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A discussion about distributed federated systems else-network did bring up some concerning history that we should keep in mind:

#XMPP was, briefly, the dominant messaging system on the Internet. It was fully federated allowing hosting anywhere. Major extensions were being done by major companies (Apple adding voice and video for example). And it all fell apart because the three big providers (Apple, Google, Facebook) ditched it to have more control.

#mastodon (1/2)
#mastodon #xmpp
Rebecca
Rebecca  
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So if a major company does end up adding support for ActivityPub or other fediverse features I would be very hesitant about actually federating with them. As long as they DO connect to the larger network they'll siphon off the user base, and we KNOW that they will turn on it. Corps cannot make promises, cannot be trustworthy, cannot guarantee they won't betray principles. They are structurally incapable of it, no matter what their humans say.

#mastodon (2/2)
#mastodon
grin
grin  
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and how do you plan doing that? AP is by definition a pretty open protocol, I can actually listen to your public stream without registration or real efforts. You can only stop me talking to you, no more.
Rebecca
Rebecca  
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@grin I'm saying it's not something to celebrate or court.
@grin
grin
grin  
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I agree; and it's not the opposite either.

What I'm saying is that there is no [feasible] way to stop them.
Rebecca
Rebecca  
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@grin I'm mean, sure? Like, there are protocol extensions one could imagine to make it easier to fully disconnect from servers you don't like who are otherwise well behaved, but no open network will ever be able to stop poorly behaved services from implementing that kind of attack through purely technical means.
@grin
grin
grin  
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apart from that there is the ethical aspect, whether we may call "open network" something blocking based on some agenda.

(And it is not "you don't like", it is "everybody must not like", kind of a big difference.)
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