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1. Embed this notice
   Dan Goodin (dangoodin@infosec.exchange)'s status on Thursday, 20-Feb-2025 16:53:24 JST Dan Goodin

   Can we devote some time to discussing Slack? As in, why are we all sending our every thought to a centralized server that can be hacked, and can can train AI with them? And why is Slack allowed to store transcripts but I can't?

   My union uses Slack for organizing. How crazy is it that an organization in the cross hairs of a dangerous and emboldened government would do this? With everything going on right now, I'd love to be more active in the union, but must I really give up so much to this opaque platform?

   Is anyone else struggling with these concerns? Do you know of viable Slack alternatives? Are there any hacks that make Slack less of a privacy invasion or make LLM training harder? Are there at least ways for me to save sessions the way I can with IRC? How do I resist Slack and not lose touch with groups that still use it?

   Please boost for reach.

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Thursday, 20-Feb-2025 16:53:18 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • tyil
     @tyil @dangoodin >currently is no middle ground.
     Refusing to use slack is the middle ground.
     
     The high ground would be nuclear hellfire that cleanses Slack away.
   • Embed this notice
     tyil (tyil@fedi.tyil.nl)'s status on Thursday, 20-Feb-2025 16:53:23 JST tyil

     in reply to

     @dangoodin@infosec.exchange How do I resist Slack and not lose touch with groups that still use it?You can't, so you'll have to choose what is more important to you. Either stop being part of these groups, and express publicly why you are no longer willing to participate so that they can learn to stop being stupid, or accept the invitation of harmful software into your life, and become yet another slave to proprietary platforms.
     
     Sadly, there currently is no middle ground.

   • Embed this notice
     tyil (tyil@fedi.tyil.nl)'s status on Thursday, 20-Feb-2025 17:09:09 JST tyil

     in reply to

     • 翠星石

     @Suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com @dangoodin@infosec.exchange I agree, but sadly the unwashed masses will gladly give up their freedom, privacy, and respect to make use of proprietary services, and there's just many more of them than there are of us.
     
     For anyone who doesn't want to make the same mistake over and over, but also wants (or otherwise feels compelled) to engage with the NPCs, it's a difficult choice to make.

     翠星石 likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Gabriele Svelto (gabrielesvelto@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 20-Feb-2025 18:48:42 JST Gabriele Svelto

     in reply to

     @dangoodin when I started working at Mozilla all group communication was on IRC. It wasn't until 2014 that Slack became a thing inside the org, and initially it was mostly used by people outside of the tech sphere (management, marketing, etc...). Several teams moved there over time, but I didn't like it as I was used to our communication channels that weren't company-only, but also open to contributors and the general public. My teams stayed on IRC first, then moved to Matrix.

   • Embed this notice
     Gabriele Svelto (gabrielesvelto@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 20-Feb-2025 18:48:42 JST Gabriele Svelto

     in reply to

     @dangoodin these days we mostly use Matrix and mostly open channels too. Slack is still there but it's usage seems to be rapidly declining. It's a closed platform with no form of encryption or even other basic security measures. Matrix isn't perfect, but as a platform that can be both open and secure, it works pretty well. And I'm told that its federated moderation features really helped in rapidly kicking out bad actors and trolls, and ensuring they stay out of it.

   • Embed this notice
     SuperDicq (superdicq@minidisc.tokyo)'s status on Thursday, 20-Feb-2025 20:18:09 JST SuperDicq

     in reply to

     @dangoodin@infosec.exchange The struggle of proprietary software.
     
     There's only two choices, you either use it and give up your soul or you don't use it.
     
     There is no way to use Slack in a way that is not harmful.
     
     The only thing you can do is urge your organization to use something else.

   • Embed this notice
     Gabriele Svelto (gabrielesvelto@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 20-Feb-2025 20:38:15 JST Gabriele Svelto

     • Infoseepage

     @Infoseepage @dangoodin I'm not familiar with CWTCH so I can't comment on that. On Matrix you can encrypt group channels, and while it's cumbersome it guarantees that the host cannot access the group's messages so that's something. It can also be self-hosted which helps with securing it. It's still a mostly centralized solution but for group messaging we don't really have that many good alternatives.

   • Embed this notice
     iced depresso (icedquinn@blob.cat)'s status on Saturday, 22-Feb-2025 04:10:21 JST iced depresso

     in reply to
     @dangoodin use lambdamoo for corporate chat
   • Embed this notice
     Dan Goodin (dangoodin@infosec.exchange)'s status on Thursday, 20-Mar-2025 17:07:38 JST Dan Goodin

     in reply to

     Since there my past queries failed to find any viable alternatives to Slack (no, Zulip, PGP on top of Slack, Mattermost, Matrix, Signal, etc. aren't suitable replacements for my union; see thread for why) does anyone have suggestions for how I can minimize the risks and downsides of using it?

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Thursday, 20-Mar-2025 17:07:38 JST Ryan Castellucci :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     @dangoodin people who recommend pgp on top of slack should be forced to use it

   • Embed this notice
     Dan Goodin (dangoodin@infosec.exchange)'s status on Thursday, 20-Mar-2025 17:08:31 JST Dan Goodin

     in reply to

     • Ryan Castellucci :nonbinary_flag:

     @ryanc

     🤣