The notes and accounts from the FediForum in late September suggest that some of "the people who move the fediverse forward", as the conference promotes itself as platforming, are also acutely interested in moving forward the agenda of Meta.

The forum's notes tell the tale. Though a number of topics, including many of genuine benefit, were touched upon, digging through the sessions turns up a path of breadcrumbs that leads straight back to Palo Alto.

https://fediforum.org/2023-09/

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #FediForum ...and no more

1/8

Among the schemes discussed to move the Zuckerverse - sorry, Fediverse - forward:

- Monetization of fediverse interactions: https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/4-a/

- Crypto functionality: https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/3-d/

- Location tracking: https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/4-c/

- Individual reputation scoring: https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/1-d/

- Contact book ingestion: https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/2-d/

- For-profit revenue models: https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/5-c/

- Facebook feature incorporation: https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/4-h/

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #FediForum ...and no more

2/8

Inspiringly, the forum also paused for a moment of self-reflection, in a session essentially grappling with the question, "Why did we only invite white people to the workshop we organized?" https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/3-c/

Again, the list above is selective, but piecing the mosaic together reveals a picture for a proposed future-fedi that looks a whole lot like something Mark Zuckerberg could work with.

But the central figure, of course, is the surveillance - and this part of the puzzle is already under construction.

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #FediForum ...and no more

3/8

The FediForum dedicated no less than four sessions in support of a plan by the IFTAS thinktank for a realtime centralized "AI" surveillance system for the fediverse.

https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/1-c/
https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/3-b/
https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/5-f/
https://fediforum.org/2023-09/session/5-a/

The last of these pages includes a link to the slideshow overview of the scheme: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aylGPd3-rARHDvGs7GOvJmVHWWQ3nz_MMtggyIV0GsE

Also provided is a link to a proposal paper for a blocklist component, which they call CARIAD: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hmGNHqifYGRwk1qsWUaCI-VDHw3yMvjVoy-c_8K4e9c/edit

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #FediForum #IFTAS #CARIAD ...and no more

4/8

The centralization scheme is being developed in partnership with an entity called Thorn - a for-profit "AI" surveillance privateer which pretends to be a "for the children" NGO. Thorn is hot news lately due to its blatantly corrupt involvement in the EU Chat Control plot, which would destroy the free internet and online privacy in Europe but create a huge business opportunity for Thorn.

https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/25/who-benefits-inside-the-eus-fight-over-scanning-for-child-sex-content/
https://euobserver.com/digital/157507

Thorn is also notorious for its mascot, a washed-up celebrity rape-apologist who resigned in disgrace several weeks ago:

https://www.thecut.com/article/ashton-kutcher-thorn-spotlight-rekognition-surveillance.html
https://www.ftm.eu/articles/ashton-kutchers-non-profit-start-up-makes-millions-from-fighting-child-abuse-online

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #FediForum #IFTAS #CARIAD #Thorn #ChatControl ...and no more

5/8

The blocklist system IFTAS proposes is called CARIAD - "Consensus Aggregated Retractable IFTAS Allowlist Denylist".

CARIAD's blocking data will be aggregated from two sources. The first is the Facebook Mafia spider-holed at Stanford, which fabricated the CSAM-scare influence operation that roiled the fedi a few months ago. More on them here: https://kolektiva.social/@ophiocephalic/110772380949893619

The second is "an aggregation of at least ten of the largest ActivityPub service providers"; this would seem to be a sugar pill to win over Mastodon gGmbH and a few other megaservers.

The system itself is somewhat similar to that proposed in the Nivenly FSEP plan which has proven so controversial over the last couple of months; except that, instead of centralizing blocklist control with WelshPixie, CARIAD centralizes control with Meta-linked authoritarian techbros.

More on FSEP : https://kolektiva.social/@ophiocephalic/111076671601782831

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #FediForum #IFTAS #CARIAD ...and no more

6/8

Other aspects of the IFTAS surveillance scheme are outlined in the slide deck. They include centralized realtime image and video scanning utilizing Thorn's "AI". Transgressive accounts would be auto-reported to authorities. It should also be noted that Thorn technology employs Amazon's facial recognition algorithms.

As a further comment to this prospect, consider that we are now observing how the moderates currently in power in the so-called United States seem to be gift-wrapping policies (KOSA, the border wall, the criminalization of protest and homelessness) for the reactionary extremists who may well succeed them.

Technologies such as Thorn's should be evaluated in the same light. They may - or may not - only detect CSAM for now. But how will they be repurposed if there are drastic political changes in the US or other "democracies"? What beliefs, convictions, sexual or gender identities will come to be mandated as equivalently deviant? Europol already has some ideas: https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/29/europol-sought-unlimited-data-access-in-online-child-sexual-abuse-regulation/

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #FediForum #IFTAS #Thorn ...and no more