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Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

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Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#81

Post by colordrops »

tschellenbach wrote: post #2

I think it's fascinating to see distributed social networks from a tech perspective. From what I've seen so far they exacerbate the problems that Facebook has been seeing so much backlash against. 1. The whole Cambridge Analytica issue was caused by APIs that are too open. For distributed systems there are more ways to exploit the APIs and gather data on users. 2. There is a clear issue with Facebook's accountability…

For a properly designed distributed social network, there's no reason your data should be visible to anyone other than those you have approved.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#82

Post by ThurmaUman »

guelo wrote: post #79
squeaky-clean wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Grandma definitely skipped from a corded phone to an iPad with Facebook and right over email. It's still too complicated for her.

And yet billions of people use email. Goes to show the grandma argument is not very useful.

Most of them using an interface like gmail, which unsurprisingly looks a lot like (facebook) messaging.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#83

Post by staltz »

f_leon wrote: post #23
remir wrote: post #11

I downloaded Patchwork after someone talked about Scuttlebutt on HN, but when I tried to join any pub servers on their Github repo, none of them worked/connected. 30 minutes later, I uninstalled the thing. The idea was interesting, the UI was pleasant, and I could see this working at some tech conference where people connect with each-other and there's a common pub server so people can keep in touch afterward, but I…

Same. Just tried to give it another shot and there's only 3 public servers and none are currently working

Public servers were a temporary hack and nowadays most of the community is putting their public servers down. It's not a good idea for scaling, but above all, public servers connect you with strangers, which is basically undesired for a social network with a similar use case as Facebook.

There should be a pub server for each real community. I know it's not the most user friendly, but it suffices that one person in a real community of friends is techy enough to set it up, and it's not that hard: http://butt.nz/install?url=https://github.com/ahdinosaur/ssb... (this tool enables you to install your own server with a few clicks)

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#85

Post by staltz »

tschellenbach wrote: post #2

I think it's fascinating to see distributed social networks from a tech perspective. From what I've seen so far they exacerbate the problems that Facebook has been seeing so much backlash against. 1. The whole Cambridge Analytica issue was caused by APIs that are too open. For distributed systems there are more ways to exploit the APIs and gather data on users. 2. There is a clear issue with Facebook's accountability…

The GDPR argument is a bit moot because Scuttlebutt is no different than sharing pictures in gossip style (a.k.a. memes). If one of your childhood pictures happens to become the new meme, there's little hope that GDPR enforcement would suffice to de facto delete it from the internet: from Reddit, from Imgur, from independent websites, from Torrent, etc. The same is with Scuttlebutt, but data is primarily shared between friends without contracts, not from people to a particular company. GDPR applies to institutions.

The other points are just stating "much harder", which seems to just bring skepticism and little actionable suggestions.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#87

Post by DeRock »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #42
jeswin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having data in a central store doesn't imply third parties. How is that going to work then? Every single company holding your data in a central place is mining it today and selling the information to advertisers. On a distributed network you replicate data only with people you choose. Since you're not going to add a government (or an ad company) to your friend list, they won't have your data. Private communications…

"Every single company holding your data in a central place is mining it today and selling the information to advertisers." That doesn't mean it has to be that way in the future though. There are centralized social networks that are charging money for their use, and they are not selling to advertisers nor are there any.

Replace advertisers with governments, and your centralized store has now been breached. See Lavabit.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#88

Post by allannienhuis »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #42
jeswin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having data in a central store doesn't imply third parties. How is that going to work then? Every single company holding your data in a central place is mining it today and selling the information to advertisers. On a distributed network you replicate data only with people you choose. Since you're not going to add a government (or an ad company) to your friend list, they won't have your data. Private communications…

"Every single company holding your data in a central place is mining it today and selling the information to advertisers." That doesn't mean it has to be that way in the future though. There are centralized social networks that are charging money for their use, and they are not selling to advertisers nor are there any.

but how is that guaranteed? If there's a single source of data, its a bigger target for bad actors, and a single source still needs an owner of some sort that you have to trust isn't going to cheat or change the rules in the future.

With decentralized, you still have the same issues (I don't really know how you solve those unless data transfer is truly peer-to-peer which I think causes discoverability and similar issues to usability), but at least the scope of them is inherently limited and you can opt in/out of the source based on your trust of it.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#89

Post by _Marak_ »

Scuttlebutt is a great idea and has some really smart people working on it ( like Andre and Dominic ) .

With that being said, I don't think Scuttlebutt has any chance of succeeding. SB network has some fairly serious architectural issues which may or may not have solutions that are achievable with the current design. I ended up uninstalling.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#90

Post by staltz »

ilovecomputers wrote: post #18

All these decentralized alternatives don't have iPhone apps. It's app store policy that is blocking devs, ain't it?

I'm working the mobile app for Android. Groundwork for iOS is underway: https://twitter.com/andrestaltz/status/981622147864039424
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