Notices by Strypey (strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz)

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@tante
> I am looking for a project that tries to curb certain behaviors in users

Speaking as a user, I choose software under software freedom licenses precisely because I don't want projects who develop it to have any power over my behaviour. I don't think that's something any technology project ought to have or want;

https://disintermedia.substack.com/p/ethical-technology-and-political

@RangerRick

The NZ Advertising Standards Authority has released its annual report on advertising revenue. I'm hearing about it on RNZ MediaWatch, who referenced this column by Gavin Ellis;

https://knightlyviews.com/but-waittheres-more-being-sucked-away/

Once again, the stats show that the bulk of ad money spent in NZ is going to the DataFarms. The handful of giant, multinational platforms owned by Silicon Valley oligarchs. Once again, I recommend @pluralistic's piece on this;

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/10/big-tech-isnt-stealing-news-publishers-content/

#podcasts #RNZ #MediaWatch #NewsMedia #NZASA

My favourite of Cory Doctorow's solutions for dismantling the online advertising cartel of FarceBoom ("Meta") and Goggle ("Alphabet ");

"Ban surveillance-based “behavioral advertising,” forcing a switch to “contextual ads” (based on the content of articles, not the traits of readers), which will nullify tech giants’ data advantages."

@pluralistic, 2022

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/10/big-tech-isnt-stealing-news-publishers-content/

Governments can do this. Let's make them.

#advertising #DigitalAdvertising #AntiMonopoly #CoryDoctorow

@ChrisWere
> I'm giving serious thought to quitting YouTube in favour of the Fedi

My gut reaction is hell yeah! But would that be strategic as well as cathartic?

How about posting a short teaser video on YT for each full video you post on PeerTube? Just the intro of what the full video is about, with prominent links to the PT version for those who want to watch the whole thing.

This way you might still get some people discovering your videos/ PT via YT search algorithms.

@rimu
> How much do you donate, each month, to support your fediverse server?

The server hosting my account is provided by a membership organisation that receives gratis hosting as a charitable donation. I contribute by paying membership dues and voluntary time to community organising.

If I could wave a magic wand and alter to the fediverse to give you something you want from it, but can't yet get, what would it be?

#fediverse #AskFedi

@feld
> I put that in my bio as people were calling others a Nazi for not agreeing with everything they said

Ae, I come across that too. I get it though. I use to throw words like "Nazi" and "fascist" around like that 20 years ago. Until older folks on anarchist email lists explained to me the dangers of watering down the meaning of those terms, why using them cautiously matters.

"The guy who deleted Hitler quotes from the FreeBSD source code."

@feld

https://friedcheese.us/users/feld

Many of which were obviously self-incriminating, and one of which wasn't a Hitler quote but a critique of colonialism that was far from complimentary to Hitler. So overall, not as impressive an achievement as the summary suggests. But top marks for effort.

@feld
> (2017) Senate approves encrypted app Signal for staff use

A Matrix-based messaging app developed specifically for government use, and hosted by dedicated in-house tech staff, would be a better choice. Every aspect of it would be fully aduitable, not just source code published by a third party host, and public disclosure of official comms could be automated, in line with existing public records rules.

#GovtIT #security #PublicRecords

Anyone going to FOSSDEM this year who's interested in the future of journalism? Ghost's @johnonolan will be speaking about;

"Networked Journalism: Bringing long-form publishing to the Fediverse"

https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4673-networked-journalism-bringing-long-form-publishing-to-the-fediverse/

"One key concern to have emerged in recent months is the ICC’s [International Criminal Court] reliance on Microsoft which has deepened in recent years after chief prosecutor Karim Khan formed a partnership with the company to overhaul the court’s systems."

#HarryDavies, 2025

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/jan/20/international-criminal-court-icc-braces-swift-trump-sanctions-over-israeli-arrest-warrants

Anyone else feeling like a Cassandra right now? How long have the software freedom movements been warning public institutions about dependencies proprietary tech?

#ICC #Microsoft #SoftwareFreedom

@sparklepanic
> I found OpenVibe, which allows you to see/post with both Mastodon and BlueSky

Another way to do something similar is via opt-in to BS bridging via BridgyFed;

https://fed.brid.gy/

#BridgyFed

What I'd really like to see is BlueSky modifying their AT protocol to allow AT relays to treat ActivityPub servers as Personal Data Servers. Maybe by using aspects of the Solid protocol, as demonstrated by @activitypods?

https://activitypods.org/

No idea if this is technically viable, I'm just thinking out loud here. But just imagine unifying the efforts of AP, Solid and AT developer ...

#BlueSky #ATProto #PDS #ActivityPub #ActivityPods #Solid

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@Suiseiseki
> as soon as enough people actually start using it in an
area, the speeds drop substantially

Is the limit the number of connections, or the level of packet throughput?

> emergency announcements during natural disasters, the most reliable thing would be one big AM tower

We have an AM network, although it's in danger of being defunded 🙄 But that's one way broadcast. I'm interested in 2-way emergency communications, ideally without a SPoF.

"Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday who played a prominent role in Columbia University’s protests against Israel ...

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed Khalil’s arrest in a statement Sunday, describing it as being 'in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism'.”

https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-15014bcbb921f21a9f704d5acdcae7a8

Note the wording; "protests against Israel", not "protests against genocide in Gaza.

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"When you publish a post via ActivityPub it doesn't just get stored in 1 database, it gets sent out to every follower you have, and the server of every single one of your followers stores that post in their database, too. If you want to delete a post, it has to be deleted in all those different places, too — and that doesn't just happen automatically."

https://activitypub.ghost.org/actually-i-take-that-back/

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#ActivityPub

The message passing system of the fediverse was originally designed around posting short texts ("micro-blogging"). Does having every server store a copy of every post still make sense when they might be long form text, or heavier data like images, audio or video?

By the time ActivityPub was proposed, some fediverse software already supported the sharing of larger posts like these. So one would hope it was designed with this in mind.

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#ShowerThoughts: I'm imagining a tool that can;

* ingest data about all the products imported into a country as food

* identify the cost of each shipment, both in money paid by the importing country, and in carbon emitted

* enable each product to be identified against an index that rates its chances of making the population more or less healthy.

Then produce reports on what food imports cost the country in payment, and whether it increases or reduces overall health spending.

@roknrol
> This doesn't exactly answer the question

I can see two answers, which directly contradict each other, and offer no references. Thanks anyway, but answers.com seems more like noise than signal to me.

Anyone out there know about satellite internet tech? How many geostationary satellites would it take to provide a wireless net connection to every net-enabled device in Aotearoa?

Is a satellite a realistic thing for a forward-looking government to pay for, to guarantee sovereign intra-government communications? Plus emergency comms during natural disasters.

#satellites #NetworkSovereignty