”Bluesky is basically abstracting out each layer of a social media service and allowing anyone to provide alternatives at each layer… It creates a system that feels as simple and comprehensive as a centralized system, but which is actually decentralized, and enables anyone else to jump in and provide additional services and features at each layer.”

Techdirt

Why Bluesky Remains The Most Interesting Experiment In Social Media, By Far

These days, everyone hates big tech, and that’s often for very good reasons. You shouldn’t trust giant centralized companies that have collecte...

”Bitkey, as a self-custodial solution, sits somewhere between a stand-alone Tapsigner and a fully-open, interoperable multisig wallet. It does better than the stand-alone Tapsigner in some areas (e.g. 2-of-3 security), while poorer in other areas (e.g. not interoperable; tightly coupled to Block as things stand).”

Nunchuk

Bitkey by Block: A Comprehensive Review

Block recently introduced a self-custodial solution for Bitcoin called Bitkey (https://bitkey.world). This review delves into Bitkey’s features, ...

Mastodon 🐘

stux⚡️ (@stux@mstdn.social)

Attached: 1 image They didn't even bother to change the word "toot" on #TruthSocial in the Dutch language Yes, he did not "build" TruthSocial but...

”in 2016, the task force created new software that could "be installed on iOS and Android that intercept traffic for specific sub-domains, allowing us to read what would otherwise be encrypted traffic so we can measure in-app usage (i.e. specific actions that people are performing in the app, rather than just overall app visitation). This is a 'man-in-the-middle approach,'" the email said. These so-called "kits" created a path for Onavo to redirect and decrypt user traffic by effectively impersonating the servers of Snapchat, and later YouTube and Amazon, according to an unsealed letter to the court from the advertiser plaintiffs. Facebook did this through a process called secure sockets layer (SSL) bumping, the letter claimed.”

Business Insider

Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook execs to 'figure out' how to track encrypted usage on rival apps like Snap and YouTube, unsealed documents show

Emails from Mark Zuckerberg have just been unsealed in ongoing litigation accusing Meta of anticompetitive behavior in the social-media ads market.

Do we have a 3 Body Problem?

Cern: Scientists search for mysterious ghost particles

Physicists believe a new experiment could prove their existence and answer fundamental questions about our Universe.

”AT Protocol will be able to support other kinds of apps, and then users will be able to move between them with the same identity and relationships, and then that will just make it a lot easier for other people to build. And so that was part of our idea was just build an app, and then we get this positive feedback loop going of developers and users coming into the ecosystem.”

The Verge

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber on breaking free from Twitter and competing with Threads and Mastodon

Bluesky started inside Twitter. Now, it’s competing with X, Mastodon, and Threads to push a decentralized vision for social networking.

”Dataminr pays for privileged access to X through the company’s “firehose”: a direct, unfiltered feed of every single piece of user content ever shared publicly to the platform. Watching everything that happens on X in real time is key to Dataminr’s pitch to the government. The company essentially leases indirect access to this massive spray of information, with Dataminr acting as an intermediary between X’s servers and a multitude of police, intelligence, and military agencies.”

The Intercept

Elon Musk Fought Government Surveillance — While Profiting Off Government Surveillance

Elon Musk and X postured as defenders against government surveillance but sold user data to Dataminr, which facilitates such surveillance.

”Personal data custody, or Personal Custody, means that the information (images, metadata and derived data) generated at the orb and used to generate the iris code during World ID verification is held on your device. This approach gives you control over the flow of this data—not just deletion, but any future use prior to being deleted.”

World implements Personal Custody

World is implementing Personal Custody, an evolution in data custody recommended by privacy experts.

Fediforum demos and session notes are available now from last week

FediForum

FediForum | FediForum March, 2024

For example, here’s @rabble’s demo session

Before Threads takes over the top 20 https://fedidb.org/popular-fediverse-accounts

”The good thing about trust is that you never have to doubt: if you’re unsure if you trust someone, you don’t. 🎉” https://hajak.se/trust-isnt-a-grand-gesture-it-s-a-growing-marble-collection-108868bb2216

Looks a bit weird when it says there are replies but they are not shown nor indicated that they’re from Fediverse View quoted note →

Mastodon users are the most active based on my posting responses. 10x less follwers than in X. The rest are relatively inert, listed in descending order: Nostr X Bluesky Threads

Kicking third-party devs out of the API, blocking outbound links & seeing content without logging in seem to have consequences

TruthSocial seems to be compromised: ”allows attackers to create and overwrite any file Mastodon has access to, allowing Denial of Service and arbitrary Remote Code Execution”

digipres.club

Ryan Baumann (@ryanfb@digipres.club)

I don't know who needs to hear this but #TruthSocial, which is running a forked version of Mastodon, does not from the source code appear to have a...

”X’s revenue from in-app purchases last month was about $9.5 million, including for X subscriptions and payments to creators. ”

NBC News

Fewer people are using Elon Musk’s X as the platform struggles to attract and keep users, according to analysts

X usage has declined as downloads of Threads have surged in recent weeks.

”Redis, the popular in-memory data store, is switching away from the open source three-clause BSD license… Under this new license, cloud service providers hosting Redis will need to enter into a commercial agreement with Redis. The first company to do so is Microsoft.”

TechCrunch

Redis switches licenses, acquires Speedb to go beyond its core in-memory database | TechCrunch

Redis, the popular in-memory data store, is switching away from the open source three-clause BSD license. Instead, in a move that is clearly aimed to

”Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the dark fleet of old vessels that lack proper insurance, have opaque ownership, and “flag hop” between different permissive ship registries has grown explosively, to an estimated 1,400 ships. Their presence poses considerable risk to other ships, to the environment, and to countries experiencing maritime accidents caused by the vessels. In addition to serving the transportation needs of Russia (as well as Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela), the shadow fleet forms quintessential “gray zone” aggression, causing tangible harm that targeted countries can do little to punish. If countries do try to block dark ships from their waters, or escort them away, it could prompt retaliation and escalation by Russia.” https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/issue-brief/russias-growing-dark-fleet-risks-for-the-global-maritime-order

”Nadella’s novel twist is to hire the people and leave the company behind. This week, Microsoft announced that it had recruited two of the three founders of Inflection… following its $13bn investment in OpenAI and its more recent partnership with France’s Mistral, highlights the company’s intent to ally with ambitious AI start-ups and command the market. It had also been an early backer of Inflection.”

Client Challenge

I launched @Nootti on Product Hunt today Check it out and don't miss the @FediForum Nootti speed demo. The high quality version is now available and linked on the page.

Product Hunt

Nootti: Customise and cross-post to Bluesky, Mastodon & Nostr | Product Hunt

Cross-post and customise your skeets, toots and Nostr notes with ease. Share with images and videos. Share your content to decentralised social med...

#producthunt