mccJun 30, 2023
Entire Internet is dying at once https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-confirm-three-strikes-policy-ad-blocking-test-3340826/
YouTube confirms three-strikes test for ad blocking, here's how it works

YouTube has confirmed that it's testing a three-strikes policy for blocking ads. It's also outlined how this policy will work.

Android Authority
NanzaoJul 3, 2023
Show threadmcc

2006 - 2022: Corporate content hosts are so cheap and easy that no one has an incentive to learn to self-host content, and people who were previously self-hosting content move over to big "social" platforms

2022 - … : Platforms close off in every imaginable way and start taking every opportunity to extract rents from users, benefits that originally got people to move over now gone, but the network effects are such you can no longer switch to open alternatives or convince other people to do so

Jun 30, 2023 at 2:20pmWeb
Show threadheather! horns!Jun 30, 2023

@mcc i feel actually kind of optimistic for once

i think people gotta become easier to convince

Show threadm_eimanJun 30, 2023
@mcc it’s not helpful to say ”we said this would happen all along”, but…
Show threadCascadianprepperJun 30, 2023

@mcc
I just wrote about this, haha.

https://open.substack.com/pub/cascadianprepper/p/a-life-in-digital-degradation?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1szg4f

A life in Digital Degradation

In the dynamic world of digital platforms, there's a phenomenon happening that has been prevalent since social media became a huge part of our lives. It's a process I call "digital degradation," a term that encapsulates the lifecycle of many platforms we use daily like Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Reddit, Etc.

Cascadian’s Substack
Show threadShat ☑️Jun 30, 2023
@mcc can't wait for the new panic at the disco(rd)
Show threadphnx, abandoned accountJun 30, 2023
@mcc heh as if Meta hasn't been doing this on FB and Instagram for *years* now
Show threadmccJun 30, 2023
@jonas What if we made the entire *internet* out of Facebooks
Show threadTheriacJun 30, 2023
@mcc

I'd say the biggest drawback to self hosting now is how much time you need to stay up on security issues and patches for vulnerabilities.
Show threadGmr LeonJun 30, 2023
@Theriac @mcc me every time I think about self-hosting anything beyond my local network: "but how do I make sure it's secure...?" 😕
Show threadlil5  🚲 🇳🇱Jul 1, 2023

@Theriac @mcc

InfoSec like to say that security is hard, that’s true for large companies, but for one person: just enable auto updates…done

Show threadTheriacJul 1, 2023
@lil5 @mcc

To be clear I'm talking as someone who feels computer literacy is essential in this day and age.

I agree smaller scale means you don't lose days at a time. However compared to when I first started messing about with servers, the time invested has increased exponentially.

Security is a race condition. Most patching happens retroactively not proactively. There is always a window where you may be exposed.

And then there are the fish-hook updates where legacy software is depreciated, which might break something else that depends on the now depreciated software.
Show threadLatte macchiato  Jul 1, 2023
@lil5 @[email protected] @mcc Things like quick patching are a given. Stuff like setting up DMZs, least privilege, etc is what truly matters. You're always going to be reactive, while large companies often get the privilege of having a patch available before the CVE is even public.

Selfhosters don't have the resources to prevent zero days, but what happens afterwards, including even recognizing a breach, is what really matters. ​​
Show threadNafeon (Backup Account)Jun 30, 2023
@mcc so true also I don't understand why but indeed i literally can't convince anyone to come to Mastodon QQ
Show threadMosztJun 30, 2023

@mcc I just don't understand why politicians choose to put up with it with their own communication. It would be so easy for the white house (or even the political parties themselves) to set up their own mastodon instance.

Have you seen what's going on under literally every post from Biden?

Show threadJohn Henry DeppeJun 30, 2023
@mcc The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.
Show threadferricoxideJun 30, 2023
@mcc

Much of the US economy of the last couple decades has been about undercutting competition by selling at a loss. But what used to be leveraging one line of business's profits to subsidize another's undercutting competition (even where that "competition" isn't really commercial) us now done by setting VC's money on fire.
Show threadJefJul 1, 2023
@ferricoxide @mcc
And don’t forget those massive tax write offs
Show threadFoolishOwlJul 1, 2023
@mcc I'm wondering if this is related to the recent rounds of layoffs. Like there's pressure to cash out before an economic crisis.
Show threadLisPiJul 1, 2023
@foolishowl @mcc Probably.
Show threadnickaposJul 1, 2023
@mcc if they do this, then I suspect another fediverse peertube wave will happen.
Show threadAdrianJul 1, 2023

@mcc

It wasnt and unfortunately isnt only a question of price: Increasingly harsh and often poor regulation has made hosting for yourself or using a smaller platform less attractive.

Take for example the disastrous #Uploadfilter and #Linktax (#Leistungsschutzrecht) introduced with the 2019 EU copyright reform.

It created expensive legal risks for all internet services but small and medium ones cannot handle such risks remotly as good as a large company. As such the already huge companies benefit the most from it while smaller ones have one more reason to go bankrupt.

Show threadLisPiJul 1, 2023

@AdrianVolt @mcc I'm actually hoping that massive corposcum's willful #enshittification alongside the impracticality of smaller corporate hosting will lead to mass abandon of the #clearnet for #FreeSoftware services on the various #darknets and #AnonymizingNetworks that can mitigate that liability.

If we're to give up on realism, then I would also hope it brings back the #P2P-first approach into the fore.

#Privacy #Anonymity #Anonymous #Networking #SelfHosting #darknet

Show threadAdrianJul 2, 2023

@lispi314 @mcc

Thats a nice dream but in practise the same lobbyist that ruined the net will quickly call for the ban of such services. God forbid people communicating without goverment oversight. 🙄

Show threadLisPiJul 2, 2023

@AdrianVolt @mcc I doubt they'd succeed, but even in the event they did, most countries have an escape hatch in phone conversation privacy legislation and softmodems still work over modern VoIP-backed phone infrastructure with the right settings.

That would be a massive downgrade in bandwidth & latency increase, but it'd still work.

A number of authoritarian governments have already tried to ban such privacy software and yet appear to have failed to actually enforce that effectively.

Show threadJohn McLearJul 1, 2023

@mcc also people stopped paying developers to build open projects but instead paid us to build on top of closed ecosystems. Now our open projects are mothballed and out of favour making it increasingly difficult to update and maintain.

Hope is not entirely lost but I hope we have learned a lesson and hope we can get support for developers as well as users.

Show threadStefan Rother-StübsJul 1, 2023
@mcc
Sounds like the good old "give them lamps first so they have to buy oil later" strategy.
Show threadinfinite love ⴳJul 1, 2023
@mcc huh, if only there was a name for this
Show threadAllan ChowJul 1, 2023
@mcc for a super brief period of time there were attempts to build a p2p video streaming network. It was so exciting.
Show threadJason ScottJul 1, 2023
@mcc now, now mcc. You are forgetting the absolutely nasty attitude of people stumbling into the Hosting Roman Orgy and ridiculing people who are self hosting, declaring then dangerous loons and excited that the big tech companies could push them out
Show threadAndres JalintonJul 1, 2023
@mcc
2024 - ... : People takes the internet back after network effect shift into the  
Big social companies implode spectacularly after a constant two years of bad decisions.
Show threadAdrian SegarJul 1, 2023
@mcc You can self-host at any time (I have since 2009) and post to any social channel you like. FWIW, that's what I do.
Show threadmccJul 1, 2023
@ASegar I cannot post to Twitter without doing business with Elon Musk, something I do not want to do. Also, from what I hear you can't post to Twitter anyway because it's down all morning.
Show threadAdrian SegarJul 1, 2023
@mcc Absolutely, your choice. But if there are social channels that you want to use (like Mastodon 😀) you can post links to your self-hosted content on them while maintaining control of your content.
Show thread⁂Krafty⁂ #NoKingsJul 2, 2023
@mcc Turns out, relying on unsustainable business model couldn't last. Who knew!
Show threadJacky TweedieJul 2, 2023
@mcc yes..the @pluralistic 's enshitiffcation effect in flagrante
Show threadJohn QuigginJul 3, 2023
@mcc But already in 2023, platforms so rapacious that move starts happening anyway
Show threadArthur GronJul 3, 2023
@mcc I find when organizations, such as community groups, self host they are more successful in the long run. They organize to collect money to keep the site running, meaning that they become more formal. Teach each other how to maintain it. Build their own email, and contact lists.
Show threadQueue Jul 3, 2023

@mcc Every time I bring something similar up and am dismissed, I can't help but be reminded of this XKCD comic. #743 Infrastructures.

"The heartfelt tune it plays is CC licensed, and you can get it from my seed on JoinDiaspora.net whenever that project gets going."

Alt text included for those who need it.

Show threadbignoseJul 3, 2023

#Enshittification is not accidental. It's a *deliberate* policy on the part of a platform corporation, to use #ChokepointCapitalism as a way to squeeze suppliers and consumers.

As @mcc reminds us, that happens only once the corporation believes they've locked in one side; when they've got a lock on you and you feel you have no better option, that's when they squeeze you to extract value.

Show threadbignoseJul 3, 2023

Necessarily, that corporation acts as a #Monopoly (to consumers) then a #Monopsony (to suppliers).

Things can be shit by accident sometimes. #Enshittification, as @pluralistic correctly defines it, is deliberate policy.

And it's possible only because we let these corporations get so huge and dominant, despite laws that could prevent that.

Platforms that do it must be punished and broken up so the chokepoint is removed.

@mcc

Show threadEsparta Jul 3, 2023

@mcc has been told for a while:

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/reaching_people_2021

But people still refuse to listen, to read, to think.

Reaching people on the internet in 2022 - The Oatmeal

A comic about social networks.

The Oatmeal
Show threadJonathan HendryJul 3, 2023

@mcc

I feel like there are admin problems and legal concerns now that didn't quite exist to the the same extent in the past, that are an obstacle to people setting up their own sites on their own servers in the old fashioned way.

Show threadAdminJul 10, 2023

@mcc yep they were #dotcons all along, and we abandoned the #openweb for them.

Let's see if the #reboot of this original #4pens project can grow.