Twitter/X is right wing controlled.
Meta (Instagram, Threads, Facebook) is right wing aligned.
TikTok is aligning itself with Trump.
Crypto-centric decentralized platforms are right wing aligned (the jury's out about whether crypto-funded ones are too).
Major newspapers are aligning themselves around the right wing.
Whoever controls the narrative has the ability to obfuscate and overwrite the truth.
The Fediverse is more important for freedom than ever before.
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@ben I think about this all the time--and it's not coincidental that Trump is giving Bezos (owner of THE WASHINGTON POST), Musk, and Zuckerberg prominent seating in his inauguration tomorrow.
When the hell are Democrats in power going to take this information problem seriously??
And also: Could any rich Democrats step up and fund an information source--including a Mastodon server (with a campaign to get more users).
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@nandor @ben
"Bezos, Musk, and Zuckerberg"
What is the point of all that money if you are just going to suck up to a horrible person like Trump?
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@EFreethought What's the point of all this greed in general? I understand, if someone aims for 5, 10, 20, 100 million... But somewhere above it simply becomes absurd.
@nandor @ben
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@ben crypto-centric "decentralized" platforms are not decentralized
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@cryptadamist Very fair.
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@cryptadamist @ben I assumed this was referencing NOSTR as an example. I have been looking at that out of genuine curiosity. I agree that the crowd appears to be right-leaning (and certainly crypto evangelicals) but technically it seems decentralized. Maybe I’m missing something…
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@dpw @ben theoretically nostr could be decentralized - the tech works that way - but IIRC the reality is the nodes are run by a tiny group of people, as per almost every "decentralized" crypto project.
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@ben
"the jury's out about whether crypto-funded ones are too"
Are you referring to Bluesky here?
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@ben
Like the post very much, and let's be clear around naming Bluesky. It's a centralized platform owned by VCs and crypto bros. The fact that they haven't lowered the boom yet makes them more dangerous, not less. This is where we need to be clear eyed and specifically call out corporate traps. Any social media network that isn't a not for profit, public platform amounts to more risk to our freedom.
[#]PublicSocialMedia
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@mastodonmigration @ben Sincere question: how do you explain the issues with Bluesky (detailed above) to someone who doesn't pay attention to tech, tech funding, or social media as an industry, and who believes that "It doesn't matter because all big platforms are like that"?
Are there any good step-by-step explainer articles out there that are written for a generalist audience.
Because when I try to talk about this with people who are not in/around tech or Very Online People it's disastrous.
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@ShaulaEvans @mastodonmigration @ben If you are talking about the concept of federated services, I don’t have a specific article, but one good explanation is to describe it in terms of email.
No single company “owns” email. If you have a gmail account, you can send messages to people who use outlook, AOL, and yahoo mail (and vice versa) and it Just Works.
You can have a mailing list with users from all those services, and anyone subscribing to that list will get messages you send to the list. It Just Works.
If you get unhappy with your current email service, you can move your contact list over to some other provider, and, again, everything Just Works.
Now imagine that sort of process, using it for sending tweets (Mastodon) or images (Pixelfed). You find a provider you like, and anyone subscribed to you sees anything you post. You see everything posted by people you subscribe to. It Just Works.
[edit for grammatical clarity]
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@jdeisenberg @mastodonmigration @ben I'm sorry I wasn't clear, David. I was responding to the previous post about the issues with Bluesky. That's what I was asking about.
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@ShaulaEvans @mastodonmigration @ben Yes, all the big platforms are like that. @pluralistic 's enshittification process starts with the platform being nice to the users. Then it proceeds to being nice to the advertisers once the users are locked in. Then it proceeds to being awful to everyone.
This appears to be a law that applies to all ad-funded Web 2 businesses. As BlueSky is such a business, it will eventually succumb.
The only response is fediverse and making your own website.
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@ShaulaEvans @mastodonmigration @ben
I tell them to look at where the funding is coming from. That's a debt that will be held accountable in the near future and accountable to the politics of the lenders, hence it's not truly an open forum.
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@mastodonmigration @ben especially because thyuse a bsd3 permissive license, easy to do an open washing with.
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@ben right on, Ben. thanks for being here :fediverse:
Fedi Mercury approves this message. :fedi_mercury_coin:
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@ben I'm by no means an extremist, but for the saying that "the left" is always radicalizing and gaining more and more control over parts of every day life, the reality sure seems to shift in the opposite direction. :pika:
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@ben The other stuff is talked about quite widely, but who are these 'Crypto-centric decentralized platforms'? Do you have names to hand, so that I may read up on 'em?
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@ben tiktok aligning itself to trump..?
that's a bit of a stretch
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@oscarjiminy @ben
Did you not see its praise of him yesterday?
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@ben “Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
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@ben @Raffnsoe they have all read 1984 as an instruction manual 🤦
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@ben
Why be so nervous with the left and right views ?
They are alternate by capital to realize your own plans.
This polarization is just a mith !
Sociocapitalism is the vibe that ultra lefits richs are surfing to get money from estate.
When the money ends, they them calls the right wing to repair the "mistake".
I am tired of see replays!
We need something NEW !
DECENTRALIZATION !
SO WHAT ?
Decentralization is ANTI COMUNIST ?
[#]LOL !
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@ben the #uk here; all #media is #tory media.
[#]torymedia #uktorymedia #anglosphere
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@ben
The question
@nandor
asks in post
https://mastodon.uno/@nandor@universeodon.com/113858857390653883
may be reworded as follows
When the hell is Europe going to take this information problem seriously??
Europe failed to understand - in the 90ies - that the Open System Interconnection stack meant "interoperability" of social and technical cultures.
An article
https://doi.org/10.1016/0920-5489(93)90004-B
pointing out what an Open System Environment should have been meant to be, communication-wise, raised no economic nor political concerns
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@ben@werd.social do we count the blsky as a fediverse or no?
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@methylithium @ben@werd.social It doesn't really "Federate" because of the networks structure, although bridgy fed does. Bluesky is decentralised and bridgy fed is federated.
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@ben they are not so much right wing aligned as they are money aligned, they will support anyone who gives more tax breaks and deregulation. If you have a system that encourages maximizing profits at all costs, the costs you are going to pay
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@ben they've been left wing controlled for so long that a move towards center seems like it's right wing conservationism. Being the D in the middle is better than the nuts on the ends. ;)
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@ben At least we still have Wikipedia and ChatGPT
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@ben In some countries, a very successful programme has been established to ensure the general public only see news managed by the governing body (North Korea, China, Ruzzia, Hungary, 1930s Germany for example). The Right Wing has learned this, and with massive financial resources from billionaires, can reproduce this in “Western” countries.
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@ben
Once again the Fediverse has to save the day from tyranny.
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@ben But keep in mind that the world around you believes the “truth” they are telling. Knowing the truth wont help.
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@ben "If you make it trend, you make it true" Renee DiResta
All be ready for lawfare and cyber warfare(refuting disinformation )
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@ben 🔺Do you wish to be famous, wealthy and powerful? Be part of this elite organization called the illuminati brotherhood filled with world leaders, business authorities, artists, and become rich with your benefit and also be given a new house of choice. Reply me by saying YES
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@ben it’s very true and Mastodon along with other ActivityPub apps are some remaining safe havens. Let’s try to keep them that way. BTW there is a very timely book about this topic you may want to check out…
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@mastodonmigration I saw a wild but feels-accurate take last night when I was checking on the 🦋ppl about #Fediverse, and a reasonable idea for what to do about it: someone observed that this was the digital equivalent of a Reichtag fire.
And the suggestion was that abused tech workers of all these billionares should wildcat strike. As we’ve probably all experienced in the #Fediverse the unseen ppl who keep the servers running have a huge task, it’s a huge amount of work, and without those people things fall apart pretty quick 👀 a #WildcatStrike by the admins, tech ops, or datacenter peeps to demand that the tiktok ban be upheld (to preserve their market competition), since i think we all know the congress and scotus isn’t going to do jack about their constitutional authority being tossed out and that layoffs of tech workers at those platforms will only increase as they consolidate the platforms they control (Threads for example is redundant to X, Insta is redundant to Tiktok, etc). Regardless of political leaning, every person who works in infrastructure at these companies should probably perceive this weekend’s shenanigans as a direct thread to their jobs and an opportunity to be fairly compensated for the critical work that they do.
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@ben good place for this book recommendation. #DigitalEmpires
https://social.vivaldi.net/@cmthiede/113489473420052381
As blocs build out their "smart cities" be wary of the WHO that's building the network, WHOM it's being built for and WHERE all those components are being manufactured to complete their NETWORK. As much as we'd like to think we're all connected, those COMMS go through some OWNER'S link. A cable on the ocean floor, a firewall, satellite above, charging station, etc. One individual in particular, has done a good job of cornering the globe for that specifically.
A whole lot of TRUST goes into using an app, service or device. Yet, we're living in a ZERO-TRUST world.
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@ben “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength”
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@ben ah, so previously left had the ability to obfuscate and overwrite the truth.
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text/gemini
