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Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
341–350 of 988 posts
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#342Earlier quoted context omitted.
People will surely point out the obvious differences between the takedown of Parler and Element and I'd agree that it's not exactly the same thing, since Parler is its own platform and Element is just a client. However, when looking on a bigger picture of the recent takedowns and trying to make sense of it, it does indeed seem to be connected. The only conclusion that seems rational to me is as follows: Everyone trie…
> If this is actually what is happening, That’s a big “if” though. The “abusive content” angle is just a working theory. It could just as easily be Goodge taking a dislike to a website link offering donations outside of the Play store (or something equally mundane). The problem is, until Google respond, we have no idea why the takedown happened. And here lies the real problem: without Google being transparent about t…
Sure. But as we learned, the only way to get them to respond at all is to do what we're doing right now. Blow the story up all over the internet, accuse them of censorship, call for regulations and hopefully get the media to pick it up.
And just to be clear, I'm not saying that the accusations of censorship and calls for regulations are dishonest on our part. I really do believe that what they are doing is censorship and they need to be regulated.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#343Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the classic advertising doesn't work on me mentality. Whether you realise it or not, the algorithms behind these services are having a subtle impact on you and show you things for various shady reasons. For me, that was enough just to ditch those services. It's good to see that you're limiting your exposure to them though.
To be honest, advertising DOES work on me, but only insomuch as it alerts me to potential things. I presume all ads are lies, and research the thing before I by. I have a strong anti-authority reflex and trust VERY little (if anything) on face value. I don't even trust myself. "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.”
> I don't even trust myself
But you trust yourself so much that "advertising DOES work on me, but only insomuch as it alerts me to potential things"
That sounds a bit contradictory to me. (I think I could describe myself somewhat like you did in the latter part, and I still have absolutely no illusions that ads would not be able to get me. So I just actively try to avoid them. And I do not need or want anyone to alert me on potential things. Even further, I try to live by the principle of never, ever making any kind of commercial transaction with anyone where I have not been the intiator of the communication.)
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What they were talking about is giving up on smartphones and social media altogether That's incredibly encouraging to hear. It seems to be a common feature of "I quit Facebook/Twitter/whatever" accounts that once you break the immediate addiction there's no real urge to go back, so if this does happen it should have a decent chance of sticking. (And as a mobile refusenik I sometimes feel like the last holdout left,…
Assuming from the subtext that GP means they're wanting to give up because of (app)(?) censorship. Having a whole strata of society no longer participating in the conversation is not healthy. Politicians are now looking to these platforms to guide policy decisions, so anybody not on them has no voice.
Surely politicians aren't using social media as the main driver for policy? The demographic who votes the most (the elderly) is also the demographic that has the smallest presence on social media, so only listening to Twitter seems like shooting yourself in the foot.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#345It seems all those deplatforming started really recently with trump/parler and turned into a witch hunt. It's now totally out of control and we start to look like CCP
Do you think the CCP is a) happy about this or b) unhappy about this I'll give you three guesses.
c) not happy nor unhappy, probably they just noticed that US also started to use same recipes to mute any deviant or discordant voices.
Next step could be to replicate GFC
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#346Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there a standard that could verify an apk against a certificate? ... or an I just describing building an alternative play store?
Signal, for instance, does this: https://signal.org/android/apk/
Signal doesn't. They give you a hash not a signature. I.e. if you have control iver their site, you can push a malicious signal application and change the hash.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#347It seems all those deplatforming started really recently with trump/parler and turned into a witch hunt. It's now totally out of control and we start to look like CCP
I wish Google and Apple are going to be hit with fines and regulation in the EU because of this once the comissioners have better things to occupy themselves with other than the pandemic.
If you look at any legislation that’s been proposed to address this, in the EU or anywhere else, it hasn’t been anything that’s going to make the situation any better. Lots of governments around the world are very upset that these cartels have the ability to restrict people’s access to the internet without any oversight or due process. But that’s not because they think it’s harmful for peoples access to these services to be taken away without any oversight or due process, they just want to be the ones wielding that power.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
Element and Parler are nothing alike. Element is a chat client. It's an empty piece of software for use with your own choice of server. Element is to a chat server, as Thunderbird is to an email server. It's basically a glorified IRC client. It contains no content of its own. Parler was basically a curated, centrally run, Facebook-message-board-replacement for neonazis, antisemites, qanon conspiracy theorists, and th…
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Don't count on PWAs. Once these free speech platforms start embracing PWAs and they become super popular, Chrome and Safari will simply censor them directly. When you will try to visit these PWAs, you will get a message that says "this website contains hate speech and has been blacklisted as it doesn't respect our terms of services for a safe and friendly browsing experience we thrive to offer our users".
Any browser that allows accessing these PWAs will be banned from the app/play store. Let's not kid ourselves this isn't what's coming next.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
Parler curated the content on their platform for months including shadowbanning new accounts until they had been approved by volunteer moderators. Accounts on Parler called for and planned violence against elected officials for months. Executives at the company spoke often and publicly supporting that content. If your going to argue with a straight face the this new situation is the same as Parler, your putting Eleme…
> Accounts on Parler called for and planned violence against elected officials for months. Executives at the company spoke often and publicly supporting that content. Did not know this, you have a source for this?
No, Parler executives did not “speak often publicly supporting planned violence against elected officials”. They would have been arrested already if this was that clear of a trail.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#350Doing this just a week before FOSDEM [1], a very large conference that will run online using Matrix, is scandalous. https://fosdem.org/2021/
And Google is a sponsor.