Mike Masnick ✅

Techdirt guy. I once wrote a paper about "Protocols, not Platforms" that seems to be slightly relevant. Also can follow my Bluesky posts at @mmasnick.bsky.social

Public Key

npub1grz7afdguc67jkjly6fu0xmw0r386t8mtxafutu9u34dy207nt9ql335cv

NIP-05 Address

mmasnick_at_mastodon.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsyp30w5k5wvd0ftf0jdy78ndh83cna9na4nw5797z7g6kj98lf4jspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qp5wlvl

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub1grz7afdguc67jkjly6fu0xmw0r386t8mtxafutu9u34dy207nt9ql335cv

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-08-06 16:38:54

Sharing over here as well. I'm joining the Bluesky board to help provide them guidance. I remain a supporter of all experiments in decentralized social media, and will write more on that later. I still have high hopes for Mastodon/ActivityPub as well...
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/08/06/why-im-joining-the-bluesky-board-to-support-a-vision-of-a-more-open-decentralized-internet/

2024-05-15 19:15:42

- reply

@npub189z…zsrx not pissed. just curious.
Anyway, if I were satisfied with what the modern internet has become why do I spend all my time trying to push it in a different direction?

2024-05-15 03:22:48

- reply

@npub189z…zsrx honestly having trouble parsing this. are you calling me the "techbro media"?

2024-05-07 18:20:13

- reply

@npub1grx…uxfe i doubt it? but maybe. i doubt Elon would embrace nostr. fwiw, i just noticed that Jack's post on Twitter that got all this attention was actually a repost from nostr.

2024-04-05 00:48:07

- reply

So, it appears that it doesn't work for everyone, perhaps because the PodcastIndex integration in the fediverse is a little wonky. But at least some people are getting it to work... @npub1830…5ypm

2024-04-05 00:01:45

Oh hey, you can follow our new Ctrl-Alt-Speech podcast right here in the Fediverse. @npub1830…5ypm Neat!

2024-02-08 07:32:23

- reply

@npub1pgn…kr4r they now *kinda* have animated gifs and video (they handle both as embeds for the time being). And search is way better than here.

2024-02-08 07:22:52

- reply

@npub19mp…zsye i mean, that's just wrong. Skyfeed exists already and is a third party service that makes it super easy to create feeds. Lots of people do it. https://skyfeed.app/

2024-02-07 17:22:29

- reply

@npub1zxu…83gs having spoken with them about the challenges of decentralized moderation, I actually think they've given it way more thought than most. But, of course, implementation is everything.

2024-02-07 16:58:32

- reply

@npub1p8s…4tga huh. I've not seen that at all. My experience on Bluesky has been quite nice? There were a few idiots, but easy enough to block.

2024-02-07 16:57:44

- reply

@npub16j5…ls9j none, as far as I know. And because it'll soon be federated, if you don't trust Bluesky itself, you can use a different server.

2024-02-07 16:46:39

- reply

@npub1q5v…5snr Yeah. The issue is that ActivityPub doesn't enable what they're trying to do. Their PDS setup wouldn't work with ActivityPub.

2024-02-07 16:26:57

I know that lots of folks here don't like Bluesky (and I understand most of the reasons why), But now that it's open, I tried to explain the reasons why I am excited about it and hope it succeeds. https://www.techdirt.com/2024/02/06/bluesky-opens-up/

2024-02-07 16:25:59

- reply

@npub1agu…j0sk @npub1a24…dkqm i'm curious what makes you say they don't care about decentralization? I know a few folks on the team and they care deeply about it, and are extraordinarily thoughtful about the tradeoffs related to it. So I'm curious what you saw that makes you think otherwise? It could be something I've missed.

2024-02-01 18:04:52

- reply

In addition, @npub1hru…cu5h has written a thorough piece for @npub12dd…jscn about it as well: https://www.wired.com/story/appin-training-centers-lawsuits-censorship/

2024-02-01 18:04:01

- reply

Thanks to @npub1sqf…5skr and @npub1lhm…h0pg for sending a letter on our behalf, along with @npub1cea…ar2r, who has written about this separately. https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2024/feb/01/global-censorship-appin-reuters/

2024-02-01 18:03:06

So, a couple months back we wrote about how Appin, an Indian company, had forced Reuters to remove an article that presented evidence of Appin's connections to "hack for hire" operations. Appin demanded we remove it. We will not do so.
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/02/01/sorry-appin-were-not-taking-down-our-article-about-your-attempts-to-silence-reporters/

2024-01-31 05:53:51

Our Gaming Like It's 1928 public domain game jam closes the door for submissions tomorrow night, but tonight, ABC News (owned by Disney!) put out a news report about it: https://abcnews.go.com/US/gamers-turning-public-domain-find-big-trend/story?id=106645056

2024-01-24 20:27:16

- reply

@npub14cv…t2q0 lol. i feel like this can be ready as a compliment or an insult depending on the tone in which it's said.

2024-01-22 16:17:41

This morning we released the latest Sky is Rising report! I spent basically all of last year working on this massive report about the state of the creative/entertainment industries, and showing how much the internet has helped them thrive.
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/01/22/the-sky-is-rising-2024-edition-rather-than-destroying-culture-the-internet-has-saved-the-content-industries/

2024-01-17 20:26:49

Common Sense Media has submitted a very dumb, no good, bad, and problematic California ballot initiative "to protect children" on social media. Today is the deadline for submitting comments. Here's the comment I just submitted:
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/01/17/my-comments-to-attorney-general-rob-bonta-regarding-common-sense-medias-dangerous-protect-the-kids-ballot-initiative/

2024-01-13 00:05:32

- reply

@npub1z25…e58w have you seen https://futurism.com/amazon-products-ai-generated

2024-01-12 21:32:56

- reply

@npub1gvl…xakp it's on the roadmap, but we're so ridiculously busy. we'll get to it!

2024-01-12 01:47:03

- reply

@npub1ek5…a0yh as someone who was at this event as well, I think this is a great writeup

2024-01-12 01:32:30

- reply

@npub1k6f…jp0a that's a @npub10zv…pj48 piece, not mine... But I haven't seen news of anyone suing individual infringers in years. Doesn't mean it's not happening, but haven't heard of any cases.

2024-01-10 22:49:19

- reply

@npub1ey5…58n2 in my experience there was a lot more scolding here, and less useful conversation. it's not a condemnation of all, obviously, but just makes it more of a mental burden to post actively here.

2024-01-10 22:47:59

- reply

@npub1lax…zpj9 they seem to get fairly scoldy.

2024-01-10 19:00:39

Okay, so people are encouraging me to post more here, but maybe to ignore the replies... So I'll post my latest on Elon/Bill Ackman and their rather confused take on free speech that seems focused on punishing journalists for reporting on things these billionaires don't like. https://www.techdirt.com/2024/01/10/free-speech-absolutist-elon-musk-temporarily-bans-journalists-as-free-speech-absolutist-bill-ackman-threatens-slapp-suit-against-journalists/

2024-01-10 18:43:05

- reply

@npub1yuh…0t7j @npub1hyp…aehm @npub1wf4…94wn would be nice if there were a setting for that.

2024-01-10 18:02:38

- reply

@npub1hyp…aehm @npub1wf4…94wn I'm still here, but not as often. I just find I get a lot more scolding here (especially from people who are very sure, but very wrong, about stuff), and the conversations on bsky are just simply better.

2024-01-10 18:00:12

- reply

@npub1rzl…l096 @npub1zsj…hn6g No, I covered those scenarios as well and called out Meta for bad behavior. But the company does have a history of working with researchers as well, including just recently.
Look, I'm not one to ever defend Meta about anything, but I hate the nonsense lie that the company has no incentives at all to be better. It's just kneejerk nonsense.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/21/1083760/meta-transparency-research-database-nick-clegg/

2024-01-10 05:04:17

- reply

@npub1h8h…ryz3 @npub1zsj…hn6g there is not. but the lack of evidence, despite many, many, many people looking for it, suggests that we should take a cautious approach, one that is targeted towards ACTUAL harms that can be documented. Not moral panics about generalized harms.

2024-01-10 05:02:23

- reply

@npub19s7…j4uc it seems like every 3 to 6 months someone sends me this image.

2024-01-10 05:01:37

- reply

@npub1rzl…l096 @npub1zsj…hn6g this is false. Old twitter worked closely with researchers. Meta has regularly worked with researchers.
Part of the problem is that the media then misrepresents those studies and leads people like you to claim that they're trying to stifle things.

2024-01-09 04:05:29

- reply

@npub1v2v…vemr my post mentioned that harms exist, and I have regularly called for *targeted* solutions to help those where the harms are real. My issue is with broad based proposals that assume social media is inherently harmful to children.

2024-01-09 04:03:42

- reply

@npub1v2v…vemr @npub1zsj…hn6g I discuss some of those in the post, but most of the research shows no *causal* link, and the few that show correlational links have evidence that the correlation is the other way (i.e., those facing other problems end up spending more time on social media...).
None of that's to say we shouldn't look for ways to help those in need, but to challenge the premise that social media is INHERENTLY harmful to kids, which is the theory behind the initiative.

2024-01-08 19:15:14

Common Sense Media (who appears short on common sense) is pushing a ridiculous and dangerous California ballot initiative to let anyone sue social media companies for perceived harm to kids. It's a disaster and CSM's boss has made it clear that he does not care about what the actual data says on this issue.
This will do real harm to kids, shutting down spaces they use, and allowing parents to go all moral panic and sue social media if they don't like how their kid is
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/01/08/leading-save-the-kids-advocate-pushing-absolutely-dangerous-protect-the-california-ballot-initiative-that-will-do-real-harm-to-children/

2024-01-02 17:08:29

- reply

@npub1ju6…yalh @npub1rmd…6z7p I simply pointed out that scanning, even for corporate, for profit reasons, can be fair use.
If you want to go further into the details of why this particular scanning is likely fair use, that's a different discussion. But suffice it to say, it is very likely fair use as well.
The scanning is quite obviously transformative. And if it's not, you'd destroy all sorts of useful data mining initiatives & research, not to mention things like screen readers for the blind.

2024-01-02 16:09:54

- reply

@npub1ju6…yalh @npub1rmd…6z7p i mean, now you're moving the goalposts.
I pointed out that scanning large corpuses of copyright-covered data for commercial reasons has been found to be fair use, and you demanded citations.
I gave you them.
Now you're arguing something different.
It is difficult for me to believe you are engaging in this conversation honestly when you do that.
Furthermore, reducing all generative AI to "parody text and bad image generation" more or less confirms your bad faith.

2024-01-02 03:59:10

- reply

@npub1ju6…yalh @npub1rmd…6z7p Both HathiTrust and the Google Books cases involved scanning of tons of copyright-covered books, and both were found to be fair use, even for Google, a large giant tech company, which used it to build a book search tool.

2024-01-02 03:07:21

- reply

@npub1ju6…yalh @npub1rmd…6z7p fair use does say that scanning to build a useful tool is allowed and not infringing. even for big corporate entities. no one is saying magic words. i can quote you cases if you'd like. but I feel like you don't care about facts, just emotions.

2024-01-01 17:05:13

- reply

@npub12xf…9ps4 no. that was a joke... once the copyright office was in 2024, it was public domain across the country.

2024-01-01 17:04:13

- reply

@npub1ju6…yalh @npub1rmd…6z7p not ironic. fair use.

2024-01-01 05:37:38

- reply

@npub1rmd…6z7p a friend sent me this as well:
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/679/067/293/578/043/original/7f98b474f8d48497.png

2024-01-01 05:25:57

- reply

I mean, come on. This is amazing.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/679/028/202/534/607/original/49488273ce115081.png

2024-01-01 05:23:43

- reply

If you're on the east coast and want to create public domain mickey's, there's an AI for that. https://huggingface.co/Pclanglais/Mickey-1928
If you're out west, well, live dangerously...

2024-01-01 05:16:22

Mickey Mouse (the Steamboat Willie version) is now public domain on the east coast of the US.

2023-12-30 05:22:27

- reply

@npub1v8l…0wyr fwiw, I heard Marc make fun of people calling him out of touch with poor people, because he says he grew up in a poor rural community. Even though that was decades ago.

2023-12-21 07:11:18

- reply

@npub1e0s…n6zr @npub1grx…uxfe it's not being revoked!

2023-12-14 06:32:17

- reply

@npub16c5…yww9 mstdn.social but not mastodon.social.

2023-12-14 00:29:04

- reply

@npub1gus…up3y they have a road map over the next year or so.

2023-12-14 00:28:15

- reply

@npub1l3l…r6j8 @npub1gus…up3y yeah. i attended that dialogue that person wrote about, though their framing of it... is horribly confused and misleading.

2023-12-13 22:13:59

- reply

@npub1l3e…45gm it's the usual "Embrace/Extend/Extinguish" concept, that once Meta is the whale in the pond, it'll end up eating all the fish...

2023-12-13 22:12:52

- reply

@npub1gus…up3y they have been vocal that they absolutely plan to support that. Indeed, it seems central to some of what they've talked about.

2023-12-13 20:18:33

- reply

@npub1zzz…58np my understanding is that it's just going to start with a few Meta employees. I'd guess Adam Mosseri would be the first, but I don't know for sure.

2023-12-13 20:06:35

- reply

@npub167p…dg8g the initial test (starting today) will be that some threads content will be available on ActivityPub (just to follow). So it's basically just account replication for now. Other features will roll out next year.

2023-12-13 19:58:51

As I understand it, Meta has a phased rollout plan regarding ActivityPub. Its efforts today are little more than effectively reposting a few Threads accounts to ActivityPub, but it will start adding features for tighter integration throughout the course of next year. https://www.threads.net/@zuck/post/C0zXcQmxO77/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D

2023-12-10 08:21:35

- reply

@npub1l8s…ll9w okay watched that one now too... that was great... always fun to watch how people go through the game and which points stress them out the most...

2023-12-10 06:18:12

- reply

@npub1l8s…ll9w lol. just went and watched. looks like the video cuts off at a certain point? either way, hilarious to watch...

2023-12-06 18:35:43

@npub1mww…6s2s hey man... so I emailed you back when you emailed me about today saying it was on my calendar, but I *just* saw that (1) my email never reached out, and (2) the bounceback telling me it didn't reach you went to my spam folder so I only saw it just now when looking for a zoom invite....

2023-12-02 09:42:39

If anyone speaks Swedish, I'm on Swedish radio this weekend talking about the Streisand Effect (I mean, my quotes are in English, but everyone else is speaking Swedish). My bit starts at 43 minutes and runs through most of the rest of the show.
https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/barbara-streisand

2023-11-29 19:19:40

- reply

@npub1m8j…dsqs what am i looking for here?

2023-10-17 13:57:13

Good morning folks... today we're launching our new (free, browser-based) game Trust & Safety Tycoon. Please go check it out. Everyone thinks they know how trust & safety should work, but very few have actually done the job. Now's your chance! trustandsafety.fun

2023-07-05 23:55:48

This seems like a pretty good statement regarding Threads from @npub1xzm…eykm https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/07/what-to-know-about-threads/

2023-07-01 22:36:00

Please stop saying twitters troubles are about not paying the Google Cloud bill. They worked that.out earlier this week and supposedly paid. It's not that

2023-06-17 03:05:33

The last few days, every time I open up the regular mastodon.social page, it ignores my preferences for the advanced web view and shunts me to the single column view. If I click preferences it says I should be in advanced mode, and when I go back, I am in advanced mode. But no idea why it's first loading in single column mode...
Anyone else seeing this?

2023-05-11 16:41:58

Okay folks: this morning we're launching something we think is pretty useful. Lots of people have strong opinions on how content moderation should work, but they've never done it. So we built a content moderation mobile game (browser-based): https://moderatormayhem.engine.is/
Details about it are here: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/11/moderator-mayhem-a-mobile-game-to-see-how-well-you-can-handle-content-moderation/

2023-04-21 00:54:53

I recognize lots of folks here don't trust Bluesky, but I actually find a lot of what they're doing really, really interesting and worth watching, including their experiment with "composable moderation." https://www.techdirt.com/2023/04/20/bluesky-plans-decentralized-composable-moderation/

2023-04-19 22:20:28

LOL. Musk claims he's going to sue Microsoft for not paying $42k for the API.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/227/802/663/745/749/original/5b363b57128a4896.png

2023-03-09 22:47:54

So... last night I pointed out that @filieesposito@mastodon.social, the editor for 9to5Mac made some pretty embarrassing factual errors in an article about Bluesky... and rather than fix those factual errors... he (1) blocked me on mastodon and (2) left the story as is.
In the past I had always considered 9to5Mac and its related publications to be credible sources of news, but now I feel the need to re-evaluate that.
Reporters make mistakes. We all do. It's how you *respond* that matters.