Andrew CoutsNov 5, 2022

Early worries I have as a journalist using Mastodon for #journalism:

1) Subpoenas & source protection: You're at the mercy of whoever operates your instance. I'm guessing most smaller instance admins aren't also lawyering up to protect newsgathering.

2) The owner of your instance can read your DMs. Be careful.

3) Publishers could effectively verify journalists by running instances from their official domains. They could surveil their journalists there too. Not every publisher is ethical.

Show threadDan Fain, Ph.D.
@couts @IntlLawGnome These are fair points, albeit applicable to most platforms that mix publishing and messaging, not unique to the Fediverse. The Mastodon iOS app has a button marked “Publish,” which is a good way to think about participation here. Secure messaging should really be handled via separate channels: perhaps journos should add Signal contact in their Mastodon profile metadata?
Nov 5, 2022 at 9:33pmToot!
Show threadAndrew CoutsNov 5, 2022
@danfain @IntlLawGnome Very fair—it's definitely not just Mastodon, the Fediverse, or any other communication tool. End-to-end encrypted chats are the only way to go if you want the most assurance that private convos stay private. (And even there, things can go haywire.)