Chris Bol @chris@mastodon.chrisbol.nl

Any #activitypub projects that might be interested in this #funding?

https://nlnet.nl/news/2018/20181201-NGIZero.html

#nlnet

I was wrong about Google and Facebook: there’s nothing wrong with them (so say we all)

https://ar.al/2019/01/11/i-was-wrong-about-google-and-facebook-theres-nothing-wrong-with-them-so-say-we-all/

It’s always difficult admitting you’re wrong. But sometimes you have to in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. So, today, I admit that I was wrong about Google, Facebook, & surveillance capitalism in general being toxic for our human rights and democracy … it simply cannot be true given how they are endorsed by some of the most well-respected organisations in the world.

Adding @conservancy and “Copyleft Conference” to my personal list of surveillance capitalism whitewashers sponsored by Google and its ilk.

It’s not fucking rocket science, people. If you’re sponsored by the wolf, it’s highly unlikely that you’re working in the interests of the sheep.

#SurveillanceCapitalism

@bob @aral

This is similar to when Coca-cola sponsors nutrition studies.

"Nextcloud is a counter-model to typical cloud-solutions from big US vendors like Microsoft" says Der Spiegel in their article about why the German Federal Government chose #nextcloud as their secure file exchange solution.

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/open-source-software-nextcloud-baut-die-bundescloud-a-1203261.html

DuckDuckGo now fingerprinting visitors
https://forums.whonix.org/t/duckduckgo-now-fingerprinting-visitors/6497

(submitted by MikusR)

I discovered the #Symfony library today. It's super impressive! It offers an extensible, elegant HTTP request handling model. I'm going to use it in my #ActivityPub #PHP library. The library is shaping up really well - it's shaping up to be a full ActivityPub server that can be plugged directly into your existing application with minimal fuss, and extended to meet a broad range of needs.

Look How Young They Are!: The Beastie Boys Performing Live Their Very First Hit, "Cooky Puss" (1983) http://www.openculture.com/?p=1059754 https://t.co/pnCbpcdEBw

Saying that "Pixelfed federates now" and at the same time saying that "not really, please don't update yet" is weird. It's not ready yet. It was just a pressure to release _something_. It will only boost centralization in the end.
I don't know about you, but I'm so tired of this that I don't want to use Pixelfed even when it's ready. This stream of promises and half-truths and hype breaks my trust.

#Riseup.net offers a new #OpenSource VPN service: https://riseup.net/betatest

(#VPN: good for #censorship circumvention, location #anonymization and traffic #encryption)

Until now, I've been using riseup VPN Black. The new service promises to be even simpler, as it comes without any registration or configuration. So far, it makes a stable impression on me, especially considering the beta status. Have you tried it?

BTW, Riseup.net builds open #crowdfunding: https://riseup.net/donate

The New York Times reports Facebook gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify, Netflix, Apple, Yandex, Yahoo and others far more access to users' data than previously admitted, including access to private messages:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/technology/facebook-privacy.html

There is never going to be a better time to #DeleteFacebook, the violations are only going to get worse.

If you know someone who wants to try alternatives and needs a simple non-technical guide, try sending them this:

https://switching.social/ethical-alternatives-to-facebook/

(via @bobstechsite)