce a list of companies started by a state (ANY state) that can survive on its own revenues?
(DIR) Post #AhHfbkyZhFq8rVNNw0 by zeitverschreib@freundica.de
2024-04-26T11:42:21Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral Absolut verständlich, dass eine Organisation wie die EU nicht die Mittel aufbringen kann oder gar will, die notwendige Infrastruktur und Administration sicherzustellen.Ich möchte mir gar nicht vorstellen, von welche Summen und bürokratischen Hürden wir da sprechen.
(DIR) Post #AhHfbm0Ns0si3PELOS by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T15:18:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@zeitverschreib Yeah, they’re basically a mom and pop store and broke so 🤷♂️
(DIR) Post #AhHg0xFFDbHs9XBkmG by salubrium@mstdn.party
2024-04-26T12:47:50Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral But they'll keep a presence on Facebook? TikTok even? X?
(DIR) Post #AhHg0y9bq2NEyLYldI by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T15:23:24Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@salubrium Of course! Digital Single Market, man!
(DIR) Post #AhHg7S99EurljKR4j2 by t0k@social.tchncs.de
2024-04-26T15:24:37Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral "We have 40+ billions for the Chips Act but cant afford paying somebody a couple hundert Euros a year to run two servers for us."
(DIR) Post #AhHgUKrUUSt3nU5Vi4 by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T15:28:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@davidsabine Oh it’s important for everything to survive on its own revenue? Sure. Let’s implement that for militaries and then talk. I see absolutely nothing wrong with tech for the common good being funded from the commons (or taxes).The only reason I’m designing my solution so it can sustainable under capitalism is because I don’t trust funding from the commons. Maybe, one day…
(DIR) Post #AhHh9UQ5rHKFJWtfJQ by ryanprior@mastodon.social
2024-04-26T15:35:29Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral European leaders don't see maintenance or service as European values, unless it's nostalgic or necessary for exploitation.
(DIR) Post #AhHpUUBshlsoJklvN2 by davidsabine@mastodon.social
2024-04-26T17:09:27Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral - are you seriously going to argue equivalency between "social media platforms" and military?Like posting cat pics is as important to a state as protecting its citizens against hostile foreign militaries?
(DIR) Post #AhHpxS8RQUHcLAyXM8 by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2024-04-26T17:14:54Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@davidsabine Yep, because “social media” is “posting cat pics”. Not Cambridge Analytica. Not Trump and Boris in office. Not the genocide in Myanmar. No impact on human rights or democracy… fuck it, why am I even wasting my time?
(DIR) Post #AhHtSokfgi4DKAVLsm by the_wiggler@mastodon.social
2024-04-26T17:54:04Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral i don't get it. You have 40 agencies, presumably all with funding. So make another agency and have the others devote some of eaches budget.Isn't that what beuracracies do? Make agencies?
(DIR) Post #AhHtXIRpDkAsaDpE6S by the_wiggler@mastodon.social
2024-04-26T17:54:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral so capitalism in microcosm? Does sound kinda fun.
(DIR) Post #AhHzfzhAuVwUkrXGRk by fifilamoura@eldritch.cafe
2024-04-26T19:03:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral We also return to the fundamental reality that moderation is hard work (partly because of bad actors but also just because of people being people). But, really, this is something that governments need to tackle as supposed stewards of society.
(DIR) Post #AhI9ggEjk47UEhCROq by gabriel@fedi.gvisoc.com
2024-04-26T20:55:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral I guess they didn’t discover the employees, such sneaky species, so difficult to spot. Pointy ears, they live in the bush, singing and dancing.
(DIR) Post #AhIMkJ1vGT34pAGV16 by leean00@discuss.systems
2024-04-26T23:22:19Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral Well thanks for keeping the commons alive; it's certainly helped me in the past. I'd be nowhere without Open Source. Even know I went to college.
(DIR) Post #AhJc0LCirv2YrLRApc by leean00@discuss.systems
2024-04-27T13:47:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral Come to think of it, if I had your situation I be be doing the same.
(DIR) Post #AhO3By9IEM9iKcf3aa by wolf@metalhead.club
2024-04-29T17:11:21Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aralThe EU commission will stay in the Fediverse.But why?They're against privacy and they're against safe encryption.Commission and EPP are full of spyware enthusiasts (Pegasus, etc.)#chatcontrol is a milestone in despising the principles of free and open-source software.There are already adequate platforms for such people: Facebook, X and TikTok.