Mastodawn

Jen Nov 18, 2022

@[email protected] @gvwilson At least email is decentralized since everyone can host their own. And while @google.com has a high share of users (sadly), it is by no means the only place to get an email. Twitter on the other hand was/is the only real place to tweet.

Though I think an international nonprofit /federalization would still be better than it being an American institution.

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Richard Darst Nov 18, 2022

@j_e_n @pairko @gvwilson Can't we technically say that IANA via DNS assigns email addresses. For that matter, same for many things, including mastodon.

(as an aside, instead of publicly administered, at least they should be regulated similar to telecoms or energy utilities (should...) be regulated.)

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Jen Nov 18, 2022

@rkdarst @[email protected] @gvwilson There certainly is an argument to be made for that. Even though DNS is not -entirely- american owned since control over the root zone was transferred from ICANN in 2016, ICANN itself certainly is and still controls a lot.

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Richard Darst Nov 18, 2022

@j_e_n @pairko @gvwilson Actually, there are very good historical metaphors here:

Bell Co got too bad and had a monopoly on essential telecom (and presumably bad business practices). Broken up with defined way to communicate between providers.

Local telcos had a lock-in effect with phone numbers. Gov mandated Local Number Portability and then people had more choice.

Problems aren't new, and general concepts of solution aren't, either.

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Jen

@rkdarst @[email protected] @gvwilson Interesting, I did not know about the Bell Co situation. But yes, strong antitrust enforcement has long been a tool to resolve this. But with the interconnectedness of the world and the current antitrust situation in the US I am not sure how hopeful I would be about enforcement.