Fed up with Facebook? Ticked at Twitter? Diaspora* is up and running!
September 27, 2011 - 7:29pm
Diaspora*, the free software based, privacy aware decentralized social networking service is up and running in "Alpha testing" mode.
Read more here.
Comments?
Interesting. I'm a gone check it out.
The only thing that really ticks me off about FB is that their games are slow to load. All that other stuff - like the ticker feed - I basically ignore. The new FB - called "Facebook Timeline" - debuts next month I think. I'll withhold judgdement until I actually get to use for it for a few days.
ETA: On principle there are problems to be had with FB simply because it's so in support of the establishment and capitalism. And things like 'data mining' ought to be of huge concern as well.
If you want to learn more about the problems with internet privacy (or lack thereof), you should listen to Eben Moglen's presentation to the Internet Society of New York from February, 2010. This is the presentation which inspired both Diaspora* and the Freedom Box Project.
This is the shortened version (8 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoMefqcR4fo
This is full version: (57 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOEMv0S8AcA
and the Q&A (58 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpHWnHxmnXg
Ah, I've been hearing about Diaspora* for a while. It seems like such great progress from commercial-minded stuff like Facebook. Even the name is more sophisticated! I wonder what it will look like in a while--will it remain a sort of niche for certain kinds of people, like tumblr or livejournal? Or will it become popular across many types of people, like twitter?
I read today that FB has 800 million subscribers. Unreal.
I saw some number that Diaspora* has just passed the 100,000 user mark...yes pretty small, but it's still in "alpha testing" and most folks don't know about it yet.
Diapora* is fundamentally different from the other services you mention. There is no central server at all. The folks who set it up don't control it.
Don't think "client/server" the way you would on corporate social networking sites, but think "peer to peer" server...all servers being equal and talking to each other. Anyone can set up a "pod" server...and I mean anyone. You could set one up for yourself, your family and friends, a union, an organization or a company could set one up. Even rabble could set one up! The idea is to put your data up on a pod server that you trust. You might only trust a pod server that you operate yourself. That's okay!
If you are competent enough...or know someone who is competent enough at setting up a GNU/Linux web server, then you should be able to setup a Diaspora* pod server.
When it's finished, Diaspora* will allow you to connect across various social networking sites. Right now, you can post to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr from within Diaspora*...although you can't get feeds from them yet.
So there are a couple of dozen "open" community servers that you can sign on to. Best way to find out about it is to sign on and start playing with it...and invite your friends too!
It's suspicious as far as I'm concerned. If someone wants to connect with me, they just have to email, or go to my figure skating bulletin board.
I don't use Twitter but I do have a FB account.
So, relative to FB, radiorahim, and from an average user's perspective, what are the three biggest benefits to Diaspora* versus FB?
I don't use Twitter but I do have a FB account.
So, relative to FB, radiorahim, and from an average user's perspective, what are the three biggest benefits to Diaspora* versus FB?
Speaking for myself, I'd say the main benefits are privacy and ethical ones.
One of the things that pisses me off about FB is that I'm typing a comment, and the page updates on its own and I lose whatever I was typing. I'm on dialup, and loading a page takes forever - sometimes I'm typing away not realizing that the page is still loading. FB can be a pain in the ass sometimes.
Privacy is the obvious one. You can be as private as you want or as public as you want.
Decentralization and no corporate control is another one. There is no big corporation that is logging all of your activities and using that information to sell to advertisers. Corporate controlled social networks are not "social networks". They're data mining corporations.
We give the data miners our personal information, they give us a little bit of free web hosting and they spy on us 24/7.
Free "as in freedom" software is important too. Anyone can modify or change the software to improve it and extend it.
Also, you have the freedom to be anonymous if you want. You aren't required to use your real name.
Anyway Sven, read the original post and watch the videos of Eben Moglen when you have the time.
"Europe vs. Facebook" is an interesting site that looks at the kinds of personal data that Facebook collects on users and aggregates alot of the press that Facebook has been generating in Europe lately on lack of privacy for users.
Interesting, RR. But have you tried the link below, and does it work - i.e. does it provide the same data that this more formal request would do?
How can I download my information from Facebook?
PS: I've followed the latter, and am waiting for my confirmation email to arrive saying they've archived my stuff and are ready to deliver.
ETA: Ok, it packed up a 86 MB zip file, seems to include my photos, videos, status updates - apparently they don't send my comments on other people's posts.
Facebook Tracks Your Every Move
http://www.naturalnews.com/033713_Facebook_tracking.html
"...Facebook now monitors your online activity even when you are not logged in to the service. With each new change Facebook makes, users' privacy becomes a little less...nonexistent if you will..."
In fairness, NDPP, it should be noted that the techie who discovered this has posted an update about his discussions with Facebook and their efforts to explain and correct the issue. He concludes:
Facebook has changed as much as they can change with the logout issue. They want to retain the ability to track browsers after logout for safety and spam purposes, and they want to be able to log page requests for performance reasons etc. I would still recommend that users clear cookies or use a separate browser, though. I believe Facebook when they describe what these cookies are used for, but that is not a reason to be complacent on privacy issues and to take initiative in remaining safe.
I discovered a lot of other issues and interesting areas ripe for further investigation while researching the cookie logout issue - and I will be taking each one of them up on the blog here in the near future.
I must thank Gregg Stefancik, an engineer at Facebook who reached out (and also left the 'official' Facebook response as a comment on the previous post) and who worked with us on this issue. Thank you as well to other Facebook engineers who reached out. On my end Ashkan Soltani and Brian Kennish (author of the excellent disconnect browser plugins that every user should be running) were invaluable with providing tests, advice and additional sets of eyes.
Haven't tried the formal link but have tried the other one...no luck with it yet. Keep seeing the "pending" notification. Although I do know of others who've successfully downloaded their info.
I understand that lately FB has been overloaded by requests for personal data over the last few days so that could be it.
I understand that if you want to quit FB that you have to go through their account shutdown routine, then have absolutely no contact with the account at all for a period of 14 days and then it'll shut down.
On Diaspora* the process is quite simple. Click a button to download your data from whatever pod server your on and it's done instantly. Click another button to close your account and then it's closed.
One of the other benefits of Diaspora* that I forgot to mention in my original blogpost was that you can use a "handle" there just as you can here on babble. With FB and Google+ you are expected to use your real name...and Google+ deleted a whole bunch of accounts where they thought someone wasn't using their real name.
Also, nobody is going to kick you off of Diaspora* if you're using it to try to organize a union. You can use it to organize whatever the hell you want to organize.
Hey RR, question:
In the Diaspora signup procedure, they ask this as an option:
Connect to your other social networks
Connecting to services will allow you to publish out to these services. With Facebook, you also be able to find friends already on Diaspora and invite others.
Should I say "yes" or "no" to connect to Facebook? Or would that only allow a one-way transfer of FB data to Diaspora? As a rule I always click "no" to anything that asks permission to use my FB data.
Unionist, that decision is up to you.
If you say yes, you'll be able to do a couple of things...namely post stuff on Facebook from Diaspora*. The other more immediate thing is that it makes it easy for you to send Diaspora* invites to your Facebook friends so that you'll have some folks on Diaspora* to chat with. I've allowed it on mine. On the other hand, you just might find that some folks are willing to sign up for Diaspora* that aren't on FB :)
Down the road you'll be able to actually see your FB feed from Diaspora*. The development team is still working on that feature.
One thing to remember when you're inviting folks to join is to tell them that Diaspora* is still "alpha testing" and so it's a work in progress. They should very much expect it to be a little on the buggy side right now...but the way to make it unbuggy is for folks to use it. :)