It would be great to have some kind of portal or tool to help people find and evaluate potential instances ... alas, that doesn't exist yet. Still, there are some useful instance catalogs and directories, and ways to get more information about instances you might be interested in. It just takes a little work to find it.

Feedback welcome as always!

The official Mastodon web user interface and mobile apps aren't great from an accessibility perspective. Fortunately there are some better alternatives – and many of them also work with Mastodon-compatible software like Glitch, Hometown, GoToSocial, Akkoma, and Friendica.

This is a draft, and I'm sure I missed a lot. Feedback welcome!

Livestreamed as well as in-person, and co-hosted by the Georgetown Center for Privacy and Technology and @DAIR@dair-community.social

> "Our theme, “Surveillance / Resistance,” is broader and more ambiguous than the themes for previous years, and this is purposeful. What does resistance mean when surveillance isn’t just something that occurs in the environments where we live and work and play and think and create and struggle, but is actually the material with which so many of those environments are built? In a context of broad institutional corrosion and capture, in the face of proliferating global catastrophe, this is a question that remains open and difficult."

The previous workshops I've been to have been outstanding, and this one looks like it'll be great too!

The reality is that it always takes time for some states to count all the votes; when these rumors started ramping up, there were over ten million uncounted ballots in California alone. But, many people don't know that this is how things always work. So, with emotions high in the aftermath of the election, disinformation purveyors are taking advantage of the opportunity to get well-intentioned people to help amplify conspiracy theories.

If you see allegations of "millions of missing votes" or voting machine fraud, please don't amplify them! Instead:

• If it's somebody you know, send them a private message letting them know that they're unintentionally amplifying a false rumor.

• If it's not somebody you know, report it to the moderators as disinformation.

Well-crafted disinfo takes advantage of our emotions by getting us to amplify false and misleading messages. A specific example of post-election racialized disinfo that I'm seeing a lot of is weaponizing exit poll data to target Latinos, Black men, trans people, and other marginalized demographics.

The next installment of Mastodon, two years later

Contents:

• It's not "just like email"
• Usability and gatekeeping weren't the only challenges newcomers faced
• The first complicated high-stakes decision is even before you sign up
• Why not help people choose an instance that's a good fit?
• But no

1. THINK before you engage or share
2. SHARE accurate information about the election
3. REPORT disinformation when you see it
4. EDUCATE yourself — and your friends and family
5. GET INVOLVED – and get your friends and family involved

The next installment of Mastodon, two years later

Contents:

• Mastodon 2017 and Glitch 2017
• A BDFL gets to do what he wants
• Flash forward seven years ...
• Seven years later, is Mastodon significantly closer to being a good Twitter alternative?

This is also probably going to be published on the IFTAS blog, most likely tomorrow. But the election's coming up fast, so I wanted to make it available tonight! Once it's published there, I'll repost that here as the canonical version.

A continuation of Mastodon, a partial history

Including:

• DAIR-tube, the PeerTube page of Dr. Timnit Gebru's Distributed AI ResearchCenter
• The Website League, an island network that's taking a very different approach
• GoToSocial v 0.17, continuing their focus on safety and privacy with interaction controls.
• Piefed and the Threadiverse
• Bonfire's new Mosaic service along with their work on Open Science Network and prosocial design
• Letterbook
• Bluesky and the ATmosphere's continued momentum

The post has more info on all of these and more ... there really is a lot going on.

Here's the list:

• Commit to spending at least X% on safety
• Support diverse participation on the W3C standards group's Trust and Safety task force
• Focus on consent-based tools and infrastructure
• Work with people who are targets of harassment to develop tools for collaborative defense
• Support threat modeling work
• Develop automated tools to help moderators
• Do any AI-related work in partnership with AI researchers who take an anti-oppressive, ethics-and-safety-first approach
• Partner with IFTAS

An updated version, with a bit more about how Bluesky has addressed some of the problems that the 2022 Twitter influx to Mastodon ran into.

It's a very long post, but a lot of it is a detailed discussion of terminology in the appendix -- no need to read that unless you're into definitional struggles.

Feedback welcome! There's a list of specific questions at the end of the post, but other topics are welcome as well!

Part 4 of I for one welcome Bluesky, the ATmosphere, BTS Army, and millions of Brazilians to the fediverses!, but like other posts in the series it hopefully stands on its own)

Part 3 of I for one welcome Bluesky, the ATmosphere, BTS Army, and millions of Brazilians to the fediverses!, but like other posts in the series it hopefully stands on its own

Contents:

• Intro
• Let's talk about Meta
• Meanwhile, back in reality ...
• SWF could potentially be a useful counterweight to Meta (although I'm not holding my breath)
• There are many different ways to engage
• SWF and the schism within the fediverses
• To be continued!

The Social Web Foundation is a new non-profit with a mission of "a growing, healthy, financially viable and multi-polar Fediverse”. In TechCrunch, Sarah Perez reported that SWF has "some backing" from Meta as well as Flipboard, Ghost, Mastodon, and others as well as a "large grant" from the Ford Foundation. "In total, SWF is closing in on $1 million in financial support."

Here's a series of Mastodon polls about SWF. I'm not sure how to do polls on Lemmy, but if you have thoughts, please share in the comments!

• Should SWF be transparent about their funding?
• How should SWF engage with Meta?
• Should SWF take funding from Meta?

Here's the list:

1. Listen more to more Black people – and amplify their voices
2. Think before you post
3. Call in, call out, and/or report anti-Blackness when you see it
4. Support Black people and Black-led instances and projects
5. Approach it intersectionally

The full article goes into detail, and also has links to anti-racism resources and appendices with a list of common mistakes to avoid and blocklist resources for moderators.

Thanks to everybody who gave feedback on earlier drafts!

(Update, 8/19: I changed the wording on #2 to match changes in the underlying article)

In 4 things white people can do to start making the fediverse less toxic for Black people (DRAFT!) and its cross-posts, quite a few people said things like "maybe racism is a problem on Mastodon, but I don't see it on Lemmy." Then again, plenty of comments in the various threads were in fact examples of racism on Lemmy, so one takeaway is that at lot of people don't see racism even when they're looking at it. And helpful commenters pointed out some of the other patterns of racism on Lemmy. ... but that wasn't really the thrust of that discussion.

So I wanted to ask more generally, what are some of the examples you've seen of racism on Lemmy? Quotes and links are great, but also feel free just to describe examples or call out more general patterns!

Feedback welcome! Here's the TL;DR list

1. Listen more to more Black people
2. Post less – and think before you post
3. Call in, call out, and/or report anti-Blackness when you see it
4. Support Black people and Black-led instances and projects

Other suggestions?

We're happy to announce that BusKill is presenting at DEF CON 32.

What: Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord When: 2024-08-10 12:00 - 13:45 Where: W303 – Third Floor – LVCC West Hall

| [!BusKill goes to DEF CON 32 (Engage)](https://www.buskill.in/defcon32/) | |:--:| | BusKill is presenting at DEF CON 32 |

via @Goldfishlaser@lemmy.ml

What is BusKill?

BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer.

| [!What is BusKill? (Explainer Video)](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) | |:--:| | Watch the BusKill Explainer Video for more info youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4 |

If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device.

What is DEF CON?

DEF CON is a yearly hacker conference in Las Vegas, USA.

| [!DEF CON Documentary](https://www.buskill.in/defcon32/) | |:--:| | Watch the DEF CON Documentary for more info youtube.com/watch?v=3ctQOmjQyYg |

What is BusKill presenting at DEF CON?

I (goldfishlaser) will be presenting Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord in a Demo Lab at DEF CON 32.

What: Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord When: Sat Aug 10 12PM – 1:45PM Where: W303 – Third Floor – LVCC West Hall

Who: Melanie Allen (goldfishlaser) More info

Talk Description

BusKill is a Dead Man Switch triggered when a magnetic breakaway is tripped, severing a USB connection. I’ve written OpenSCAD code that creates a 3D printable file for plastic parts needed to create the magnetic breakaway. Should anyone need to adjust this design for variations of components, the code is parameterized allowing for easy customization. To assemble a BusKill Dead Man Switch cord you will need:

1. a usb-a extension cord,
2. a usb hard drive capable of being attached to a carabiner,
3. a carabiner,
4. the plastic pieces in this file,
5. a usb female port,
6. a usb male,
7. 4 magnets,
8. 4 pogo pins,
9. 4 pogo receptors,
10. wire,
11. 8 screws,
12. and BusKill software.

| [!Image of the Golden BusKill decoupler with the case off](https://www.buskill.in/defcon32/) | |:--:| | Golden DIY BusKill Print |

Full BOM, glossary, and assembly instructions are included in the github repository. The room holds approx. 70 attendees seated. I’ll be delivering 3 x 30 min presentations – with some tailoring to what sort of audience I get each time.

Meet Me @ DEF CON

If you'd like to find me and chat, I'm also planning to attend:

• ATL Meetup (DCG Atlanta Friday: 16:00 – 19:00 \| 236),
• Hacker Kareoke (Friday and Sat 20:00-21:00 \| 222),
• Goth Night (Friday: 21:00 – 02:00 \| 322-324),
• QueerCon Mixer (Saturday: 16:00-18:00 \| Chillout 2),
• EFF Trivia (Saturday: 17:30-21:30 \| 307-308), and
• Jack Rysider’s Masquerade (Saturday: 21:00 – 01:00 \| 325-327)

I hope to print many fun trinkets for my new friends, including some BusKill keychains.

| [!Image shows a collection of 3D-printed bottle openers and whistles that say "BusKill"](https://www.buskill.in/defcon32/) | |:--:| | Come to my presentation @ DEF CON for some free BusKill swag |

By attending DEF CON, I hope to make connections and find collaborators. I hope during the demo labs to find people who will bring fresh ideas to the project to make it more effective.

This is a work in progress, so feedback very welcome! And, if please check out the Mastodon poll about interest in a fork

Contents:

• Intro
• There's a lot of low-hanging fruit
• Safety is an especially good area to focus on
• It's not as easy as it sounds ...
• But it's not like it defies the laws of physics!
• What about funding?
• Make sure there are funded leadership and project roles for Black, Indigenous, Muslim, trans, queer, and disabled people as well as others who have been marginalized in Mastodon's development history
• Let a thousand forks bloom!
• Clever conclusion! tbd

As the tbd in that last bullet implies, the conclusion isn't written yet. Like I said it really is a work in progress!

If you're a developer working on a fediverse app or service and want to get it right – or just don't want to be the center of the next firestorm – here are a few suggestions.

Big news in DC: a new bipartisan, bicameral proposal for a "compromise" federal privacy bill, the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA). At this point, take it all with a grain of salt; in 2022, the initial draft of the bill was promising, but it got weakened substantially by the subcommittee and then weakened further by the committee. I haven't read the discussion draft yet so don't have any strong opinions on it.

Should the Fediverse welcome its new surveillance-capitalism overlords? Opinions differ! If you're one of the fediverse influencers who sees Threads arrival it as "historic" and "a glimpse of the future" ... well, you might want to skip this post.

But if you're one of the many many people on the fediverse who doesn't want to deal with Threads, read on!

The good news is that there are some straightforward opportunities for significant short-term safety improvements. If fediverse funders, developers, businesses, and "influencers" start prioritizing investing in safety, the fediverse can turn what's currently a big weakness into a huge strategic advantage.

Contents:

• It's about people, not just the software and the protocol

• It's also about the software

• And it's about the protocol, too

• Threat modeling and privacy by design can play a big role here

• Design from the margins – and fund it!

If you're in the US, https://stopkosa.com and EFF's page make it easy to contact your Senators and ask them to oppose #KOSA.

There are some straightforward opportunities for short-term safety improvements, but this is only the start of what's needed to change the dynamic more completely.

This is a draft, so feedback welcome!

Transitive defederation -- defederating from instances that federate with Threads as well as defederating from Threads -- isn't likely to be an all-or-nothing thing in the free fediverses. Tradeoffs are different for different people and instances. This is one of the strengths of the fediverse, so however much transitive defederation there winds up being, I see it as overall as a positive thing -- although also messy and complicated.

The recommendation here is for instances to consider #TransitiveDefederation: discuss, and decide what to do. I've also got some thoughts on how to have the discussion -- and the strategic aspects.

(Part 7 of Strategies for the free fediverses )

Many of the Meta advocates I've talked to share the free fediverses' long-term goal of building a sustainable alternative to surveillance capitalism -- and the same is true for people on Bluesky. So there are likely to be situations where some of the people and instances in Meta's fediverses and Bluesky wind up as situational allies to the free fediverses.

A few areas where collaboration could be very useful:

• A key principle of organizing is meeting people where they are.

• Moderation on decentralized networks is a shared challenge.

• Bringing concepts similar to Bluesky's custom feeds to the fediverses, and more generally focusing on human-focused and liberatory (as opposed to oppressive) uses of algorithms in decentralized social networks designed from the margins.

• Meta's fediverses, Bluesky, and the free fediverses are all vulnerable to disinformation.

(Part 6 of Strategies for the free fediverses )

There's likely to be a lot of moving between instances as people and instances sort themselves out into the free fediverses and Meta's fediverses -- and today, moving accounts on the fediverse today. There are lots of straightforward ways to improve it, many of which don't even require improvements to the software. And there are also opportunities to make creating, customizing, and connecting instances easier.

(Part 5 of Strategies for the Free Fediverses )

Here's how Kat Marchá describes caracoles: >"you essentially ask to join concentric federations of instances ... with smaller caracoles able to vote to federate with entire other caracoles.

And @ophiocephalic's "fedifams" are a similar idea: > Communities could align into fedifams based on whatever conditions of identity, philosophy or interest are relevant to them. Instances allied into fedifams could share resources and mutually support each other in many way"

The idea's a natural match for community-focused, anti-surveillance capitalism free fediverses, fits in well with the Networked Communities model and helps address scalability of consent-based federation.

What fediverse apps and software, support quote posts today?

Here's a great thread by @polotek about quoted posts.

https://social.polotek.net/@polotek/111699960916060256

What fediverse software platforms or apps supports quoted posts today (sometimes implemented as a link, a screenshot, or a reply)?

@thenexusofprivacy@lemmy.blahaj.zone #fediverse #mastodon #quoteboost

The "free fediverses" are regions of the fediverse that reject Meta and surveillance capitalism. This post is part of a series looking at strategies to position the free fediverses as an alternative to Threads and "Meta's fediverses".