Joshua Casey 😷 @JoshuaACasey@social.cleverlibre.org

Four years later and to no one's surprise, we have yet to see any benefits from FOSTA. Worse, in many ways, FOSTA has consistently proven to do more harm than good:

https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2022/10/more-evidence-that-fosta-benefited-no-one.htm

@Jason I don’t want my private communications informing my commercial activity by default. Only totalitarians make the “nothing to hide” argument. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_hide_argument

ATTENTION EVERYONE WRINGING THEIR HANDS OVER “#MASTODON ADMINS CAN READ MY DIRECT MESSAGES”: #SysAdmins have *always* been able to read your #email and DMs unless encrypted, including at the big #SocialNetworks and Internet providers. We used to have t-shirts that said, “I READ YOUR EMAIL.”

It’s just hitting now because you got used to places where the admins were kept away in their cubicles and data centers instead of greeting you at the front door.

#privacy #security #InfoSec #cybersecurity

Precedents like the German government running a Mastodon server are important beyond the obvious reasons. They reinforce the urgency of serious public funding for open code.

If we treated open code as part of the essential infrastructure of the 21st century and funded it at billions of USD/EUR as opposed to tiny grants here and there, the "fediverse" model of interconnected, self-governing communities would become the norm, not the exception.

See also (but not only): https://publiccode.eu/

If you’re setting up your own fediverse presence at your own domain, don’t make the same mistake I did and call it mastodon.my.domain. Give it a generic name like social.my.domain, activity.my.domain, fedi.my.domain or something similar. You don’t want to tie an endpoint for an open protocol to a single implementation or perpetuate the myth that #Mastodon is the #fediverse.

(Yes, you can migrate to a different subdomain later but it’s not a one-click process.)

#fediTips #instance #admin

Good morning! A post just rolled across my fedi-timeline saying not to post about politics on Mastodon, so I'm here to remind you that:

1 "politics" refers to decision-making about how to live together in groups
2 choosing to not participate in political discussion is saying you support the status quo, and is a political stance
3 abstaining from politics because you feel safe from its impacts is a privilege and a choice to abandon your more vulnerable neighbours

This seems like a very big deal to me.

Official instances like the EU have just set up here are a massive boon to verification, combating disinformation, and helping insure official sources aren't dependent on private middlemen.

It's also very good to see that the "slow, lumbering" EU was one of the quickest out of the gate with something like this.

👏 👏 @EDPS_supervisor
https://social.network.europa.eu/about

I put together a basic proof of concept for using existing #Mastodon installations as SSO for #Matrix, using #Synapse. Here's what the authentication and authorization flow for that looks like!

While Mastodon doesn't support #OpenlD Connect, OIDC is just OpenlD on top of OAuth2.0. If your app allows configuring all URLS for your ldP you can use nearly any OAuth2.0 provider.

Avatars currently aren't supported via this (| added one) but can be! Working on a patch for Synapse!

PSA: Support open standards in tech. Otherwise you'll get locked into ecosystems that abuse you. Thank you - that is all.

@freemo I have some empathy for the situation Eugen finds himself in, but caving to Nazis is never a good idea (not to mention, never the ethical choice).

Late last night, a federal judge DENIED a 19-year-old woman's request to watch her father's execution. In Missouri, the minimum age for watching an execution is 21.

So a 19-year-old is not old enough to watch her father be executed for a crime he committed at 19. #aclu #deathrow #deathpenalty #prison https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-judge-denies-daughters-emergency-request-attend-fathers-missouri-execution

The Online Safety Bill introduces mandatory age verification on content platforms. Non-profits using community content moderation will have to collect more user data. Adults and children will be exposed to privacy risks as there isn’t capacity to hold data securely.

The Wikimedia Foundation warns of the Bill's impact on Wikipedia and other open knowledge platforms.

#BlockTheBill #OnlineSafetyBill #privacy #freedomofexpression

https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/deep-dive-the-united-kingdoms-online-safety-bill-b7020723dd39

@jeffjarvis
It's deeply frustrating watching my friends who ought to know better—journalists, tech policy people, etc.—acknowledging that Twitter's on the outs, but then getting excited about moving to yet another closed, proprietary platform.

How do you know if your browser is really protecting you? Use the tools in this article to check.

If your browser isn't up to the task, MakeUseOf recommends switching to Brave:
https://www.makeuseof.com/free-tools-test-browser-security/

Good news, we'll have a major letter signed by dozens of #LGBTQ #humanrights #privacy #digitalrights #civilliberties #racialjustice and #freeexpression organizations out on Monday opposing #KOSA the poorly named (and terribly drafted) "Kids Online Safety Act."

Top Democrats were trying to sneak it into a must-pass spending package. Hopefully this is enough opposition to stop them. HMU if your *organization* wants to sign on (not individuals at this time)