You've probably noticed that governance bodies all across the world (including the US, and in the EU but definitely elsewhere as well) are taking note about the shape of social networks.
Here's some early draft legislation from the EU. It says "gatekeepers" 16 times in 6 pages:
The federated social web community has been at this work for over a decade. I'm proud to have been part of the ActivityPub standard: https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/
There's also further research happening for the next generation of this work in @spritelyproject.
But...
I think for the most part, legislators aren't even aware there's another option.
But recently, @jack@twitter.com did mention an alternative option in front of a congressional hearing, that we can build protocols as an alternative to centralization: https://twitter.com/jack/status/1375126820383645697
Whether you're optimistic about an organization like Twitter launching an alternative or not, it's important to start getting that message out there. This is a good first step to counter an immune response misfire.
You can see what was actually said here: https://youtu.be/u7ijNBTDUcM?t=169
There is also much to be done in the centralization space; this is why after ActivityPub was released, I decided to turn my work to fill in the remaining pieces with @spritelyproject.
I'm optimistic we can build a better future and get it out there.
Let's do so together.
Well this one was meant to say "much work to be done in the *de*centralization space" but to be honest with you: I think @spritelyproject is going in some powerful directions that even the centralized space hasn't yet explored.
@cwebber I am so happy to see you being part of these meetings! Good luck.
@rysiek Thank you! And thanks for all the work you've done to push things in the right direction here. :)
@cwebber we're all in this together. 👍
Yes, there's huge potential in what we are building here together. In addition to the inspiring toots of @cwebber a call to action. I'd like to point you to #SocialHub, the community of technologists that is dedicated to evolving the #fediverse and build further on the great foundations we already have.
Your participation and our concerted efforts are vital to go next-level: Towards #SocialMediaReimagined all across the board.
Not necessarily in size. That's irrelevant. In vision and humanity!
Check out the topics that interest you on the SocialHub forum, and join the fun.
@cwebber That's an interesting analogy!
@cwebber except for states (and therefore the EU) , the centralisation of communication is a goal. centralised services are far more similar in nature than decentralised services, more amendable to surveillance, etc
@cwebber because non-gatekeeping networks aren't legible
@cwebber do you have a link to this document? The part in the screenshot suggests that all the smaller platforms are lumped together as irrelevant and unable grow because of the gatekeepers?
@cwebber If I understand correctly, you're making sure the regulators know that things like the Fediverse exist, so they won't accidentally cause us problems like with Article 13 (the "All websites must scan every post for copyrighted media" mandate), alongside potentially supporting non-gatekeeping services?
@cwebber thats worrying.
@cwebber @how Politicians, who are having coffee with GMAFIA lobbyists on a regular basis, are being told not to listen to people of the fediverse, because it is just an amateur club that doesn't contribute to economic growth. As a result we are being reduced to exactly that and hence forced to DIY.
The catch being that infinite economic growth is impossible..
@cwebber Politicians also can not remember that the internet has had a long start period when it was not commercial from 1970 to 1993.
Yet this is an essential fact.
There's good reason to be concerned about gatekeepers to our communication, so 16 times in 6 pages isn't so surprising.
Yet, we've *built* alternatives to gatekeeping social networks across ActivityPub and other fediverse projects... how many times are those mentioned? Not once.