One of the most important benefits to a P2P distributed system of social networking (as I understand the effort) is for the individual to have control over the data they publish. They possess the original copy on their computer, and it is that copy that is distributed to their friends.
I'm also a big-time supporter of libre software. Now, when I think of my software, I believe that once it is on my computer, that is MY copy. I own it. I can do what I like with it, while it's on my own computer. This is very different (as you all know) from the majority of proprietary software which is distributed with licenses, effectively making the creator (Apple, Microsoft, Adobe) the owner of the software, and the recipient only has a license, or permission, to use the software. How does this work with a P2P social networking site? On Facebook, it is claimed that you have ownership over the data you post. You can modify that data, and the very next time people access the data it is still the creator's (since it is viewed ONLY in the browser, and not really downloaded onto the computer for future viewing in the same way that libre software is). What about the version of the data a friend has downloaded and viewed? What rights do they have with that data? Even if it is out of date, or if the original creator has modified it (for privacy or accuracy), every person who has downloaded it and does not update it via an internet connection has a potentially inaccurate, accidentally public copy of that data. Unless you really really trust every friend on the network, this can be bad. So does data you download expire, requiring a fresh update? That sounds sketchy to me. Any ideas? Would we let the users license their data?? Creative Commons BY-NC-ND? The simple license gnu.org uses?: "(c) 2010 Andrew Gray. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved." The above license would be dangerous for user privacy in this medium. I'm wondering, what sort of method do you all think would be ideal for protecting data? In the end, as we all know, there is nothing anybody can do to prevent data copying and sharing, unless we try to implement some nasty DRM system, which I'm steadfast against. Decentralization comes at a cost, no? :P --Andrew Gray (Sweetandy) [email protected]
