Skip Navigation
39 comments
  • Their reasoning isn't necessarily bad:

    They do explain their reasoning:

    They use Threads as an example of what could happen to the Fediverse, but who knows how many companies are out there with fake Mastodon/Lemmy servers, subscribing to as many feeds as they can, letting the Fediverse handle delivering structured, scrapable data for them so they can work on their AIs or thread intel or marketing profiles.

    They also have a point with their attempts to keep likes/follows private: that's something a lot of users want, and something a lot of users are surprised to learn doesn't exist on the Fediverse. The Fediverse is more metadata than data and that's not something everyone likes sharing. With monoliths like Veklar, you only need to trust one server not to datamine your every move rather than thousands of servers.

    Speaking of privacy, most of the Fediverse isn't compatible with any privacy laws I've seen. For a bunch of hobbyists that's probably fine because privacy enforcement agencies have better things to do, but for a company that intends to make money and wants to actually become an alternative, that's a problem. A GDPR-compliant Fediverse server would need to record which other servers which bits of PII have been shared, how that information is protected (does lemmy.world even encrypt their database?), and with what other servers that information was shared in turn. That's practically impossible. The Fediverse exists in Europe because it's unimportant and unprofessional enough not to attract lawsuits.

    They also have a good point about moderation. I could trivially spam every Lemmy server full of CSAM with maybe $100 in cloud credit to the point the FBI becomes interested. The Fediverse, and in particular Lemmy, is a bit like the Old Internet, assuming everyone has good intentions and that the minority with bad intentions can be handled by human interaction. New servers don't get vetted, new moderation environments don't get verified, and server administrators are left to their own devices to get rid of botnets and other malicious entities if they don't want their server to become a spam relay.

    I think the upsides of the Fediverse are worth the risks. Veklar clearly thinks otherwise. They're not necessarily wrong, they just have different priorities.

  • @Blaze@feddit.nl they even made a cute little graphic including some niche softwares, so cute

    • Definitely the biggest threats around

      • @Blaze@feddit.nl oh I see
        Basically they see the Fediverse as a data breach with no actual control over what happen to data the moment it gets to other servers (actually true) and especially if GAFAM gets involved. I mean, I get this they want to stay super-private. But I think that private social networks is a bit naive as an idea

39 comments