<scarcasm> I'm completely certain that these small, poorly funded projects have hired massive security teams (as the major social networks do) and provide a safe alternative to Facebook or Twitter.
</scarcasm> On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 4:13 PM, Yosem Companys <compa...@stanford.edu>wrote: > Slate makes mistake of calling them "more secure." > > YC > > > > > http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/06/17/identi_ca_diaspora_and_friendica_are_more_secure_alternatives_to_facebook.html > > How to Block the NSA From Your Friends List > > By April Glaser and Libby Reinish > > Posted Monday, June 17, 2013, at 11:12 AM > > If you don't trust this guy with your data, there are other > social-networking options > > After recent revelations of NSA spying, it’s difficult to trust large > Internet corporations like Facebook to host our online social > networks. Facebook is one of nine companies tied to PRISM––perhaps the > largest government surveillance effort in world history. Even before > this story broke, many social media addicts had lost trust in the > company. Maybe now they’ll finally start thinking seriously about > leaving the social network giant. > > Luckily, there are other options, ones that are less vulnerable to > government spying and offer users more control over their personal > data. But will mass migration from Facebook actually happen? > > According to a Pew study released weeks before news of PRISM broke, > teenagers are disenchanted with Facebook. They're moving to other > platforms, like Snapchat and (Facebook owned) Instagram, the study > reports. This is the way a social network dies—people sign up for > multiple platforms before gradually realizing that one has become > vacant or uninteresting. Myspace, for instance, took years to drop off > the map. By 2006 Myspace reached 100 million users, making it the most > popular social network in the United States. But by 2008, Facebook had > reached twice that number, less than two years after allowing anyone > older than 13 to join the network. > > Benjamin Mako Hill, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and > Society, thinks Facebook's ability to connect people and bind them to > the social network is overrated to begin with. "Facebook didn't exist, > what, 10 years ago,” he says, and in 10 years, he thinks, “a company > called Facebook will exist, but will it occupy the same space in our > culture? That's certainly not something I'm willing to take for > granted." > > Teens may be turning to Instagram and Snapchat, but those services > don’t offer the deeper levels of social networking that Facebook users > are accustomed to, with photo albums, event invites, fan pages, and > connections to old friends. Ultimately, teens may be smart not to > consolidate all of their social networking on one platform—but > Instagram, Snapchat, and some other new flavors of the month all use > centralized servers that are incredibly easy to spy on. > > But there are other places to go. For years, the free software > movement has been developing and using social networks designed with > user privacy in mind. Unlike Facebook, these social networks are not > hosted by a single entity's privately owned servers but rather by > volunteers across the world that share server space in order to > maintain a decentralized, robust network. When a company like Facebook > hosts the data of more than 1 billion users, it's not hard for the > government to simply ask for permission to access that data, > conveniently stored all in one place. > > Gabriella Coleman, a professor of scientific and technological > literacy at McGill University, points out that companies like Facebook > would be collecting data on individuals regardless of government > requests. That's how the vast majority of free online social networks > make money; they use data mining to sell targeted, contextual ads. "In > some ways,” she says, “that's the source of the problem, the fact that > we've just given up all of our data in return for free services." > > Community-hosted, decentralized social media, on the other hand, allow > people to maintain ownership of their data. These platforms use a > principle called “federation” to connect a vast network of servers to > one another. If the NSA wants to collect the data of all the users on > a decentralized network, it has to contend with a large number of > disparate server owners who could be anywhere in the world, a much > more complicated task than issuing a single subpoena or hacking into a > centralized server. > > "There's a resiliency to having data spread across multiple sites; > that's the way the web was intended to work, and we need to bring that > back,” says Christopher Webber, the founder of MediaGoblin, a > federated, free software replacement for YouTube, Flickr, SoundCloud, > and other media hosting services. Other projects, like Identi.ca > (which is similar to Twitter), Diaspora, and Friendica are > replacements for conventional social media networks, and they work. > The number of users on federated networks is hard to calculate—again, > their data are spread out instead of stored centrally—but Identi.ca > alone counts 1.5 million users. > > PRISM could be the impetus that gets more communities to begin using > these networks. As of Monday morning, nearly 200,000 people have > signed a petition that calls for an investigation of the NSA's spying > program, and last week activists launched prism-break.org, a site that > offers a menu of options for those looking to "opt out" of government > surveillance. > > The NSA’s spy apparatus worked because of the centrally owned and > operated networks we have relied on to socialize. How the PRISM story > will play out politically remains uncertain, but there are more > immediate ways for users to regain privacy. Try another social > network, and bring your friends to experiment with you. If you oppose > turnkey government spying, go where the NSA doesn’t have a backdoor. > > Disclaimer: Libby Reinish is an employee of the Free Software > Foundation, which is a member of StopWatching.Us, a coalition of more > than 75 organizations calling for a full congressional investigation > of the NSA's spying program. > -- > Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by > emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu or changing your settings at > https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech >
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