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Should the Fediverse welcome its new surveillance-capitalism overlords? Opinions differ!
(infosec.exchange)
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Thanks @darnell , glad you like the analysis! I also think it's an opportunity as well as a threat, and I agree that right now it looks like most large instances won't block, and most of all I agree that we'll have to wait and see what happens!
@fancysandwiches when Darnell and I discussed this before he pointed to some things they've said that certainly might imply that -- although also might not (which is back to the wait and see). It's certainly true that somebody like Oprah would have an IT department capable of running it and would see the advantages of being able to do that. But we don't really know,
all they've said is "decentralized".
@thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange @fancysandwiches@urbanists.social I believe the reason Threads (or whatever Meta decides to call it) by Instagram will be decentralized is to appeal to political figures & celebrities whose tech team would prefer to have the code run “in house” for obvious reasons.
Facebook however is still maintaining control by requiring an Instagram login which will serve two purposes:
☝🏾 It will create a standard for verification globally, which will make Instagram the de facto standard for online verification (a scary thought!)
✌🏾 It will allow Meta to enter the online transactions realm, as they will use the verification angle of individuals, companies, merchants, etcetera, as a “trust factor” when doing business.
Another benefit of Threads being decentralized is it gives Meta the opportunity to do what Twitter attempted to do: become the pulse of the planet.
One thing I did notice is that Threads will work with ActivityPub & be decentralized, but it will not be open source. It will be proprietary software & if successful we will probably see numerous companies adopt ActivityPub as the new subscription standard, the way RSS was promoted years ago.