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   StillIRise1963 (stillirise1963@mastodon.world)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 06:24:44 JST StillIRise1963

   The U.S. government needs to leave Twitter and state that privately owned social media is unreliable, prone to corruption and full of misinformation. It should open its own instance in the Fediverse and tell citizens they can find reliable information there.

   • Erin Conroy repeated this.
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     your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 (blogdiva@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 06:24:43 JST your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

     in reply to

     🗣️ 📣 LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

     "The U.S. government... should open its own instance in the Fediverse and tell citizens they can find reliable information there."

     FWIW @StillIRise1963 many of digital activists, myself included, lobbied for this back in 2008. neither the Obama admin nor Congress wanted to put money into it... and they had control of both the House and Senate.

     and here we are.

     we knew this was going to eventually happen.

   • Embed this notice
     Kindness is thankful (qurlyjoe@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 11:48:01 JST Kindness is thankful

     in reply to

     • Mike M.
     • Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾
     • Meow.tar.gz :verified:

     @mmlvx @robertnorlyn @ablackcatstail @StillIRise1963
     For about 2 1/2 years now I’ve enjoyed Comcast- free internet, tv, and phone service run as a city utility. It took about 2 years to roll it out once the votes were counted (I forget the margin but it was huge) and now neighboring towns are copying our model. It’s not perfect, but it’s not Comcast either.
     /2

   • Embed this notice
     Kindness is thankful (qurlyjoe@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 11:48:02 JST Kindness is thankful

     in reply to

     • Mike M.
     • Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾
     • Meow.tar.gz :verified:

     @mmlvx
     Most US states have laws prohibiting local govts from running their own ISPs. Several years ago Colorado repealed them, and a number of communities have jumped in to run their own. The town I live in was one such. It took a referendum, and Comcast/Xfinity and several other industry biggies lobbied hard against it of course. $8million hard, in fact, vs. a couple hundred thou in favor.
     /1

     @robertnorlyn @ablackcatstail @StillIRise1963

     Erin Conroy repeated this.
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     Mike M. (mmlvx@mastodon.world)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 11:48:09 JST Mike M.

     in reply to

     • Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾
     • Meow.tar.gz :verified:

     @robertnorlyn @ablackcatstail @StillIRise1963
     My (politically purple) town did provide high-speed (for its time) internet as a utility, for about 15 years. As a result, Comcast here had actual competition, and provided excellent service at good prices.

     After much advertising (and lobbying) from Comcast et al., and with conservatives ascendant, the city council voted to sell the service to a local ISP... which, 4 or 5 years later, was purchased by Century Link.

     Erin Conroy repeated this.
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     Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾 (robertnorlyn@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 11:48:10 JST Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾

     in reply to

     • Mike M.
     • Meow.tar.gz :verified:

     @mmlvx @ablackcatstail @StillIRise1963 I have no doubt that megacorps which monopolize service territories would hate this idea. Just the thought that they would have a leg to stand on shows how much our government is in their pockets.
     It would be easier to accomplish if internet was a publicly provided utility.

   • Embed this notice
     Mike M. (mmlvx@mastodon.world)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 11:48:11 JST Mike M.

     in reply to

     • Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾
     • Meow.tar.gz :verified:

     @robertnorlyn @ablackcatstail @StillIRise1963
     I heard somewhere that every Canadian citizen has a government-issued email address, provided via the Canadian post office. (Can any Canadians confirm or refute?) Edit: Refuted. I heard wrong.

     Comcast and Century Link would oppose doing that in the USA, but I think it's worth working for.

   • Embed this notice
     Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾 (robertnorlyn@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 11:48:12 JST Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾

     in reply to

     • Meow.tar.gz :verified:

     @ablackcatstail @StillIRise1963 #True, we do need to help. Even with organizations like the USPS. I’ve kicked around the idea for quite a while that the USPS should be providing email services. It’s just going to take a lot of legal hurdles to climb over.
     The USPS could also be a host for localized instances.

   • Embed this notice
     Meow.tar.gz :verified: (ablackcatstail@goblackcat.net)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 11:48:13 JST Meow.tar.gz :verified:

     in reply to

     • Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾

     @robertnorlyn @StillIRise1963 In principle I agree. But not everyone has the knowledge and/or means so it is up to tech people like us to lend a hand. Unfortunately, people have yet to take me up on my offer.

     Many small instances in the #fediverse make it less easy for #bigmoney to conquer. This is why we must encourage people to want to learn and want to do this. In the #bigpicture, this is a fight for digital freedom.

   • Embed this notice
     Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾 (robertnorlyn@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jul-2023 11:48:14 JST Robbie Norlyn, Author 👾

     in reply to

     @StillIRise1963 #Yes, anyone who wants to maintain integrity should run their own instance. Just like they should all have self hosted websites. Just like national security shouldn’t be in the hands of Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.