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submitted 4 months ago by hedge@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[-] Melody@lemmy.one 28 points 4 months ago

I would argue that federating with either of the biggest companies on the fediverse is a monumentally bad idea.

Not just because of "Reports of genocide" or anything specious like that; which can be debated for days and days on end by people in both good and bad faith; but because both Threads and Meta are simply too large to be moderated correctly and be capable of managing basic issues such as harrassment and extended bouts of hate-speech which should never be considered acceptable; even if you do not necessarily agree with all of the goals and policies of the Fedi Garden; as strict as they are.

[-] Melody@lemmy.one 14 points 4 months ago

With that being said; I do fully support an Instance's choice to federate, not federate or even limit their federation with them.

In most cases this should not affect instances; but unfortunately there are people who will ignore all warnings and use the Fedi Garden as a whitelist instead of a list of instances that you know will handle policy violations quickly.

On the other hand I absolutely also respect the needs of communities who ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY WILL NOT TOLERATE instances who choose to federate with either X, Threads, or any other instance they deem to be too toxic to play nicely. As instance operators you absolutely have the right to block problems BEFORE they happen, and if you happen to KNOW an instance will absolutely be a HEADACHE, you have every right to say NO. If the users do not like your decision; they are free to find a better instance for themselves; or spin up an alt account on a better instance.

[-] helenslunch@feddit.nl 5 points 4 months ago

If the users do not like your decision; they are free to find a better instance for themselves

Or just personally block Threads...

[-] helenslunch@feddit.nl 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I would argue that federating with either of the biggest companies

What other company are you referring to?

because both Threads and Meta are simply too large to be moderated correctly

They're not. Meta is simply not motivated to implement proper moderation.

That being said, I acknowledge and agree that moderation is poor, which is, once again, why you should federate. To let people know they don't need Meta. To show them how to escape the exploitation and harassment.

The Fediverse will likely not be much different in terms of moderation, should it ever become even a fraction of the size.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 4 points 4 months ago

That being said, I acknowledge and agree that moderation is poor, which is, once again, why you should federate. To let people know they don’t need Meta. To show them how to escape the exploitation and harassment.

You're gonna have to break this down for me, because I'm not seeing the logic.

So I'm a Threads user. I now start seeing Beehaw posts in my feed. Let's say that I'm seeing them alongside Threads-originating posts containing "exploitation and harassment". How does my seeing those Beehaw posts in Threads automatically translate to thinking, "I should leave Threads and join- not Beehaw, which is federated, but another, non-federated instance"?

Or are you advocating for individuals in non-Threads Fediverse instances to do some kind of manual outreach campaign?

[-] helenslunch@feddit.nl 2 points 4 months ago

That's not how it works. What you see is conversations on other ad-free spy-free platforms that give you actual control over what appears in your feed, while simultaneously giving you access to all the people and orgs you know and love on Meta.

I doubt Threads is supporting communities so you probably won't stumble across Lemmy convos, much like you don't stumble across them on Mastodon.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

ad-free spy-free platforms that give you actual control over what appears in your feed

You won't know any of those are ad-free or spy-free (which is not true anyways, fediverse instances are absolutely being scraped), or know you could control those if you left Threads.

All you'll know is, "I like this (Beehaw) thing I'm seeing in Threads, so to see more of it, I should use Threads more.

[-] helenslunch@feddit.nl 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You won't know any of those are ad-free or spy-free

Because Google is so expensive?

which is not true anyways, fediverse instances are absolutely being scraped

Scraping public data is entirely different from collecting your contact history, location history, web browsing traffic, decrypting SnapChat traffic, etc. etc. and on and on.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Scraping public data is entirely different from collecting your contact history, location history, web browsing traffic, decrypting WhatsApp traffic, etc. etc. and on and on.

Fediverse instances can also do most of this. They know your IP and email, and the stuff you reveal about yourself. You could de-anonymize many users with those 2 plus the info they share about themselves on here, with a bit of OSINT work. Any fediverse apps could also get access to contacts or other locally-stored info on your phone.

"But I wouldn't use that app." Well then you wouldn't be someone using Facebook either. People using Facebook would also be the people granting shady fediverse apps undue permissions.

[-] helenslunch@feddit.nl 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Fediverse instances can also do most of this.

Do you have reason to believe any of that is happening?

You could de-anonymize many users with those

Bruh your Facebook username is literally your first and last name. Same goes for most people on most platforms. I don't particularly care about anonymity.

Any fediverse apps could also get access to contacts or other locally-stored info on your phone.

I've never used a Fediverse app that asked for any of that. They have no use for it.

"But I wouldn't use that app." Well then you wouldn't be someone using Facebook either.

You don't seem to understand the myriad of data that Facebook collects unnecessarily and without user consent. Do a search for Facebook Pixels or shadow profiles. They were just caught decrypting traffic from SnapChat. Most Fediverse servers are far too small to even bother with collecting and selling that sort of data.

The two are not even remotely comparable.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 1 points 4 months ago

I'm not arguing they're comparable; I'm the one out of the 2 of us arguing not to have any interaction with Meta apps, including via federation. I'm arguing that you shouldn't be trying to sell a false sense of anonymity with fediverse instances. You said they're "spy-free", not "far less intrusive than Facebook". The latter is true. The former is not.

[-] helenslunch@feddit.nl 1 points 4 months ago

I'm arguing that you shouldn't be trying to sell a false sense of anonymity with fediverse instances.

I never did that.

You said they're "spy-free", not "far less intrusive than Facebook".

And I stand by that. Collecting necessary information for operation is not the same thing as spying.

this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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