Posts by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
(DIR) Post #Aa6Vw8dDPExJ02F4XA by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:18:21Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Observing fedi-folk from various marginalized communities snipe at each other over the past week has been devastating and tragic. No conspiracy theory here, but if there were some nefarious plot to weaken the fediverse, provoking a conflict like this one would be an effective way to go about it.The purpose of this post isn't to further stir the shit. But it's worth taking a look at origins, alternatives and possible consequences in light of the ongoing threat of authoritarian and capitalist recuperation looming over the fedi.1/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta
(DIR) Post #Aa6Vw9WA6wuLkRwxBA by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:19:21Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Fact: There's nothing magic about a blocklist. There are numerous of them in use on the fedi. You yourself can make one by popping open LibreOffice and typing a few server names into csv cells. If someone wants to make a blocklist which is transphobic - or for that matter racist - they're free to do it. They would be a piece of shit for doing it, but nothing's stopping them, and nothing stops anyone else from loading it into their personal account or their server config if they're an admin.The critical issue with The Bad Space isn't the content of the blocklist, or even the nature of its "trusted sources". It's what those who are funding its compilation intend to do with it.2/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Blocklists
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwAJ5B42WCAq1Qm by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:20:43Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The Bad Space is at the center of a plan called FSEP - the Fediverse Safety Enhancement Project - sponsored by two organizations, The Nivenly Foundation and IFTAS.The Nivenly Foundation's mission statement cites goals such as "bring[ing] sustainable governance to open source projects and communities" and "building an equitable future for technology communities", laudable goals. Their team is comprised of several tech industry executives who are or have been employed at corporations such as Google, Microsoft and Twilio.Their endeavors include sustaining the Mastodon instance hachyderm.io and an AI project.https://nivenly.org/3/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #FSEP
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwBAxwj8otI33Q0 by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:21:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
IFTAS - Independent Federated Trust and Safety - is a fediverse-focused organization which "aims to serve as a valued resource for trust and safety in a complex social media landscape". Moderation is their concern. Their team consists of tech industry executives and movers in the non-profit and open-source communities.https://about.iftas.org/Both of these organizations are diverse of race, ethnicity and gender. Now let's have a look at FSEP.4/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #FSEP
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwBxt0qGzL0w7fc by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:23:00Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
FSEP presents The Bad Space as "providing an easy way to keep blocklists up to date from a central location" in a manner which "can be integrated into existing platforms to enhance the overall experience on ActivityPub-enabled applications by automatically limiting the opportunity for bad-faith actors to interact."It proposes "integration of The Bad Space’s features into backend functionality" by "allowing blocklists to be automatically imported during onboarding" of users and instances. It affirms "For MVP, only one deny list provider needs to be supported in this list (The Bad Space).""MVP" is "minimum viable product" - presumably FSEP version 1 - with a later goal of allowing a choice "from one of several vetted providers".https://nivenly.org/docs/papers/fsep/5/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Blocklists #FSEP
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwCvnQ6CAKoxy3E by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:24:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The issue here should be clear enough. FSEP is a plan to centralize control over blocklists.From here, we could easily dive in to why it might be a Bad Idea to make The Bad Space, specifically, the locus of that centralized control - not least because, though some of its "trusted sources" are solid, a few are in fact broadly untrusted by a majority of the fediverse.But the point here isn't to join in the dunk on The Bad Space. FSEP would be problematic regardless of where it centralizes its control. The problem is that FSEP centralizes control.6/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Blocklists #FSEP
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwE19Ng4XhiTl2G by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:25:52Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The purpose of this thread is not to suggest malign intentions on the part of anyone involved. We ourselves have advocated for better ways to federate deny- or allow-lists. The concern is the method.There is a type of social engineering at work here which is unmistakably redolent of big-tech solutionism. These approaches may seem fit for the top-down hierarchies of large corporations, but they won't work on a network whose essential character is defined by its decentralization. The week's debacle is a result of this mismatch.Notice the comment of @mekkaokereke , "We will make the Fediverse safe for people of all backgrounds." Everyone with a soul will agree with the goal. But it's a different statement than to affirm, for example, "We will all make the fediverse safe together." Who does and does not comprise "we" in a project of this nature?7/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Blocklists #FSEP
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwEpUMWL2Dq1xUu by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:27:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Compare the FSEP initiative with the independent project Fediseer developed by @db0 , intended initially to federate "endorse" and "censure" functionality on Lemmy. Both are crowdsourced, there is no "blocklist author". In fact, there is no real blocklist in a static sense, but rather a dynamic pool of classifications.Approvals and disapprovals are affirmed through a human-based "chain of trust". Sets of classifications can be subscribed to in a granular manner. The system also allows for another principle sorely lacking in the blocklist-based approach - grace.In the event that a temporary issue is resolved, censures can be withdrawn, and those changes can automatically federate. It's a far cry from the quasi-moralistic condemned-for-all-time scarlet letters regularly dispensed by some of The Bad Space's "trusted sources".https://fediseer.com/faq8/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #FSEP #Blocklists #Fediseer
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwFkCxdhz3kZFuC by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:28:32Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Fediseer represents the kind of horizontalist, agency-distributing creative thinking the fediverse needs to solve its blocklist problems. (It should also be noted that @db0 is collaborating with The Nivenly Foundation on another project, and the reference here to their Fediseer work shouldn't be construed as forming any connection between @db0 and the critique of Nivenly in this thread).And those problems do need to be solved. As we have noted before, Facebook and its associated operatives are coming for this network. They intend to target weaknesses in the blocklist system to claim that the only possibility for sustainable moderation on the fediverse is corporate-centralized algorithmic surveillance, complete with functionality to auto-report subversive elements to the "appropriate authorities".https://kolektiva.social/@ophiocephalic/1109803868025530169/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #Blocklists #Fediseer
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwGusbRq4h8ZIB6 by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:29:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
In a meeting held in early August, the imposition of algorithmic surveillance onto the fediverse was discussed by several participants, including a representative of IFTAS. Their organization was presented as a possible vehicle for the standardization of third-party surveillance-capitalist moderation schemes. It should be noted that there was a mention of possible disagreement within their organization on the propriety of this idea.Transcript: https://github.com/swicg/meetings/tree/main/2023-08-0410/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads
(DIR) Post #Aa6VwHvcqA1tpjvOym by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-09-16T20:30:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The fediverse has real moderation problems, and one way or another, changes are coming to the ways in which they are addressed. Two possibilities present themselves. We can continue to watch as solidarity and any sense of mutual purpose drain away, while self-appointed central-authorities assume control of the best practices on how to do a fediverse. Or we can proactively affirm and act upon the recognition that democratization, decentralization and the horizontal distribution of agency remain the only hope for preserving the fedi as a safe site of resistance and prefigurative possibility.11/11#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta
(DIR) Post #AaKi2CKQUcMrrkY4hM by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-10-01T17:22:18Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@HeavenlyPossum @smallcircles @Aviva_Gary Enron was reportedly working on a scheme for privatizing air just before their collapse. A briefly trendy joint here in SF was the Oxygen Bar, where rich techbros would hang out and huff premium quality air. (It also failed.)
(DIR) Post #AaKjbuj1WDbJeKeG6C by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-10-01T17:43:39Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Aviva_Gary @HeavenlyPossum @smallcircles Right. San Francisco is only "high altitude" in a metaphorical sense
(DIR) Post #AaPPblC9vNqindj1bU by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-10-03T23:43:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
This guy should absolutely always be photographed with an ultra-wide, it really brings out The Butthead Effect
(DIR) Post #AcTPoLSRgngIlR2Cu0 by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-12-04T17:14:33Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Misinformation expert says she was fired by Harvard under Meta pressureJoan Donovan says funding was cut off for criticizing Meta when university was receiving $500m from Mark Zuckerberg’s charityhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/04/facebook-harvard-joan-donovan#DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads
(DIR) Post #Act8AKVl9M63DsQy9o by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-12-16T20:48:10Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
What do you mean we won't be able to see ads from Threads? I've spotted one already#FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #Instagram .
(DIR) Post #AcwuIhV4wJiQ733Jzs by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-12-18T16:02:13Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
With the Zuckerberg takeover impending, there's a lot of confusion circulating about the use of user-level and instance-level blocks, and how our online expressions can be secured against Meta. Everyone who objects to their accounts being mined by the Zuckerberg entity for data collection, AI ingestion, monetization, and possible ghost-profile building needs to understand this problem. Here's information to clarify.Neither a user-level block, or an instance-level block, will protect our posts from Meta data-mining by default on a Mastodon instance. Posts won't be delivered directly, but can be ingested by other means; if, for example, users on Meta-federated instances boost them.However, both user and instance blocks will totally prevent post delivery in all cases IF your host instance has enabled the functionality called Authorized Fetch.By default, Authorized Fetch is off on Mastodon instances and most haven't turned it on. If this concern is important to you, you might want to respectfully reach out to your admins and let them know. Remember that they are working hard to provide and sustain online community at no charge. It's likely they won't be very familiar with it and will need time to look into it.For more information on Authorized Fetch, check out this blog post by @brook : https://hub.sunny.garden/2023/06/28/what-does-authorized_fetch-actually-do/ Please untag Brook from replies unless you specifically intend to address him#FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #Instagram #AuthorizedFetch
(DIR) Post #Ad7BoxhfctTJPAPoY4 by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-12-23T22:13:26Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@FLGLchicago @mttaggart That FediDB listing is just the instances which signed the document, not all of those actually blocking Meta. Add 37,000 more from my instance. This toot is wildly inaccurate
(DIR) Post #Ad7OOSilUharBpcbVA by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2023-12-24T00:42:32Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@twizzay @bmo One of the least automated "automated accounts" I've seen on here. Sheesh!
(DIR) Post #AdU3JKoyLEawyIYLNA by ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social
2024-01-03T22:30:37Z
2 likes, 1 repeats
@twizzay Here's one more