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0 pointsdanShumway6y ago0 comments

What's the authority at the top of Mastadon? You can have private instances that don't federate with anyone, and there's no coordinated authority that controls any other instance.

For that matter, what is the authority at the top of email? You and I can set up an email server and start talking to each other right now without anyone's permission. We don't have to be connected to anyone else, and we don't have any authority that can control our implementations or even that keeps track of what servers exist.

I don't get the comparison between Email or Mastadon to ICANN.

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ChristianBundy6y ago

If you're using Mastodon or email you need a server with a public IP address, which most people don't have. Distributed solutions like Secure Scuttlebutt (SSB) don't require that, so you can pass messages via any available relay server, LAN, or even a sneaker-net.

It's also worth mentioning that most people have to trust their Mastodon / email provider not to snoop in their private messages. Systems like SSB provide true end-to-end encryption that makes it safe to broadcast your private messages to the world.

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0 pointsdanShumway6y ago0 comments

What's the authority at the top of Mastadon? You can have private instances that don't federate with anyone, and there's no coordinated authority that controls any other instance.

I don't get the comparison between Email or Mastadon to ICANN.

0 comments

ChristianBundy6y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse