Considering how popular the fediverse already is with at least some of the public institutions in Europe, this is a puzzling move.
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@stefan It's a startup using big words, is all I can see. Not sure where this "European organisations" stuff comes from.
Yup, this seems to just be some random startup's PR release without any official status.
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@samueljohnson @stefan I *am* in the EU and have experienced it first-hand. The EU is a clueless, authoritarian bureaucracy, masquerading as a democracy. They try to legislate, regulate, and control every aspect of our lives, from how curved the bananas can be, to whether bottle caps should be attached to the bottles, want to scan our encrypted messages, and so on.
(I'm not saying that the USA is any better; just different.)
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@samueljohnson @stefan As I said, I've experience it first-hand. Feel free to close your mind and not read what I write - it's your right to do so - but it won't change what I've experienced and it won't stop me from voicing my opinion.
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*There are 5 competing social media networks*
- This is so stupid! We need to create one that will combine and unite all the users!
*Result: there are 6 competing social media networks*
@stefan ah this is what W is https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/115932181066382822
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Considering how popular the fediverse already is with at least some of the public institutions in Europe, this is a puzzling move.
"European organizations are about to launch their own social media platform, W, amid rising tensions with the United States."
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@stefan @Lockpro The issue never was anonymity, but lack of accountability. Both for platforms and users.
If you post something vile, your account is suspended and it's a hassle to re-register you'll think twice before doing it again. But the current socal media standard¹ is you can post something vile with your full name and employer visible and still continue as if there's no problem.
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¹ As per numerous examples on Facebook and x/TwitterRE: https://mastodon.social/@aslakr/115933140926774633
@Mabande @stefan @Lockpro And W Social seem to think that the only way to have accountability is to use «real names»
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Considering how popular the fediverse already is with at least some of the public institutions in Europe, this is a puzzling move.
"European organizations are about to launch their own social media platform, W, amid rising tensions with the United States."
@stefan it's not "European organizations", it's one rich Swiss techbro trying to capitalize on the situation and get rich off of harvesting people's data herself instead of having American companies do it
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@stefan it's not "European organizations", it's one rich Swiss techbro trying to capitalize on the situation and get rich off of harvesting people's data herself instead of having American companies do it
@hazelnot Yes, the article really isn't doing a great job of explaining this initiative, appreciate everyone adding context in the replies!
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Considering how popular the fediverse already is with at least some of the public institutions in Europe, this is a puzzling move.
"European organizations are about to launch their own social media platform, W, amid rising tensions with the United States."
Hm, so it might actually be powered by ATproto?
W for ATProto
W is a new platform recently announced, aspiring to be a European alternative to X. It may actually be powered by ATProto, based on leaked screenshots. This is a win for ATProto
ATProtocol Dev (atprotocol.dev)
Interesting.
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Hm, so it might actually be powered by ATproto?
W for ATProto
W is a new platform recently announced, aspiring to be a European alternative to X. It may actually be powered by ATProto, based on leaked screenshots. This is a win for ATProto
ATProtocol Dev (atprotocol.dev)
Interesting.
@stefan I hope it will at least be an independent deployment! What a bullshit… They could use real standards…
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Hm, so it might actually be powered by ATproto?
W for ATProto
W is a new platform recently announced, aspiring to be a European alternative to X. It may actually be powered by ATProto, based on leaked screenshots. This is a win for ATProto
ATProtocol Dev (atprotocol.dev)
Interesting.
well, it is a puzzling move but only for a very short time
If it would be ATProto it would not be an "European Alternative" it would just be an app built in Europe.
Crazy enough but maybe better to build diverse hosted European fedi instances
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Hm, so it might actually be powered by ATproto?
W for ATProto
W is a new platform recently announced, aspiring to be a European alternative to X. It may actually be powered by ATProto, based on leaked screenshots. This is a win for ATProto
ATProtocol Dev (atprotocol.dev)
Interesting.
Wondered what protocol/software stack might be underneath 'W'
So, #ATProto eh?
This is all I have collected of any interest. The Issue is still open on Github, and dates to "opened on Aug 12, 2023"
qazmlp on Jun 12, 2024 · edited by qazmlp
"Please excuse the harsh wording, but ATProto is genuinely a "privacy-last" specification where the concept of follower-approval and post privacy aren't meaningful, aside from temporarily deactivating an account entirely.
(Adding a locked account feature to apps isn't entirely impossible of course, but doing so with privacy would require at the least a parallel network with distinct architecture and protocol.)
That's not to say there wouldn't be any value in an appview- and app-side mechanism to limit exposure though, as long as it's made clear that it's trivial to circumvent with an alternative client. That may at least turn away the brunt of the harassment in such situations."
Here: https://github.com/bluesky-social/social-app/issues/1155#issuecomment-2163556647
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Wondered what protocol/software stack might be underneath 'W'
So, #ATProto eh?
This is all I have collected of any interest. The Issue is still open on Github, and dates to "opened on Aug 12, 2023"
qazmlp on Jun 12, 2024 · edited by qazmlp
"Please excuse the harsh wording, but ATProto is genuinely a "privacy-last" specification where the concept of follower-approval and post privacy aren't meaningful, aside from temporarily deactivating an account entirely.
(Adding a locked account feature to apps isn't entirely impossible of course, but doing so with privacy would require at the least a parallel network with distinct architecture and protocol.)
That's not to say there wouldn't be any value in an appview- and app-side mechanism to limit exposure though, as long as it's made clear that it's trivial to circumvent with an alternative client. That may at least turn away the brunt of the harassment in such situations."
Here: https://github.com/bluesky-social/social-app/issues/1155#issuecomment-2163556647
Also:
Nekkowe on Oct 21, 2024
"Thanks a lot for the answer, I was thinking about it and that maybe at-proto would be the 'guilty' for not getting this feature. What you said gave a new perspective of the issue.
Mind you, the AT Protocol is also developed by Bluesky PBC https://github.com/bluesky-social/atproto/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#about-at-protocol "
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Considering how popular the fediverse already is with at least some of the public institutions in Europe, this is a puzzling move.
"European organizations are about to launch their own social media platform, W, amid rising tensions with the United States."
@stefan @briankrebs maybe it‘s a mastodon instance?
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@stefan @briankrebs maybe it‘s a mastodon instance?
@jmovs Funny that you mention that, I just posted this:
Stefan Bohacek (@stefan@stefanbohacek.online)
Hm, so it might actually be powered by ATproto? https://atprotocol.dev/w-for-atproto/ Interesting. #W #SocialMedia #ATproto #atmosphere #bluesky
Stefan's Personal Mastodon Server (stefanbohacek.online)
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Also:
Nekkowe on Oct 21, 2024
"Thanks a lot for the answer, I was thinking about it and that maybe at-proto would be the 'guilty' for not getting this feature. What you said gave a new perspective of the issue.
Mind you, the AT Protocol is also developed by Bluesky PBC https://github.com/bluesky-social/atproto/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#about-at-protocol "
@FinchHaven Well this still seems to be just a guess, so we'll see. But regardless, I don't find this W project all that interesting, regardless of the protocol they use.
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well, it is a puzzling move but only for a very short time
If it would be ATProto it would not be an "European Alternative" it would just be an app built in Europe.
Crazy enough but maybe better to build diverse hosted European fedi instances@sl007 Well they would presumably build the full infrastructure, the PDS, the appview, etc.
Much like Blacksky has managed to do so recently, if you've been following the project:
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@FinchHaven Well this still seems to be just a guess, so we'll see. But regardless, I don't find this W project all that interesting, regardless of the protocol they use.
Yeah I see it mostly as vaporware, speaking of software stacks...
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@FinchHaven Well this still seems to be just a guess, so we'll see. But regardless, I don't find this W project all that interesting, regardless of the protocol they use.
@stefan @FinchHaven seems to be basically confirmed now that they are at least using Bluesky/ATproto code because they have things like a PDS and a W-branded version of Bluesky's web app running out in the open:
https://stage.wsocial.eu/
https://pds-stage.wsocial.eu/Whether or not this means an entirely separate network or not is another question ofc...
