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Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

blog.alexgleason.me

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Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#11

Post by treeman79 »

542458 wrote: post #2

I can’t help but find the introductory quote a bit much, given that Parler’s moderation scheme (judgement by other Parler users) typically resulted in the removal of all opinions other than those held by the majority of Parler users. In any case, Parler’s problem (well, one problem of many) was that they had MASSIVE hardware requirements that dramatically cut down on the number of places that could practically host t…

My initial thought was it can’t be that hard to migrate off quickly. Then I thought about all the major sites I’ve worked on or built over the past decade.

Oh crap. There is zero chance I could do it quickly.

So a turn around from 20 years ago when I would setup LAMP applications on new new hardware in an afternoon.

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#12

Post by TameAntelope »

> freedom minded

> tech oligarchs

...here we go.

I really struggle to understand how some folks didn’t realize they were using other people’s things until recently. Maybe the fact that they weren’t physically in a space was hiding the proverbial threshold crossing activity that takes place a dozen or so times as you travel to twitter.com.

It is free speech to kick someone off your platform. Freedom minded individuals seem to think freedom only goes in one direction. I will defend DJTs right to tweet stupid shit all day and every day, just as I’ll defend Twitter’s right to kick him off the platform.

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#13

Post by 13415 »

I doubt running your own server is always the right solution.There are pros and cons for and against hosting yourself. A small company without dedicated security team may get hacked and all customer data exposed, for example.

Contrary to what this article insinuates, the vast majority of companies do not have to worry about violating the terms of services of cloud providers and other external services, because they don't offer services designed to violate besaid terms of services.

As for Parler, of course they should have seen that coming. It's pathetic that they didn't. They should have looked at sites like the Piratebay for how to do it and prepared a bit more.

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#14

Post by helsinkiandrew »

I’m not sure running their own hardware and relying on an ISP or colocationg at a datacentre would help Parler compared with renting services/VMs from someone like Amazon.

Just about all ISP have terms and conditions that prohibit use that they find offensive.

Data Foundry, mentioned in the article, acceptable use policy is below and I’m sure could be used to kick out Parler

https://www.datafoundry.com/legal/aup

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#15

Post by 542458 »

TheRealSteel wrote: post #10
542458 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s why you also check Fast.com - it’s on Netflix’s servers, so you can’t whitelist Fast without also whitelisting Netflix.

Surely it'd be trivial to increase the user's speed to Netflix servers if they've visited Fast.com in the last three minutes or similar?

Thanks to TLS, Netflix and Fast are indistinguishable. All your ISP knows is the IP address you’re talking to. They’d only know that you visited Fast in particular if you were using your ISP’s DNS, which you shouldn’t be using anyways :)

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#16

Post by madamelic »

endisneigh wrote: post #8

Does there exist a de-platform proof way of hosting something on the internet? Even if you host your own server on your own premises they could forbid you from using the location, shut off your electricity, etc. Is it possible to host a website entirely on bittorrent? I suppose there's also IPFS but I'm not entirely familiar. Maybe once solar is cheap enough you could launch some sort of array of powered drones into…

Yes, there are.

IPFS, I believe, has a solution. The one I am most familiar with is Dat Browser.

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#17

Post by swebs »

endisneigh wrote: post #8

Does there exist a de-platform proof way of hosting something on the internet? Even if you host your own server on your own premises they could forbid you from using the location, shut off your electricity, etc. Is it possible to host a website entirely on bittorrent? I suppose there's also IPFS but I'm not entirely familiar. Maybe once solar is cheap enough you could launch some sort of array of powered drones into…

4chan has survived the wannabe-stasi deplatform mob all these years simply by hosting the servers in the admin's basement.

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#18

Post by spijdar »

endisneigh wrote: post #8

Does there exist a de-platform proof way of hosting something on the internet? Even if you host your own server on your own premises they could forbid you from using the location, shut off your electricity, etc. Is it possible to host a website entirely on bittorrent? I suppose there's also IPFS but I'm not entirely familiar. Maybe once solar is cheap enough you could launch some sort of array of powered drones into…

"They" in that case would typically be the government (assuming you own your property), which at least in the US would have to (at least nominally) follow more regulations and protocols for restricting your speech, while a private business doesn't really have those same obligations.

I'm not sure how ISPs fit into this though, and to what extent they can say "we don't like the content you're serving" and cut your net. Obviously if the content is outright illegal that's one thing, but I wonder if they can "pull an Amazon".

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#19

Post by ClumsyPilot »

TameAntelope wrote: post #12

> freedom minded > tech oligarchs ...here we go. I really struggle to understand how some folks didn’t realize they were using other people’s things until recently. Maybe the fact that they weren’t physically in a space was hiding the proverbial threshold crossing activity that takes place a dozen or so times as you travel to twitter.com. It is free speech to kick someone off your platform. Freedom minded individuals…

Is it freedom of speech to cut off your power supply and running water if I don't like your face? What about mobile connectivity and internet? Can we refuse to sell you groceries?

Can you live without 'using other people's stuff' except like a hermit in a cave?

Re: Parler’s epic fail: A crash course on running your own servers

#20

Post by ping_pong »

The "reason" given why Parler failed is awfully glib and one dimensional. You can't just serve content to millions of people per day and think you can just up and move to another provider.

Had Parler just moderated their posts like they were asked to do, they would still be around. You can still have right wing, even extreme right wing views without calling for violence or organizing insurrections. The fact they essentially refused to moderate and let calls for violence fester on their platform is why they were shut off.

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