Over the last year, as Bluesky got more popular, conversations about whether Bluesky and ATProto are really ‘decentralised’ have gotten more “popular” as well. These conversations ranged from high-quality, productive back-and-forth articles to people just saying a lot of dumb stuff on the internet (shocker, I know). As time went on, this discourse has grown […]

On Discourse and Decentralisation

The Community Group for #ActivityPub is drafting an open letter calling for respect and collaboration between the people working on the different protocols in the open social web.

I’m signing the letter, and with it, I have some thoughts regarding discourse, decentralisation and why I think this space matters.

  • underline960@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    12·
    7 days ago

    In a post where she signs the open letter, ActivityPub co-author Christine Lemmer-Webber summarises the changing world well:

    “This is actually a really important time for that message to come across, because our communities do both face major threats which I believe we are ideologically aligned in wanting to face:

    We are facing a large number of laws which appear well-intentioned and aimed to try to take on tech gatekeepers, but unintentionally build regulatory moats that allow only gatekeepers to participate, and which threaten user freedom at large.

    The rise of techno-fascism and omnisurveillance affects all users. Neither ATProto nor ActivityPub, at present, are built in such a way that they can provide the levels of protections necessary to respond to the needs of activists and community members against nation-state level threats.

    These are our existential threats, not each other. And we need to figure out how to work together.”

    I’m reading this as “be nice to the Bluesky guys, because we have a bigger problem to deal with.”

    That’s fine, I’m not inclined to be mentally ill at strangers on the internet.

    But I’m also not going to call it decentralized when it’s meaningfully not, and I’m going to keep an eye on where their money comes from.

    We have a common enemy in government control.

    But if you’re going to be my friend, I need you to not lie to my face.