Mr. Doctorow:

I see in the Github issue that, moving forward, the new language will be the default based on its inclusion in the Mastodon #ToS templates. This isn't ideal.

If #Pleroma is better in this regard, one option would be to encourage the adoption of Pleroma and its forks. Pleroma is much lighter anyway. FWIW: I've run my own Pleroma instance for 4 years and this is being posted from it.

However, realistically, Mastodon is likely to remain a dominant force in the Fediverse. The ToS issue is therefore significant.

I have nothing against the Mastodon core group's likely desire to be bought out for $1B due in part to its creation of "birdsites" that own piles of content. But the Fediverse might well be one of the few things that is still standing between the boot and the human face in "1984".

You're a "name" that's associated with rights. If you do the following, it might gain some traction. Work with your circle to set up a light automated fork of Mastodon. The fork could also be thought of as a spoon.

The fork or spoon would be identical to upstream except for changes made by automation scripts. Such as replacement of the ToS templates with versions that your group would select. It would be a simple matter.

Forks usually die quickly. However, there's little to prevent semi-automated spoons from lasting indefinitely. Sometimes, too, forks end up with both superior features and momentum. See: angie, a full fork of nginx.

Mastodon gGmbH has trademarked the term "Mastodon" as a software mark. However, a spoon could certainly refer to itself as Mastodon (tm) compatible. If "Xnet" isn't trademarked, that term could be trademarked and used as the repo name. Or perhaps "Little Brother" would work.

One nice thing about the spoon approach, aside from the fact that it might be relatively low effort, is that other people would have different concerns about Mastodon that could be addressed at the same time as the stated issue.

Creative Commons people would, for example, like to see increased promotion of Creative Commons in the default Mastodon setup.

So, you might be able to assemble a group of 5 to 10 people. That would be more than enough. Or the prospect of a spoon might offer some leverage in discussions with @Gargron.

Illustration: A #Mastodon is facing a fork by somebody who has a better known name than he does. The Mastodon reconsiders his position on intellectual property issues.

The illustration is partly LLM, though I have concerns related to LLM, and partly GIMP.

@juliewebgirl @sekka @pluralistic It's a wonderful example of decentralized failing to provide the advantages of distributed.

Hosting other people as a service is always a major source of liability. Doubly so without proper anonymization.

Sometimes the legal system permits throwing money at the problem to mitigate the liability, but not always.

@sekka @lispi314 that's not a non-profit or a charity. It's just a project. Individuals involved in such a project may have some liability but it's very rare for people who eg submit a pr to a GitHub project to attract a legal claim