Aral Balkan

Every private space is owned by someone. That someone makes and enforces the rules according to their own interests.

You have no right to free speech in private spaces. If the owner of a shopping mall doesn’t like what your t-shirt says, they can have security escort you out.

“Social media” (Silicon Valley and venture capitalists) sold you the lie that shopping malls are parks.

They are not.

If you care about human rights and democracy, build and support parks not shopping malls.

#SmallWeb

Dec 16, 2022 at 8:46amWeb
Show threadLuis_Fierro Dec 16, 2022
@aral Or non-profit, federated, social media (such as Mastodon!).
Show threadAral BalkanDec 16, 2022

@Luis_Fierro Be careful of technology that has adopted the infrastructure (and thus the success criteria of Big Tech). As it scales, it will begin to resemble that which it aims to counter. Mastodon is an excellent and pragmatic stop-gap and I’m very grateful it exists. But if we want a long-term alternative, I believe we need to address the problem from first principles and ensure the right incentives are baked into the topology and protocols of the solution.

https://ar.al/2022/11/09/is-the-fediverse-about-to-get-fryed-or-why-every-toot-is-also-a-potential-denial-of-service-attack/

Is the fediverse about to get Fryed? (Or, “Why every toot is also a potential denial of service attack”)

Every time I post something that gets lots of engagement, I essentially end up carrying out a denial of service attack on myself. What does this say about the design of Mastodon and ActivityPub and the future of the fediverse?

Aral Balkan
Show threadStéphane DeschampsDec 16, 2022

@aral This exactly:
> You have no right to free speech in private spaces.
… is what fascinates me with the current turmoil.

This is not a public plazza, this is a privately-owned service where the owner is free to refuse that one talks about this or that subject.

It must have to do with how people have felt at home on T. for so long (me included a few years ago).

When billionnaires and alt-right leaders say 'free speech', they mean theirs, not the public's free speech at large.

Show threadStéphane DeschampsDec 16, 2022
@aral (This being said, I remember the beginnings of T. and it was about “what are you doing right now?” in 140 characters, which was a fun and novel way of interacting for people who did not use eg. IRC. It's moved very, very far away from micro-blogging in the last 10 years.)
Show threadluxcemDec 16, 2022
@accessiblestef @aral When we talk about the world's largest social media, we can't just hide behind the argument of being a private company. It's a political issue, but in my opinion, when something becomes as ubiquitous it cannot escape the question of the common good. The fact that billionaires and private companies can appropriate so much power and influence over tools, places, and services that we use is more a sign of a failing society than a healthy one.
Show threadStéphane DeschampsDec 16, 2022

@lxcm Yes, that too.
It has to do, also, with a systematic/systemic lack of public agoras that would be financed, owned and moderated by public instances.

@aral

Show threadAlfonso Muñoz-Pomer FuentesDec 16, 2022

@aral But #SmallWeb is more like your private garden (following your analogy), right? I guess that a good model would be for these small-web “tenancies” be afforded by the state or some regulated non-profit?

There also been an abuse of the free speech phrase that needs clarifying: it means you can’t be arrested/condemned for your statements, regardless of whether they are made in a private or public space. It never meant you can say whatever you want in a private space.

Show threadAlfonso Muñoz-Pomer FuentesDec 16, 2022
@aral Of course, big asterisk on “you can’t be arrested/condemned” since every country has limits or at the very least legal consequences of some sort of statements.
Show threadAral BalkanDec 16, 2022

@alfonsomunozpomer #SmallWeb is about being a person on the web. Your expression of your personhood are the identity(ies) you own and control on the web. It’s the interconnections between these individually-owned and controlled places that make up public space on the Small Web. (So public space is not a place, it is the mesh of relationships between people.)

And yes, indeed, my goal is to see these places be considered as much a human right as housing and healthcare should be.

Show threadBlackout The ConspiracyDec 16, 2022
@aral God, it just makes you wonder ... Was it always this blatant? #EnterTheMatrix
Show threadDave Winer ☕️Dec 16, 2022

@aral

We should work together to make products that interop beautifully.

Show threadAral BalkanDec 16, 2022
@davew Indeed. And tools even; they don‘t even have to be products in the capitalist sense of the word.
Show threadDave Winer ☕️Dec 16, 2022

@aral

Absolutely. I call them products because I put the same attention into my free stuff as I did with my commercial products.

Mastodon is a great example. The UI isn’t perfect, but it is really good, shows people who know how to do it put a lot of love into this and didn’t fight over bullshit, they made something nice without locking people in.

Show threadAral BalkanDec 16, 2022
@davew Yeah, and product doesn’t have to imply that it’s commercial but, sadly, that’s the usual connotation these days. It can also just mean “that which is produced” :)
Show threadMarkDec 16, 2022

@aral agreed to a certain extent.

"Private" spaces that span the globe and are monopolies (eg. not many alternatives) should be regulated by law. Or better: it should be regulated by law that such monopolies may not exist.

If you get cancelled on Twitter, FB and YT your "free speech" is just a hollow phrase: no one there to hear it...

Show threadMarkDec 16, 2022

@aral in the end it's all down to the people: do you care about democracy, free speech and actual people?

Or do you want comfort, someone telling you what to think and how to act and make life "easy"? ...

Show threadAral BalkanDec 16, 2022
@mark Edward Snowden once put it very well (I’m likely paraphrasing): “It’s about whether we want to live as adults or as children.”
Show threadluxcemDec 16, 2022
@aral While we should continue to support and promote independent, non-profit, autonomous, and decentralized networks, it is important to remember that even the largest social media platforms are still bound by the laws that we put in place. The pursuit of freedom must also involve political action and the establishment of institutions that can ensure that freedom is protected. 1/3
Show threadluxcemDec 16, 2022
@aral We should be proactive in both building alternative spaces and modes of organization and working to prevent a minority from gaining too much control over widely used tools, places, or services. It's not sustainable or desirable for a society to be dominated by companies and billionaires who hold all the power in the spaces they control, while the rest of us are left to exist in the margins. 2/3
Show threadluxcemDec 16, 2022
@aral We must continue to support the commons, as well as work to dismantle monopolies and concentrations of power. 3/3
Show threadsj_zeroDec 16, 2022
In the US at least, a shopping mall can for free speech purposes be a park.

But for a lot of governments that ought to know better, not even a park is a park. Der Fuhrer Trudeau went on the record during the hearings into his reichstag fire as saying that protests are fine unless they're trying to effect change of a government policy -- then it's problematic.

Essentially what everyone already knew: Canadians are free to say anything their government agrees with.
Show threadBertilDec 16, 2022
@aral Do you think that Mastodon is more like a public park, or many private places where people can see each other? Bans are more frequent here because owners of small instances are more opinionated. Large commercial platforms have wide principles and teams that are expected to enforce them sparingly — they wouldn’t reach the scale needed to be profitable otherwise. Same for a large mall: you rarely get told off, at least if you look like you are spending money.
Show threadAral BalkanDec 16, 2022

@bertil_hatt It’s lots of small(er, for now) private places. Unfortunately, it also has incentives baked in from its Big Tech infrastructure/design that favour vertical scale and the enlargement of those places (see https://ar.al/2022/11/09/is-the-fediverse-about-to-get-fryed-or-why-every-toot-is-also-a-potential-denial-of-service-attack/).

It’s a great stop-gap and I’m hugely grateful that it exists. But, longer term, I believe we need a network of places of one… or, in other words, a network of people. That’s the idea behind the Small Web (https://ar.al/2020/08/07/what-is-the-small-web/).

Is the fediverse about to get Fryed? (Or, “Why every toot is also a potential denial of service attack”)

Every time I post something that gets lots of engagement, I essentially end up carrying out a denial of service attack on myself. What does this say about the design of Mastodon and ActivityPub and the future of the fediverse?

Aral Balkan
Show threadBertilDec 16, 2022
@aral Ok, so you advocate for something aligned with, but distinct or rather more decentralised than the Fediverse.
Show threadAral BalkanDec 16, 2022
@bertil_hatt Yep :)
Show threadTroubled Clef StudiosDec 16, 2022
@aral yeh but shopping mall owners are not special. They can be slapped down too
Show threaddaveDec 16, 2022
@aral this is the one message I wish people would understand about social media.

When I point it out a lot of people that like to consider themselves thinking leftists think I'm arguing in favour of platforms' right to censor people.

Any philosophical argument about the right to free speech in a walled garden is meaningless.

If you say something that costs the owner money (or hurts their ego, apparently), they will kick you regardless of any commitment they hold regarding free speech.
Show threadMark GardnerDec 16, 2022

@aral You had me until the last paragraph.

Fixing it for you: “If you care about #IndividualRights, build your own damn park.”

Show threadAlessandroDec 16, 2022
@aral I don't disagree with your thoughts but I just want to point out something that can be misunderstood: everywhere, even in private space human rights come first. Of course I am totally free to close my doors to the others but once I open them I am obliged to respect those persons. In case I don't do this and offend them (I want underline this) I am going to legally pay for that. Being saying that, of course I absolutely prefer this place over Twitter because I feel safer now
Show threadJared ManfrediDec 16, 2022
@aral @ij_baird we shall call this a park of toots
Show threadFrankie SaxxDec 16, 2022
@aral
we were sold the lie that shopping malls are public spaces way before social media
@vfrmedia
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKDec 16, 2022

@frankiesaxx @aral

I got moved on out of a large mall in Basildon, Essex for wearing a hoodie and hanging around with local kids (and not buying anything) in 1989, which probably makes me a trendsetter 😁

Show threadFrankie SaxxDec 16, 2022
@vfrmedia
I am zero surprised to learn this   
@aral
Show threadSlightlyCyberpunkDec 16, 2022

@aral Are there truly any public spaces on the Internet though? Is such a thing even possible? Perhaps you could consider some government websites, but that's more like a government office building than a park...public property, but not really a public space.

The lucky few with municipal broadband connections have something like public roads at least to go visit these private spaces, but still no parks. The best we seem to have so far are places like Mastodon, a collection of private spaces with standardized connectivity...a bustling downtown compared to a shopping mall. But that downtown may still be connected by largely private roads...

Show threadAral BalkanDec 16, 2022

@admin No. As I see it, public space on the Internet would be interconnection of individually-owned and controlled spaces. That’s the idea behind the Small Web.

https://ar.al/2020/08/07/what-is-the-small-web/

What is the Small Web?

Updated June 19th, 2023 Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos. But that doesn’t mean you can’t watch it! You can download Small Is Beautiful #23 directly, and watch it with your favourite video player. Small Is Beautiful (Oct, 2022): What is the Small Web and why do we need it? Today, I want to introduce you to a concept – and a vision for the future of our species in the digital and networked age – that I’ve spoken about for a while but never specifically written about:

Aral Balkan
Show threadPeter BarnesDec 16, 2022
@aral while I don’t disagree with the sentiment—far from it—I don’t agree with your (implicitly) absolutist interpretation of private ownership. Ultimately the meaning of “ownership” is a social agreement, not an absolute (just ask any pregnant person in the USA), and entities like social network companies exist and operate only in the larger context of cooperating societies. So while it’s true that current legal structures afford the “owners” some agreed rights, they’re not absolute and are there by agreement, not axioms. So another useful thing we could do is to lobby for a different social agreement on what powers the “owner” of a socially diffused network can exercise. Laws of defamation, against shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre, and similar are already there for the same reasons… We don’t have to take the current fascism as a given.
Show threadbtdDec 20, 2022
@aral sounds like american in a worst way view. in EU there are laws above what you can do in "private space"
Show threadOldeHippi 🦋🎨🙏🌺Dec 22, 2022

@aral As I was reading this post, I thought you were talking about EM owning Twitter; his "private space" in which he is the only one who has Freedom of Speech.

As you describe, that is exactly what is occurring there, but so many refuse to acknowledge it.

They think #Twitter is theirs. And, it is not.

Show threadjaviJan 8, 2025
As someone who worked in the space, I always get flabbergasted when I see people talking about [whatever online presence that's not hosted in their own server] as if they owned that space.

Folks, the employees of that company (some of them) can read your private messages. Your "personal space" can be deleted at any moment without even asking you about it.