Europe Needs Digital Public Spaces That Are Independently Moderated and Hosted: We believe that the huge dominance of the for-profit, data driven model is a main reason for the greater vulnerability that our societies are experiencing in terms of polarisation, disinformation, and hate. We are confident that using versatile and diverse models of operation of online services and their underlying infrastructure will make society more resilient. It will make democratic, inclusive societies a harder target. For these reasons, we want a significant part of the online public discourse to take place on public or not-for-profit platforms, services, and infrastructure.

Debería haber una red social pública? Ante los problemas de los social media, una red social pública parece una solución. Financiada por los Gobiernos, serviría para dar servicio ciudadano. Sin embargo, la idea no es perfecta y está llena de sombras. Porque qué harían los poderes públicos con todos nuestros datos?

How to nationalize the internet in Canada: We have spent all this money for the private sector to build us a private internet, over decades, without any assurance of quality, equity or reliability. And while in some locations, ISPs did deploy fiber to the home, they certainly didn’t upgrade their entire network to follow suit, and even less allowed resellers to compete on that network.

In 10 years, when 100mbps will be laughable, I bet those service providers will again punt the ball in the public courtyard and tell us they don’t have the money to upgrade everyone’s equipment.

We got screwed. It’s time to try something new.

Rescuing the Future from Silicon Valley: None of this will be easy, particularly if we continue to reward the likes of Musk and Zuckerberg with our attention. Change may start with turning our backs on these foolish men — and toward a more sustainable and secure path. Let Musk and Zuckerberg beat each other to a pulp, if that satisfies them. The rest of us have work to do: we need to rescue the future from Silicon Valley.

Big Tech – The rise of GAFAAMT: The internet age promised a period of access and opportunity for all, but in two decades it has become a world controlled by a tiny oligopoly. Seven firms in particular – five US and two Chinese – have taken over the Internet. How did they become so powerful?

Decentralised social media: Social media platforms allow users to create digital identities, interact with other users, post and discover content. On mainstream social media platforms, aspects of the platform are centralised under the control of one umbrella. Decentralised social media are designed around the distribution of one or more aspects required to make social media function. Architecturally, these are data storage, content distribution, discovery, identity mechanisms and networking topology. Socially, these are their governance and revenue models. This article identifies and discusses three general types of decentralised social media grouped by architecture: federated, peer-to-peer, blockchain-based. Examples of each are discussed, along with a general description of their functioning and governance. Finally, the entry provides a general discussion of the drivers and issues around decentralised social media.

act.: Russia Is Trying to Leave the Internet and Build Its Own: Russia and other nations are working on “sovereign Internet” systems that threaten digital rights—and the stability of the global Internet