@triplenadir @Edo_Secco @Gunther
How do I take down the account containing my likeness and tweets, created from the BirdsiteLive bridge?
I did NOT consent to having my tweets and photo posted elsewhere, and wasn’t even aware, until getting questions from people about which one is my “real” mastodon.
This isn’t okay to do without consent, and it is not ethical at all, despite claiming to be.
Please see the above toot. This is not okay. I want this “copy” of me taken down.
@BirdsiteLIVE it is also probably resulting in people tagging that account instead of mine and wondering why I’m not seeing the toots.
This is so messed up for so many reasons and was clearly not thought out with creator consent in mind. Very odd to me that you went out of your way to label this “ethical” when it is not.
@justkelly_ok it's called an "ethical bridge" in opposition to how unethically people did create bridges and mirrored accounts before that. You can find more informations about the current state of the project here: https://write.as/nicolas-constant/closing-the-official-bsl-instance
And as stated in the post, I don't host any instance currently, if you want to contact another instance admin, please follow this procedure: https://github.com/NicolasConstant/BirdsiteLive/wiki/How-to-contact-Instance-Owner
@BirdsiteLIVE So it’s not really feasible for people to monitor every instance where this might happen and contact the instance creator to get it taken down. I’ve had to rely on other people sending me screenshots of my “clones” that come up in search for them but not me.
Again: I have a stalker, and this is a really serious safety issue for me and others.
You don’t owe me anything and don’t have to care what I think but you can be considerate of people’s safety ffs.
@paul @BirdsiteLIVE I’m not interested in condescending unsolicited advice from strangers on how to handle my own safety regarding a situation I’ve dealt with for four years. And my particular circumstances should not matter or be up for debate. It is harmful.
@paul @BirdsiteLIVE other similar apps that replicate people’s content elsewhere like this provide a centralized way to opt out. For example thread unroll bots.
The impersonation and confusion over which account I actually control is the issue. Main issue.
We're giving you our time here, please be respectful of it.
Like it or not, the issues you shared are liked to the public aspect of your publications.
See here: https://nitter.it/justkelly_ok
It's a nitter instance, all you data (post included!) is publicly shared and available, and I don't think you can opt-out. Nitter is FOSS, anyone can host one. Including your stalker.
I can do the same demonstration with web.archive.org.
Your stalker can even get a twitter api himself and (...)
@justkelly_ok fetch the data.
(BTW BSL will have a opt-out functionality before 1.0.0 release)
I'm sorry you're discovering this via me, but don't shoot the messenger, please.
@BirdsiteLIVE“It’s possible to do this through other means and sites so this is fine” is not really the argument you think it is.
There are ALREADY multiple accounts appearing to be me and controlled by me, that have been created with your tool.
@BirdsiteLIVE that doesn’t look like an active account engaging with others that I am running, though. The clones created by your tool DO.
Again: visibility is not the main issue I have, although intended audience and consent really should still matter to you. It’s the fact that it creates active accounts on a different social media platform where people post and interact.
I don’t consent to my likeness or tweets being copied and republished by your bot.
@justkelly_ok look, I'm sorry you have a stalker (seriously), but in this case you need to switch your twitter account on protected mode.
If you're publishing publicly, everyone can access your data via a browser, any nitter instance, and any 3rd party twitter client app using the API like BSL. And any of your data can also be archived using web.archive.org. This isn't really a BSL related issue.
Also, if your account switch on protected mode, mirrors on every instances will remove all (...)
@BirdsiteLIVE no, I actually don’t need your unsolicited advice on how to handle my safety. It’s not about visibility of my tweets.
My tweets being publicly visible is a very different issue than the existence of multiple lookalike accounts that contain my tweets and likeness and appear to be run by me but are not, and the ability for a bad actor to exploit your tool to do harm.
It’s an impersonation issue.
@simrob @BirdsiteLIVE can I ask you a small favor? Could you relay this request to @paul: one of the clones of my account is on the birdsite instance his bio says he manages, and I would like it removed, please. The @ is justkelly_ok.
I’ve asked him myself but I *think* I’m blocked. This app doesn’t SAY I’m blocked, but I can’t see his posts any more.
@justkelly_ok @simrob I don't agree with your analogy: Twitter EULA state your data will be available through Twitter API. And that's what BSL is using.
But I DO agree the search leakage is an issue (as I state in the blog post you didn't read), that's in fact the reason I shut down the instance I had control on, and encouraged other admin to limit the reach of their instances. Since the service didn't operate the way I really wanted it to do.
@BirdsiteLIVE @simrob if you’re encouraging all that and recognize the potential problems, I think you could at least make them much clearer and more prevalent on the GitHub page. But I still wonder why you won’t even consider removing it, even knowing it likely breaks privacy laws.
Yes tweets are accessible through the public API. That doesn’t mean you’re allowed to use them however you want. I own the content I create. I could do a DMCA take down of all these instances.
Consider removing what? The code? Most BSL instance run on a fork of my code, I don't have control over it. And if I remove it, I can't add the missing functionalities you're already asking for and that was already planned (and I'm convinced that the forks will happily retrieve them).
Lets say I listen to you and remove it: forks will prevail as is, and flaws will remain. Might not be the best move, isn't it?
The code doesn't violate the TOS, since... it's code, not a hosted service.
About the service itself, that's one of the many reasons I recommend using the code on a personal scale, to fit the personal use case. Ideally only available on a 1 person instance.
That's also why in my blog post (yes, again) I link to those TOS and ask instance owners to check for themselves.
@BirdsiteLIVE @simrob In your blog post, which most people will never see. And on the project page there are quite recent posts where you’re encouraging people to incorporate it into their instances.
Clearly people aren’t reading your warning or aren’t heeding it, because they are all - seemingly unknowingly - violating the TOS.
Interesting idea but not technically feasible: you can't share access of the bot to other instance owner.
I don't personally think BSL violate Twitter TOS. I've read it a lot of time, and that's not my understanding.
BUT since some people understand those TOS differently, I recommend instance admin to check it for themselves and to not rely on my own understanding of it. And I made this very clear in my blog post.
Kelly Ellis
BirdsiteLIVE
Paul Wilde 
:dontpanic_nobg:
simrob
