Notices by Strypey (strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz), page 59

New #Disintermedia blog piece; 'Make Javascript Optional!'
https://www.coactivate.org/projects/disintermedia/blog/2019/04/03/make-javascript-optional/

#Panopticlick is an #EFF service, where you can click a button on the website and get your browser tested to see how well it protects you against trackers on the web:
https://panopticlick.eff.org/

"If you end up whitelisting most of the sites you visit just to get them working, what’s the point of having NoScript in the first place?"
https://www.howtogeek.com/138865/htg-explains-should-you-disable-javascript/

*FACEPALM* Um ... maybe to block all the tracking and malware scripts that you haven't marked 'trusted'? People who know this little about basic web security practices should be banned from writing for sites called "#HowToGeek". This blog piece is practically #FakeNews.

@paulfree14 if you're outside the Firewall, you can't go past #GreatFire:
https://en.greatfire.org/

#AmnestyInternational also have some resources on it

@paulfree14 hmm. The Firewall does a pretty good job of censoring all the sites that talk about or private VPNs or encrypted communication. I'm not aware of anything specific that's available on these topics from mainland China without a VPN. GH is available here, as is GitLab, so maybe one could search them for some #AwesomeLists, or try tools like #Lantern? Tools that use protocols like #SSB, #Serval, or #Briar that don't need the net to share data between devices could also be useful.

In that scenario, who do regulators try to blame for that DIY livestream? The ISPs that supply a standard consumer-grade net connection? Do they have to vet everything their customers do before they do it? We've had this debate before, many times, over copyright violation, child abuse representations, and so on. The free and open internet, as we know it, cannot exist if ISPs face these liabilities. With all due respect to #JacindaArdern, they are *not* the publisher, they *are* the postman.

If FB Live and other free-as-in-beer #LiveStreaming services didn't exist, it's possible the mosque shooter wouldn't have even known it was possible. It's equally possible, given that even funerals get livestreamed these days, that he or a supporter would have figured out how to DIY. With the right software, a desktop PC becomes a streaming server running over a standard net connection, which like-minded sickos can capture and distribute.

Making people host their own #LiveStreams, by leasing server resources and setting up #FreeCode streaming software, just shifts the problem sideways. Then instead of FB, the #PrivacyCommissioner and the #ChiefCensor would be blaming whichever ISP leased use of their server to people who used it for objectionable streams.

It worries me that regulators in #NZ don't understand the difference between a publisher and an ISP. Publishers have editors to check content before publication and are liable for what they publish. ISPs moderate after-the-fact, if at all, and users liable as the publisher, not the ISP. Offering free #LiveStreaming services to the public wouldn't be practical if every stream had to be vetted in advance:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/386257/facebook-tells-privacy-commissioner-it-hasn-t-changed-its-livestreaming-at-all

@lj_writes I'm up to season 5. From memory, I didn't get to see the whole series the first time around , either due to life issues, or the irritating habit of TV programmers in #NZ to can #SciFi shows half way through their run, despite massive blowback from fans. I'm tempted to give #Enterprise another crack, since I remember being sceptial about #TNG in the first season, and #Discovery has improved significantly in its second season.

@mathew
> we will likely see some pretty bad censorship as a result

Already happening. A couple of examples from FB:
* https://medium.com/@thedididelgado/mark-zuckerberg-hates-black-people-ae65426e3d2a
* https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@strypey/101845923114294551

@xurizaemon #LUG type groups used to run #InstallFests, which got people like me learning to install, people with a strong political motivation for tech self-sufficiency. But it's starting to look like the only way most people will only use a #FreeCode OS is if someone like Puri.sm sells them a device where it's the default OS. I suspect the same is true with ethical services; training people to self-host (although a good idea) won't do it, and #PlatformCoops are needed.
@lightweight @donkey

@xurizaemon I see the logic, and I respect the intention. But even as a longtime #GNU/ #Linux user and tech activist, who has been part of teams running websites since the 90s, I only have the vaguest idea of how to host a server. Suggesting to most muggles that they host their own services is like suggesting they grow their own food. It's not impossible, but it's a massive undertaking, and they're only just starting to grasp why anyone would bother.
@lightweight @donkey

@lightweight @Greg yeah the lack of portability of accounts and data between instances seems like a real weakness of the #OStatus / #ActivityPub standards. It's why I keep circling back to #Zot as a more forward-looking approach, and wonder why almost nobody is trying to support it.

@donkey true that. I've really appreciated having a way to try out Mastodon without going straight to self-hosting, and to have a lifeboat when quitter.se disappeared beneath the waves for good. I do sometimes worry that I'm seen to represent NZOSS in some way, because I'm posting under its domain name. I've been thinking a lot about setting up a separate account for banter and shiptoasting, and using this one just for tech activism stuff.
@yojimbo @lightweight @xurizaemon

@nico
> #WarmShowers had their code on #github but in August 2017 they changed the platform and it's now proprietary software.

I've heard enough stories like this to find it disturbing. The #TImeBank exchange #CommunityWeaver comes to mind, the online banking platform #Cyclos, and others. Understanding why this happens and figuring out how to prevent it is really important.

@aral make no mistake, I believe you really do care about protecting users from surveillance capitalism, as I do, which is why I regularly signal boost your stuff. All I'm saying is that folks who really like their hammers have a tendency to start seeing every problem as a nail. It's important not to let a sunk cost fallacy prevent you from considering other options that might also work, and corner you into interpreting any suggestion along those lines as a demand to ban hammers ;)

@aral make no mistake, I believe you really do care about protecting users from surveillance capitalism, as I do, which is why I regularly signal boost your stuff. All I'm saying is that folks who really like their hammers have a tendency to start seeing every problem as a nail. It's important not to let your a sunk cost fallacy prevent you from considering other options that might also work, and corner you into interpreting any suggestion along those lines as a demand to ban hammers ;)

@njoseph I've been working on a more general essay on this, but I'm finding it hard to decide how to order the points I want to make, and what to include and exclude to keep it from getting too long. Any feedback welcome.