Threads, Meta’s new microblogging platform, is updating its terms to focus on data collection from “Third Party Users”.

Threads’ New Terms & Conditions Affects the Fediverse

Threads, Meta’s new microblogging project that piggybacks off of Instagram, has updated their Terms & Conditions to include new provisions regarding “Third Party Users”.

The new Supplemental Privacy Policy lays out what new data to collect, and from whom:

Threads will also integrate with third-party services (“Third Party Services”) via an interoperable protocol, which will allow Threads users to share content with, view and interact with content from, follow, and be followed by people outside of Threads who use such services (“Third Party Users”). This integration with Third Party Services is not available at launch, but will be coming to Threads soon.

Supplemental Privacy Policy

Provided that a Third Party User is followed by or following a Threads account, Meta will ingest these pieces of data specifically:

• Username
• Profile Picture
• IP Address
• Name of Third Party Service
• Posts from profile
• Post interactions (Follow, Like, Reshare, Mentions)

Granted, these sound like basic table stakes for federation to work well within the Fediverse. Most Mastodon servers collect roughly about the same amount of data for basic features to work correctly. But again, Meta is first and foremost an advertising and data harvesting company, and many people aren’t happy at the idea of being subjected to this treatment from the vantage point of their own servers.

FediPact is an Organized Effort to Block Meta’s ActivityPub Platform
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is looking to launch their own fediverse platform. Some people are already advocating to block it en masse.
Read More
wedistribute.org

Mike Macgirvin, former dev lead on Friendica and Hubzilla, is taking a proactive stance on the new changes with an update to his new project, Streams.

Fresh release from the streams repository. Available now.

Includes some enhancements to our defenses against Meta/Threads after reviewing their updated ToS.
Also includes access to protected content via OpenWebAuth over Opensearch.
And some other stuff.

You will want this update regardless of your stance regarding Meta.

If you are uncomfortable with Meta and their business practises, visit ‘admin/security’ and add ‘threads.net’ to ‘Block communications from these sites’ — and also set ‘Require signed fetch requests’.

Mike Macgirvin

The new enhancement examines remote fetch requests against a list of who should be allowed to access a resource. It may prove to be a viable protection against excessive data harvesting.

#Instagram #Meta

https://wedistribute.org/2023/08/threads-new-terms-affects-the-fediverse/

We Distribute

2023-06-20 01:00:43

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is looking to launch their own fediverse platform. Some people are already advocating to block it en masse.

FediPact is an Organized Effort to Block Meta’s ActivityPub Platform

The fediverse has been aware of Meta’s intention to build an ActivityPub app for some time now. Purportedly called Threads, this “Project92” looks like it will be a Twitter competitor, and will be compatible with Mastodon instances. Rumors have spread that Project92 is courting the Dalai Lama and Oprah Winfrey, to overtake Elon Musk’s dumpster fire.

The infamous linked screenshot of “Threads” / “Barcelona” / “Project 92” being presented.

To begin with, Project92’s existence was always going to bring some unease to the network. A growing number of instance admins have signed FediPact, an agreement to block Meta from connecting with them. The effort, organized by one Vanta Black, opened up a passionate discussion about the network’s future. Admins and users alike have given passionate statements about the possibilities.

I will do everything I can to stop them from burning down the beautiful community we’ve spent over seven years cultivating here.

Vanta Black, creator of FediPact

For many, the reaction makes sense. The walled gardens that so many users have migrated from were vectors for abuse, poor moderation, and data harvesting. That’s a big part of why so many people want nothing to do with it.

Reasons for the Ban

Throughout the discourse, people have cited some of the ills that Facebook has inflicted on the world. The company is responsible for poor working conditions for third-party moderators, presenting itself as the entire internet to some populations, embrace and abandonment of open protocols, and algorithms contributing to genocide in Myanmar. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

They will absolutely not moderate their shit properly, and it will make the areas of the fediverse that choose to federate with them actively unsafe.

Vanta Black

Whether FediPact is an effective way to stop value extraction out of an independently-run network is up for debate. Rumors are swirling, with accusations that some admins have signed NDAs to have private discussions with Meta.

#Barcelona #fediverse #Meta #P92 #Threads

https://wedistribute.org/2023/06/fedipact-blocking-meta/

'It's digital colonialism': how Facebook's free internet service has failed its users

Free Basics, built for developing markets, focuses on ‘western corporate content’ and violates net neutrality principles, researchers say

^{Olivia Solon (The Guardian)}