Good to see the "you know this stuff will never catch on meme!!!" apparently never gets old but I think this quote was pretty key:
If you want a project of this nature to see widespread use it will have to > be fun, usable, and pretty. I don't think it's facetious to say that 'fun', whatever that actually is, will be absolutely key. People *love* to refresh Facebook endlessly, even though they're usually dissatisfied with what they get. I wonder whether it's possible to find a sweet spot where you still have some level of Gameyness to the experience of a social network, without all carefully tuned the psychological exploitation and carrot-and-stick stuff? On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 7:15 AM, Joshua Spodek <[email protected]>wrote: > I commented on Freedombox on a site for entrepreneurially-minded hackers > and programmers called Hacker News and got feedback that might be useful > here. (It might not be useful so can always be ignored). I thought it > offered constructive criticism from knowledgeable people. > > My post was on this thread, which was about Facebook using people's data > more than they expect -- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3554087. > > Here is the thread for convenience, though it lost formatting and > nesting. The first post is by me. The rest are by others. The word > "reply" separates each post. > > --------------------------------- > > This is what Freedombox is for (also Diaspora). Freedombox is one of the > few projects I make time to contribute to. I'm surprised it isn't one of > the more popular projects among this community. > > Anyway, here are some links and background if you aren't familiar with > it. From http://freedomboxfoundation.org and > http://freedomboxfoundation.org/learn > > What is FreedomBox? > > Email and telecommunications that protects privacy and resists > eavesdropping > > A publishing platform that resists oppression and censorship. > > An organizing tool for democratic activists in hostile regimes. > > An emergency communication network in times of crisis. > > > If you live near New York City, there will be a hack-fest February 18, > 19, 20 (more information in first link above). I hope to see you there. > > reply > > > naner 23 hours ago | link > > I'm surprised it isn't one of the more popular projects among this > community. > > You shouldn't be. My values align roughly with that of the freedombox > creators/developers but I can easily see this will have poorer adoption > than other well-intentioned technology like PGP or gNewSense. > > If you want a project of this nature to see widespread use it will have > to be fun, usable, and pretty. > > reply > > > aw3c2 1 day ago | link > > You guys need a much simpler "what is freedombox". From the /learn text > I only get the impression that it is "Tor in a dedicated box". Where is > the social network? > > reply > > > > ryanklee 23 hours ago | link > > I gave it my five-second rule, and browsed away feeling totally ignorant > of what the platform was about (or even if it was a platform). > > reply > > > > Woost 23 hours ago | link > > Thirding. The "what is freedombox" posted here tells me basically > nothing. It sounds closer to marketing fluff than an actual description > of what freedombox is and does. > > Is it a social network? Twitter? Both? Something new? Why should I want > to start using it, aside from claims of anonymity? > > reply > > > pacala 1 day ago | link > > I follow a few high profile tech news source, but I never heard of > Freedombox. > > One major worry I have about decentralized systems is crackers. It's > hard enough to secure centralized systems using proprietary code behind > firewalls managed by an army of experts. How can a decentralized system > possibly avoid becoming a 0day distributed botnet? > > reply > > > > bootload 19 hours ago | link > > "... I follow a few high profile tech news source, but I never heard of > Freedombox. ..." > > That's why it's important to read HN. > > Eben Moglen is one of the few lawyers I bother to listen too. It helps > he has a CS background. Moglen did a talk at New York Technology Council > & Internet Society, Friday, February 5, 2010 that outlined the idea > behind the freedom box. I remember watching & listening to the recording > just after the speech. It's worth the watch/listen to get the idea in > full. > > The idea in short, "Own your own logs". Third parties can't infer what > they don't have. The talk is located here > > - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpHWnHxmnXg > > - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOEMv0S8AcA > > or here for alternative AV formats ~ http://isoc-ny.org/?p=1338 > > reply > > > thomaslangston 1 day ago | link > > > It's hard enough to secure centralized systems using proprietary code > behind firewalls managed by an army of experts. How can a decentralized > system possibly avoid becoming a 0day distributed botnet? > > I do not understand your concern. > > Centralized systems are easier to crack, not harder. Proprietary code > may or may not be easier to crack, but I'd lean towards easier. > Distributed systems do not require you to not have firewalls. > Distributed systems do not require you to not have experts managing > them. Nodes of a distributed system do not have to obey the commands of > other nodes or have a central control mechanism. > > How would a decentralized system ever become a 0day botnet? > > reply > > > pacala 1 day ago | link > > The point of Freedombox is that everyone has his data in his own home. > If average Joe wants to share this data with his friends, average Joe is > going to run a server in his home. If the server code has a 0day > exploit, average Joe server easily becomes a node in a botnet. > > How do you address the problem of managing a fleet of 800 Million > servers running in 800 Million homes? Who are the experts that manage > this problem and who finances their work? Why would average Joe trust > them with his data? What is the technical device through which they have > admin access to 800 Million servers in 800 Million homes? > > reply > > > > thomaslangston 13 hours ago | link > > That may be the setup of that project, but it isn't the status of every > decentralized system. A decentralized system could as easily be funded > by individual users buying hosted space with professional admins. > > I don't see the 0day exploit window of one additional application > running on local users' boxes to be much cause for alarm. Somehow we > muddled through decades of Windows boxes with everyone joining the Borg. > > > _______________________________________________ > Freedombox-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss >
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