Could any savvy person here explain this to me in plain English?

[Tenebrae]

I recently heard about this:

https://www.projectliberty.io/technology/

I visited the website, but I did not understand what it REALLY means. Could someone explain in layman's terms what is the goal of this project and how it intends to reach it?

 

[Cosmo_ac]

From a look at it, I'd guess it has something to do with Net Neutrality, but I admit, there are definitely some concepts there that go beyond my understanding of the web.

 

[duderino84]

From a look at it, I'd guess it has something to do with Net Neutrality, but I admit, there are definitely some concepts there that go beyond my understanding of the web.

In the context of social networking, yes. I mean basically we already passed the point of no return when you have Facebook involved in more or less reporting to the government who's information they'll monitor and how they'll monitor it. I don't think there's been actual social networking since MySpace got killed off.

Facebook is cool, but hey, want to view employees of xyz biz? Want to find out how many Jessica's there are in xyz town? Step too far into "self expression" and people get put in "Facebook jail". I mean, this is kind of the bullshit that really pushes the limits and starts branching into "social surveillance". MySpace had its beginning day where an employer who wanted to see what you're about could look you up according to your email.

The safest way to use Facebook in my opinion is just put the minimum amount of information about yourself in your profile and posting. Ironically Fetlife is pretty private. But I guess that's for "good reasons".

 

[Mr. Feet]

What I gleaned from it: They are attempting to create a protocol which would allow a user's data from (for example) Facebook to be transferred to any other social media platform. The user would own and control their social media identity and data, rather than any particular platform.

The protocol would presumably be open source, and would use blockchain technology.

The main investor behind the project has pledged $75 million to develop the protocol, and $25 million to incentivize the development of apps that would harness this theoretical protocol.

Given the power and wealth of Facebook, and the fact that they would have no incentive to support this, it seems like quite the moonshot. However, it's a powerful and important idea, and maybe the idea will spread, even if this particular project doesn't succeed. Thanks for making me aware of it!

 

[TMF Jeff]

Any time something has a title like "Project Liberty" my spider-sense starts tingling.

 

[MrMacphisto]

In the context of social networking, yes. I mean basically we already passed the point of no return when you have Facebook involved in more or less reporting to the government who's information they'll monitor and how they'll monitor it. I don't think there's been actual social networking since MySpace got killed off.

Facebook is cool, but hey, want to view employees of xyz biz? Want to find out how many Jessica's there are in xyz town? Step too far into "self expression" and people get put in "Facebook jail". I mean, this is kind of the bullshit that really pushes the limits and starts branching into "social surveillance". MySpace had its beginning day where an employer who wanted to see what you're about could look you up according to your email.

The safest way to use Facebook in my opinion is just put the minimum amount of information about yourself in your profile and posting. Ironically Fetlife is pretty private. But I guess that's for "good reasons".

Pretty much. Although social media itself was designed to addict people. Multiple founders and upper managers of Facebook have said as much.

I'd argue the safest route is to not use social media at all but rather to meet people mostly the old fashioned way -- offline in places where people gather socially. Of course, that wasn't easy to do last year, but things are slowly getting back to normal. Either way, the old fashioned way also keeps your data away from these companies and the government (for the most part).

 

[Tenebrae]

Thank you all for your replies! I think I am finally getting the hang of it... or at least a vague idea, lol 😛

This forum is amazing

 

[BlasterMaster]

I wonder what the status of Net Neutrality is right now?

Any time something has a title like "Project Liberty" my spider-sense starts tingling.

Gee I wonder WHY? Could it be that almost every single anti-LGBT, anti-muslim, anti-women (etc etc) hate group has some kind of patriotic or wholesome sounding name?

American Family Association, American Vision, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council (etc etc).

 

[MrMacphisto]

I wonder what the status of Net Neutrality is right now?



Gee I wonder WHY? Could it be that almost every single anti-LGBT, anti-muslim, anti-women (etc etc) hate group has some kind of patriotic or wholesome sounding name?

American Family Association, American Vision, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council (etc etc).

Net Neutrality means little when considering that social media and the US government literally coordinate censorship efforts. ISPs will likely do the same soon enough.

You can focus on supposed "hate groups" if you like, but their influence is inconsequential compared to that of our corporate overlords.

 

[Tenebrae]

Net Neutrality means little when considering that social media and the US government literally coordinate censorship efforts. ISPs will likely do the same soon enough.

You can focus on supposed "hate groups" if you like, but their influence is inconsequential compared to that of our corporate overlords.

I agree with all of the above