Mastodon and today's fediverse are unsafe by design and unsafe by default – and instance blocking is a blunt but powerful safety tool
Part 1 of "Golden opportunities for the fediverse – and whatever comes next"
https://privacy.thenexus.today/unsafe-by-design-and-unsafe-by-default/
Over the course of this multi-part series, I'll discuss Mastodon and the fediverse's long-standing problems with abuse and harassment; the strengths and weaknesses of current tools like instance blocking and blocklists; the approaches emerging tools like #TheBadSpace and #Fediseer take, along with potential problems; paths to improving the situation; and how the fediverse as a whole can seize the moment and build on the progress that's being made; . At the end I'll collect it all into a single post, with a revised introduction.
This first installment has three sections:
- Today's fediverse is unsafe by design and unsafe by default
- Instance-level federation choices are a blunt but powerful safety tool
- Instance-level federation decisions reflect norms, policies, and interpretations
Blocklists in the fediverse
https://privacy.thenexus.today/blocklists-in-the-fediverse/
Part 2 of "Golden opportunities for the fediverse -- and whatever comes next"
This installment has five sections:
- Blocklists
- Widely shared blocklists can lead to significant harm
- Blocklists potentially centralize power -- although can also counter other power-centralizing tendencies
- Today's fediverse relies on instance blocking and blocklists
- Steps towards better blocklists
Placeholder post
I'm about to publish a newsletter post, and want to link to the fedierse thread ... but don't have the link until I publish it. But alas my newsletter software doesn't allow me to first publish to the web, then edit and send out the newsletter entry. So I'll link to this placeholder, send out the newsletter entry, and then update the placeholder. Software, amirite?
Compare and contrast: Fediseer, FIRES, and The Bad Space
https://privacy.thenexus.today/fediseer-fires-and-the-bad-space/
Part 4 of "Golden opportunities for the fediverse – and whatever comes next"
The Bad Space is only one of the projects exploring different ways of moving beyond the fediverse's current reliance on instance-level blocking and blocklists. It's especially interesting to compare and contrast The Bad Space with two somewhat-similar projects:
- Fediseer is another instance catalog, including endorsements as well as negative judgments about instances.
- FIRES (an acronym for Fediverse Intelligence Recommendations & Replication Endpoint Server) is infrastructure for moderation advisories and recommendations.
([I originally shared this post here](https://infosec.exchange/@thenexusofprivacy/111605585033303239) but forgot to included it in this thread. Oops! So I'm cut-and-pasting and sharing again. There's some interesting dialog in the comments in the original post.)
Steps to a safer fediverse
Part 5 of "Golden opportunities for the fediverse – and whatever comes next"
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!
@thenexusofprivacy The fediverse has bigger issues with admin toxicity, people being parachuted in, (and to a lesser degree, QAnon) right now tbh. This is a social issue which cannot be straightforwardly fixed with technology.
One of a number of reasons why I'm not motivated to put development time into the fediverse.
That said, if what someone wants is a high level of safety, as it were, I don't think federation (or not the model of a community glued to a server) is an answer to that. I came to that conclusion after watching people trying to "fix" the fediverse for the past year.
@thenexusofprivacy We have (optional) local only posts here. I think Misskey also has it. Dunno about vanilla Mastodon though. From what I recall, Rochko is usually a bit fussy about what he adds.
Local only posts might also be useful in part of the porn federation (i.e. some of the 3D content).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle
Following KISS, a small list does seem like a more elegant (and probably better) solution than a blacklist, for that particular use case. Probably depends on the execution.
Curiously, blahaj (don't know a whole lot about them tbh) appears to be an Australian instance (which can be a fairly puritanical country).
The puritanism comes from a typical source. The previous Prime Minister is said to have been friends with some guy who believes in QAnon, and he even made a speech about rituals in schools in the Parliament.
The PM was right wing, tended to be very authoritarian, and seemed very paranoid (he even secretly appointed himself to ministerial posts without the Ministers already in those posts knowing). He also believed he was chosen by God to lead the country.
The government would then take opinions from these, rather suspicious people, who seemed either conspiratorial / QAnon-like (one even harassed sexologists who had views they didn't like), or someone who literally spoke of wanting to ban all porn, and whose feed was filled with American Christian fundamentalists with similar views.
Crucially, they didn't really seem to know what they were talking about, and leaned on that dehumanizing type language.
The government then presented their views as if they were "neutral" or relevant. They appear to have made quite a mess of the public discourse there (or it was a bit ago). In 2021, a senior government official even got caught making an appearance on NCOSE's podcast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Center_on_Sexual_Exploitation) which is known to be a rebranded group of American Christian fundamentalists, all while ignoring censorship / privacy concerns.
Well, that is probably useful to keep in mind, otherwise might encounter something without understanding any of it. On the upside, the PM lost the last election.
@olives agreed that it's priimarily a social issue, that's why the first section is "It's about people ..." 😀 Still, technology iimproements can help as well.
And agreed that if somebody wants a high level of safety, broad non-consensual federation isn't a great answer. On the other hand, a fedi server with local-only posts (so most stuff isn't federated) that only federates with a relaatively-small number of instances that are well moderated can be a lot safer than big commercial social networks.