Subject: Invitation to the Social Swarm
Dear fellow people from the Internet.
We know that social network services changed the way we handle information and relationships.
But we also know that social network services create certain problems that come with storing large amounts of personal information.
We are concerned about our privacy on those services. The centralized nature of current social networks forces users to trust third parties that are not trustworthy.
We do not have to surrender to technology as it is.
We have to shape technology in a way that is suited to human nature.
This is why the goal should be to create a network that enables all of its users to communicate freely.
They must be able to use it in the way they want to, without being hindered by restrictions like censorship or the risk of losing control of their own content.
It is not about creating an alternative to existing social network services – it is about creating something even better.
There are different approaches to bringing this about, and they all have different up- and downsides. You are working on them. We are working on them.
So we ask you to join forces, with us and with each other, to create what we all are hoping for, what is driving us and what we need: A free and secure means of communication for everybody and everything.
To achieve this, we think the social network must satisfy these requirements:
1. Free software.
2. Good usability.
3. Decentralization.
4. End-to-end encryption.
5. Mandatory privacy: no plaintext data stored on servers.
6. Scalability.
7. Innovation over standards.
8. Better than what we currently have.
We would love to see you on our mailinglist:
https://mail.foebud.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/socialswarm-dev
To have a closer look at the project, go to our wiki:
Best wishes,
the folks of Social Swarm
Dear Social Swarm owner,
The following message under the subject heading “ignored options” was blocked twice when I tried to send it.
I have removed my hypertext link to squarewhiteworld – so let’s see if it’s that.
I don’t think it is spam. But perhaps you know better.
Best,
…
Dear Social Swarmers,
I find it strange that no option other than “earnest and honest privacy,” as Klaus Schleisiek put it, is being considered. What about open and public discussion and social intercourse with optional anonymity?
I am inspired by the idea of the listserv – and the Wiki – since these forms of interaction are subject- or theme-led and to an extent non-identitarian.
I am negatively inspired by the existing social media: but more for reasons of profiling and boxing of people into homogeneous blocs than for impinging on privacy; my objection is politico-aesthetic, not moral.
I’ve been working since March this year on a website based on these ignored ideas. Unfortunately, where I am in the world, New Zealand, makes it necessary for me to seek private sector funding to build a demonstration model and proof of concept, which is the task I am currently involved in – raising funds, validating need -, rather than public funding.
An irony. Since the idea has to be tangibly realised, needs to have gained sufficient commercial momentum in order that it is tangibly realised, before I can make it open source.
Another aspect of my idea that might interest discussants is that it is determinedly non-anglocentric. It enables multiple languages to be addressed, viewed, engaged with in the same view or browser window.
If you are interested, please contact me.
Best,
…
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