Jon

strategist, software engineer, entrepreneur, activist ... and I run the Nexus of Privacy newsletter (https://privacy.thenexus.today, The Nexus of Privacy (npub1a3y…ddka), @thenexusofprivacy.net on Bluesky, and https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/c/thenexusofprivacy

I've been on the fediverse for a long time, so you may know me from accounts like [@jdp23](https://blahaj.zone/@jdp23 ) Jon (now at neuromatch.social) (npub1nqt…plf3), [@jdp23](https://toot.cat/@jdp23 ), and jon (npub1jsy…c2hn). I'm probably going to use this as my main "public-facing" account, although I'm still not completely sure how I'll balance this and my blahaj.zone account ... blahaj.zone is a great community, so I'm certainly not planning on leaving there, but one of the things I really like about the fediverse is the ability to have more than one account. So, we shall see!

More about me in the pinned post at https://neuromatch.social/@jdp23/113914550735832491

#strategy #equity #justice #technology #policy #disinfo #privacy #algorithmicJustice, #intersectionality #activism #organizing #software #startups ...

And #nobot without permission. Opt-out isn't consent, but it's the only real option we have here.

About me: https://thenexusofprivacy.net/about-me
Nexus of Privacy: https://thenexusofprivacy.net/about
Blacksky: https://blacksky.community/profile/did:plc:7ax27mj5qwhqaa3ite2ezlzy
Pronouns: he/him or they/them

Public Key

npub19q4ekpjymctrd5wfqed9d2lyurfjcfj9vdyye4rjvruq95ptydaq7kkzch

NIP-05 Address

jdp23_at_neuromatch.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqszs2umqezdu93k68ysvkjk40jwp5evyezkxjzv63exp7qz6q4jx7spz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds4p7098

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub19q4ekpjymctrd5wfqed9d2lyurfjcfj9vdyye4rjvruq95ptydaq7kkzch

Show more details

Published at

2026-06-19T00:40:33Z

Kind type

0 Metadata

Event JSON

{ "id": "aa91da70e2d1ad081a4f6d40ff5e8f8f8f39ba56e2cbc326b525042fe4a4b741", "pubkey": "282b9b0644de1636d1c9065a56abe4e0d32c264563484cd47260f802d02b237a", "created_at": 1781829633, "kind": 0, "tags": [ [ "t", "privacy" ], [ "t", "intersectionality" ], [ "t", "policy" ], [ "t", "technology" ], [ "t", "activism" ], [ "t", "strategy" ], [ "t", "software" ], [ "t", "justice" ], [ "t", "startups" ], [ "t", "equity" ], [ "t", "organizing" ], [ "t", "disinfo" ], [ "t", "algorithmicjustice" ], [ "t", "nobot" ], [ "proxy", "https://neuromatch.social/users/jdp23", "activitypub" ], [ "L", "pink.momostr" ], [ "l", "pink.momostr.activitypub:https://neuromatch.social/users/jdp23", "pink.momostr" ], [ "-" ] ], "content": "{\"name\":\"Jon\",\"about\":\"strategist, software engineer, entrepreneur, activist ... and I run the Nexus of Privacy newsletter (https://privacy.thenexus.today, nostr:npub1a3yqwn22umas5z6e5sseesxtkqxp2x4alac97se7e3env7k4q9lqp4ddka, @thenexusofprivacy.net on Bluesky, and https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/c/thenexusofprivacy\\n\\nI've been on the fediverse for a long time, so you may know me from accounts like [@jdp23](https://blahaj.zone/@jdp23 ) nostr:npub1nqtkecll62mhna5tkjh8wlsd29xth5hfftzzgnmyv9at7gr6sjgq2hplf3, [@jdp23](https://toot.cat/@jdp23 ), and nostr:npub1jsyt4m0tc06cs4u0tcdh005ptwaupma9454ncac7xr4gss27h24sesc2hn. I'm probably going to use this as my main \\\"public-facing\\\" account, although I'm still not completely sure how I'll balance this and my blahaj.zone account ... blahaj.zone is a great community, so I'm certainly not planning on leaving there, but one of the things I really like about the fediverse is the ability to have more than one account. So, we shall see!\\n\\nMore about me in the pinned post at https://neuromatch.social/@jdp23/113914550735832491\\n\\n#strategy #equity #justice #technology #policy #disinfo #privacy #algorithmicJustice, #intersectionality #activism #organizing #software #startups ...\\n\\nAnd #nobot without permission. Opt-out isn't consent, but it's the only real option we have here.\\n\\nAbout me: https://thenexusofprivacy.net/about-me\\nNexus of Privacy: https://thenexusofprivacy.net/about\\nBlacksky: https://blacksky.community/profile/did:plc:7ax27mj5qwhqaa3ite2ezlzy\\nPronouns: he/him or they/them\\n\",\"website\":\"https://neuromatch.social/@jdp23\",\"picture\":\"https://media.neuromatch.social/accounts/avatars/113/876/070/963/819/829/original/815209ff1657eb75.jpeg\",\"banner\":\"https://media.neuromatch.social/accounts/headers/113/876/070/963/819/829/original/8c48f9154d3352c2.jpg\",\"nip05\":\"jdp23_at_neuromatch.social@momostr.pink\"}", "sig": "3dc36516d734207ad0b14155b5ce0f1763117662c97f68681976281ad21934e477ed2ebdccb4df63b3502143e5b06d7e052da5171fa06c1318906f2921203587" }

Last Notes

2026-07-04 19:47:16 UTC

- reply

More aurora pics, from Snoqualmie Point, Washington, 10:45-11:15 pm July 3.
(Hopefully the color on these is better, the previous ones wound up getting very ashed out somewhere in the conversion process)
#aurora
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/863/420/042/434/093/original/c3ac3454f38c78f3.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/863/420/042/687/028/original/26240f321182fb27.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/863/420/043/864/319/original/47ae771089bef7af.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/863/420/043/788/812/original/04751867648c2e6a.png

2026-07-04 07:29:35 UTC

Aurora at Snoqualmie Point, Washington, 10:45-11:15 pm
#aurora #WAaurora
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/860/523/742/538/362/original/e77faac79bb840c7.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/860/523/753/992/951/original/992974324a12a85b.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/860/523/769/358/076/original/16f6fd9f7f1ab1cb.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/860/523/786/447/021/original/061114536dcb7150.png

2026-07-02 21:06:04 UTC

- reply

And this goes for program analysis as well! Sure, it's impressive that Mythos-class LLMs can be used to identify oodles of problematic constructs in code that's been shipping for years, including tends of thousands of real bugs some of which are security vulnerabilities. It was also very impressive that PREfix and PREfast (the program analysis tools I worked on in back in the day) and the more-powerful tools that followed like Coverity could do it. Where would the program analysis field be today if billions of dollars had been invested in building on these tools instead of "AI"?
But none of these analysis tools change the underlying causes of the bugs -- software engineering processes that value time-to-market over security, unsafe libraries and languages, leaving security as an afterthought, etc etc etc. Don't get me wrong, finding and fixing bugs has value; one net effect this wave of LLM program analysis is likely to be useful hardening of existing software. But all the resources going to that aren't going to addressing the underlying issues -- and also reinforcing all the ethical, sustainability, and power-concentrating consequences of LLM usage.

2026-07-02 20:33:34 UTC

RE: https://kolektiva.social/@beka_valentine/116845902133405690
An excellent thread here. So much of what I see people pointing to as LLM's benefits for coding relates to long-standing problems in software engineering that the field just hasn't addressed. And LLMs don't *solve* these problems, at best the just paper them over and make dealing with them less tedious -- while reinforcing the problematic dynamics.
So yes it's great that people with no programming skills can create software to solve their prolems. But if we had collectively spent a chunk of the literally billions of dollars that are going to "AI" building on the early approaches to this from 25+ years ago (Hyperscript, Logo) that *don't* have the same downsides, we'd be in a much better place today.
#note1xv0…qy70

2026-06-18 21:22:42 UTC

Yikes. Looks like blahaj.zone was hacked, including their Sharkey, Lemmy, PeerTube, and Matrix instances. [@supakaity](https://blahaj.zone/@supakaity ) has a detailed writeup at https://pen.blahaj.zone/supakaity/weve-been-hacked
There's some discussion in the reddit thread at https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/44150358

2026-05-25 20:22:26 UTC

- reply

The specific discourse I was responding to with this meme was somebody pointing out that Doctorow had coined "enshittification" to have a specifc meaning, and it's now often just used to mean "things getting shitty"; and in that context, it's just nostalgia, a deeply conservative force.
My take on it is that the whole framing of "enshittification" implies a time when things *weren't* shitty, so yeah it really *is* nostalgia for the good ol' days when tech industry was sexist and racist and ablest and classist the products embedded those biases, but from the perspective of a relatively-privileged cis white techie guy things were actually pretty good.
@npub1t9n…nd33 @npub16y8…d455 @npub1ljm…w8tm

2026-05-25 16:25:06 UTC

- reply

excellent article. Not sure if you saw https://truthout.org/articles/want-to-resist-a-data-center-these-organizers-share-how-they-did-it last month but it's a very good companion piece

2026-05-24 19:10:26 UTC

I posted this on Blacksky so figured I'd share it here as well ...
#enshittification
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/116/631/122/985/535/958/original/0524297d28cbef4a.jpg

2026-04-06 14:58:34 UTC

- reply

the ideal social network experience!!!!!!!

2026-04-02 03:47:19 UTC

- reply

Yeah @npub1ljm…w8tm's thread is great, really eye-opening.
It's an interesting question. There are a few different arguments that advocates for using these tools make.<li>skilled software engineers are very good at using imperfect tools -- figuring out the scenarios they work well in and how to work around the problems. <a href="https://infosec.exchange/@mttaggart" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@mttaggart</a>'s article was a great example of how this can work in practice, and <a href="https://mastodon.social/@glyph" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@glyph</a> has some thoughtful posts along these lines (not that either of them are advocates of the tools, but they illustrate the point). Static analysis tools (my software engineering claim to fame) is a great example of this general tendency: they can be extremely useful despite high numbers of false positives and false negatives. </li><li>the tools will radically democratize who can create personal-use software -- stuiff that that addresses their own (and their friends/family's) problems without being intended for broader use. For a lot of secnerios, attributes like scalability / reliability / security don't necessarily matter that much; so being able to start with a natural language definition and get something "good enough" can potentially be useful.</li><li>agentic software development is a transformative approach that leverages today's immense computing power so can produce software at least as good as today's hand-crafted software (which to be fair mostly sucks) far more quickly. </li>
Then again as well as the issues that excellent article @npub1afm…5gp4 discusses, advocates in general don't consider [Gender HCI, Feminist HCI, Post-Colonial Computing, Anti-Oppressive Design, Design Justice](https://privacy.thenexus.today/gender-hci-feminist-hci-post-colonial-computing-anti-oppressive-design-and-design-justice/ ), Accessibility, Security, Algorithmic Discrimination, or Design from the Margins into account. Neither do the people creating these tools, and neither does the overwhelming majoriity of the existing software these tools have been trained on. So software generated by these tools is at besting going to replicate the existing problems in these areas -- and more likely magnify them.
So this to me is where the bullet points above break down. <li>Few if any software developers are "skilled" in all of these areas, so don't know how to compensate for imperfect tools (and quite possibly aren't even aware of the tools imperfections).</li><li>"Personal use" tools that aren't accessible or designed from the margins, or embed algorithmic discrimination, aren't useful for most people.</li><li>Generating more software more quickly that magnifies (or even reproduces) today's problems in all these areas magnifies oppressions.</li>
And as you say there's also the the data stealing, exploitation, environmental racism, etc, of the current generation of tools -- and let's not forget fascism, eugenics, and cognitive issues!
In theory there are alternate approaches that can avoid these problems; @npub16sj…va89 has talked about using small models trained locally on his own code, and that seems like a potentially-promising direction. In practice though the vast majority of advocates today seem to be using stuff from Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta ... even the ones who acknowledge the ethical issues don't actually address them.
@npub1z40…s3fq

2026-03-26 00:19:43 UTC

- reply

Here's a conveniently-timed article looking at doing things completely independent of Bluesky - https://mia.leaflet.pub/3mhw3hzwtn224
@npub1kqc…7wgd [@_elena](https://mastodon.social/@_elena ) @npub15z3…0xrp

2026-03-25 06:09:11 UTC

- reply

Yes, there are lots of different web and mobile clients. I use blacksky.community, which also has its own appview, so am almost completely independent of Bluesky infrastructure. @npub1kqc…7wgd mentioned Red Dwarf, and I think there are a handful of others that also allow you to select an appview (very analagous to how phanpy lets you choose an instance) so also allow almost complete independence.
In terms of your initial question, I think that many people (including me!) find a multiple-identity approach very valuable for a variety of reasons. That said, today's ActivityPub-based software doesn't handle multiple identities any better than ATProto-based software. So like so many other things with fedi, it's a potential strength that hasn't been leveraged.
[@_elena](https://mastodon.social/@_elena ) @npub15z3…0xrp

2026-03-16 19:04:21 UTC

- reply

excellent post!

2026-03-13 20:07:03 UTC

- reply

well done!!!!! fedi FTW!!!!!! @npub1xse…lgk3

2026-03-12 23:54:42 UTC

- reply

yikes! thanks for getting the word out about this!

2026-01-19 06:58:57 UTC

- reply

Yeah , this argument was tested with Threads and it didn’t work. “We don’t engage with fascists” is potentially a compelling position to people who don’t want to engage with fascists. “We’re engaging with a fascist server to tell people we’re better because we don’t engage with fascists” is not - and it throws away what’s potentially one of the stronger arguments for fedi
@npub1l66…g24j @npub1zzy…9edy

2026-01-16 03:11:30 UTC

- reply

and here's my testimony...
Chair Ryu, Ranking Member Barnard, and members of the Committee,
I'm Jon Pincus of Bellevue. I'm a technologist and strategist, run the Nexus of Privacy newsletter, served on the state Automated Decision Systems Workgroup in 2022, and I am PRO on HB 2157.
High-risk AI systems today are often deployed without serious consideration of algorithmic discrimination or other risks, so regulation is clearly needed. The approach of risk mitigation and impact assessments aligns with industry best practices. Transparency requirements for disclosure and explanation are also welcome, and a civil remedy is important as well - especially given the constrained fiscal circumstances.
As the bill moves forward, I hope you will look for opportunities to strengthen it. For example, these requirements should apply to any high-risk automated decision system, as is the case in Senator Nobles' SB 5956. And the Civil Remedy language in Section 5 could be strengthened by including a penalty for repeated violations and further limiting -- or even removing -- the right to cure.
And please take the claims from tech lobbyists that this bill will cause the sky to fall with a grain of salt. They always say that. I just checked, and the sky has not yet fallen.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and please feel free to follow up with me if there are any questions.

2026-01-16 03:10:23 UTC

- reply

there are a bunch of AI bills also, BTW. I testified on 3 on Wednesday, including one that was really good -- banning AI surveillance and discipline tools from schools. There was also on on high-risk AI that calls for documentation of risks (including algorithmic bias), risk mitigation policies and programs, impact assessments, disclosure, etc. I think there was a similar bill in VA that the governor veto;ed, not sure of its number.
Anyhow now that i think of it there wasn't any mention in the bill of adversarial analyses. I encouraged them to look for ways to improve the bill, and was planning on sending followon mail. Are there any best practices / standards / etc -- or legislation you think is good -- I should point to?
Here's the bill text if it's useful. https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/2157.pdf

2026-01-16 01:35:41 UTC

- reply

hahaha indeed. I do look respectable when I testify, and when I go in person will even wear a sports jacket (hard to believe I know). Fortunately this one is remote, so I'll just wear a shirt that works well with my zoom background ...
Hey at least that way they remember me!
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/902/205/606/553/242/original/cf5d405ec321c397.jpg

2026-01-16 00:40:27 UTC

I'm one of many people testifying CON on HB 2112 (age verification for "adult content") at tomorrow's hearing here in Washington.
If you're against 2112 -- or age verification for "adult content" in general ... why? After I've testified, I'll follow up with email to the committee with people's perspectives.
And if you're a Washington state resident, it's easy to "sign in CON" to the hearing on HB 2112 to let legislators know you oppose age verification. Just select your position (CON), fill out the rest of the form, and click "Submit Registration"
https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Testifier/Add?chamber=house&mId=33607&aId=167961&caId=27188&tId=3
#waleg
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/901/989/429/832/201/original/12d1a3901e0c2445.jpeg

2025-12-14 07:10:24 UTC

- reply

It's not just the channers and the trolls that are the problems. In fact on an instance with a good blocklist, they aren't even the primary problem.
It's really much more the "HOA racism" (including casual microaggressions systemic power imbalance like in homeowners associations) that's endemic on most large instances (and many smaller ones too) along with the cultural problems you talk about, the lack of real understanding of systemic oppression Jason mentioned in his first post.
@npub1kcm…jaxl @npub17vd…6uvf

2025-11-18 17:34:44 UTC

- reply

you "influencer" you, raking in the press mentions!!!! Seriously though, great to see, and a great qujote.

2025-11-12 05:21:15 UTC

- reply

Yeah really! Here's some of my pics ... https://neuromatch.social/@jdp23/115534924171540985
I wonder if we've got enough critical mass here to have a PNW Aurora group?
@npub1z09…y8mw @npub15mw…v04v

2025-11-12 05:02:53 UTC

- reply

And here's a handful more aurora pics, all taken between 5:15 and 6:05. By that point the clouds had gotten fairly dense and the substorm was waning. Still, a very good night! (5/5)
#aurora
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/534/959/487/055/756/original/0524673cbcee3dda.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/534/959/515/322/281/original/338f7b2479f80884.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/534/959/542/730/727/original/b23a1a91c1c24126.png
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/534/959/548/036/220/original/8d6c583c99765e30.png

2025-11-12 04:58:10 UTC

- reply

This green aurora was completely detached from the ones in the previous pics. We saw it starting as a small blob to the east and then it gradually stretched across the entire sky. It was visible to the naked eye although the color was very faint.
#aurora
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/534/950/418/377/120/original/90c6996dfcde0e9d.png

2025-11-12 04:55:31 UTC

- reply

This was just a bit after the previous picutre, so maybe 5:45 or 5:50. It's amazing how the colors change ...
#aurora
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/534/940/805/068/405/original/af2f36dc827c4212.png

2025-11-12 04:52:43 UTC

- reply

More aurora, 11/11, 5:40 pm. It was darker by now, and the clouds were coming in (2/N)
#aurora
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/534/928/647/795/608/original/6058317725903479.png

2025-11-12 04:50:37 UTC

Aurora, at Snoqualmie Point Washington, November 11 - 5:20 pm It still wasn't fully dark! And a good thing too because the clouds were coming in! (1/N)
#aurora
https://media.neuromatch.social/media_attachments/files/115/534/915/516/169/652/original/99ebc7e80dee6f6c.png

2025-11-08 04:41:42 UTC

- reply

Here's Steve Vladek's theory - basically that she did it because otherwise the full court tould have, and this way she could set the timeline.
https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
@npub178s…5qdt @npub1z6y…qah3

2025-11-05 20:36:44 UTC

- reply

saying the quiet part out loud! @npub1wtp…rrxz @npub1gvj…634x

2025-10-27 17:38:56 UTC

- reply

Last week somebody posted a chart showing what hosting fedi instances were using ... of course I can't find it now (sigh) but if I recall correctly OVH and Hetzner both had more installations than AWS.
@npub1xse…lgk3 @npub1a3c…8t0t

2025-10-24 01:16:11 UTC

- reply

Agreed on all of those, great points! I think of the hostility to newcomers and opaque social norms as separate but related. Helping newcomers understand norms here as part of onboarding is really important; so is encouraging people who are here to be less hostile (even when defending worthwhile norms, which is sometimes the case), and setting expectations for newcomers that "yeah there are jerks here just like anywhere else and here's what you can do about it."
Starter packs can be useful if people can find them, which is likely to be non-trivial in general. (Although the starter packs we currently have are non-consensual so there's a risk of an explosion if they start to become a vector for harassment or even unwanted follows, at this point I'm not sure about what to do on that front except hope for the best.)
@npub1afm…5gp4 @npub1zgt…lpat

2025-10-23 23:54:09 UTC

- reply

Rudy's late 2023 posts talk about why he saw ATProto as a better basis for what he wants to accomplish for Blacksky than Mastodon. I don't think anything that's happened since then has changed his opinion ... instead he's gotten a better understanding of some of the strengths of the fedi model and either come up with complementary ways of doing things: local-only posts, context-sensitve community-focused moderation using AT's building blocks and custom software. There are links at the end of the first section of https://privacy.thenexus.today/what-solidarity-looks-like/
@npub1afm…5gp4 agreed that it would be great for fedi to prepare for a wave of newcomers and possibly returnees. I'm about to do a post askingn for suggestions on this in terms of the upcoming Media Liberation Day on November 5 and there's probably a lot of overlap -- I'll drop a link here once it's ready. Specifically from a Bluesky perspective though ...
What do you think people here should do to get ready for a wave -- and to make a wave more likely?
@npub1zgt…lpat

2025-10-19 21:12:14 UTC

- reply

Is there a way to block accounts over there that haven't yet bridged?
@npub12n5…9dex

2025-08-23 07:25:28 UTC

- reply

Are labelers (aka moderation services), custom feeds, and the ability to host your own PDS a significant part of the social network we call "Bluesky"? That's certainly how most people experience them, and they're typically described that way. If so, then it seems to me that Gmail isn't a great analogy -- I'm not sure what analogous services people can host themselves within an overall Gmail environment.
But then again, these services are also available elsewhere in the ATmosphere,
not only in Bluesky itself. So it's also possible to think of them as not really part of the Bluesky social network. In that case the Gmail probably analogy works better.
@npub162a…00sw @npub1wt0…a0v6 @npub1afm…5gp4

2025-08-23 02:18:03 UTC

- reply

Whether people see Gmail as a good analogy probably depends on how they see the role of different services that are part of Bluesky-the-network ... and for that matter just what Bluesky-the-network even is.
@npub162a…00sw @npub1wt0…a0v6 @npub1afm…5gp4

2025-08-23 01:08:56 UTC

- reply

Nobody’s suggesting that. I’m saying that some people view the existence of independently run infrastructure that lets people participate in the Bluesky network as decentralization; for them, the fact that the independently run infrastructure can ignore Bluesky PBC’s geoblocking is a consequence of this decentralization.
Others don’t view the independently infrastructure as meaningful decentralization in this situation , and the fact that the independently run infrastructure can ignore Bluesky PBC’s geoblocking doesn’t change their opinion.
@npub162a…00sw @npub1wt0…a0v6 @npub1afm…5gp4

2025-08-22 23:38:16 UTC

- reply

Agreed that it's important to distinguish between the broader ecosystem (the ATmosphere), the Bluesky social network, and Bluesky PBC the company.
People who have migrated their accounts to the Blacksky PDS, and people who are using the Blacksky app, can all still participate as part of the Bluesky social network. Does that mean the Bluesky social network is decentralized? Opinions differ! But I really wasn't trying to relitigate anything, just that the conclusions I see people drawing here (as with the Online Safety Act) match their priors.
Bluesky is only blocking at the client level, not the AppView, Relay, or even their own PDSs. They took the same approach with the Online Safety Act. That said it's still TBD what regulators and the courts think about this approach.
@npub1afm…5gp4

2025-08-22 21:31:37 UTC

- reply

Bluesky's not actually blocking people from the platform, just from the app. But really I just meant that this isn't going to change anybody's minds.
The hundreds of people who migrated their accounts to Blacksky over the last few weeks will still think it's decentralized, and so will people who see infrastructure that's run by independent parties as decentralization.
Conversely the people who think that doesn't matter still won't think it's decentralized even though other apps built on the protocol aren't affected by Bluesky's decision to shut off access to Mississippi.
@npub1afm…5gp4

2025-08-22 21:16:51 UTC

- reply

to the contrary.

2025-07-01 00:07:34 UTC

Good #gravy !
If you're wondering why #gravy is trending ... https://godforsaken.website/@pisscotheque/114772705899034101

2025-04-18 02:54:15 UTC

- reply

although, if i had known they'd give refunds for the tickets, and I had a spare $1.1 million sitting around, it would have been worth buying the high-end packge just to be able to tell the story.

2025-04-17 21:10:02 UTC

- reply

who, who could have predicted?

2025-04-16 20:58:34 UTC

- reply

Yeah, here’s @npub10jf…4g7l ’s list from a few days ago. Apparently the German one has been active for a while. https://bsky.app/profile/mackuba.eu/post/3lmgbf6nf7c2g
@npub1xse…lgk3 @npub17m8…rsw8 @npub1whe…jcnz @npub13za…8j89 @npub1rte…q99n

2025-04-16 17:02:11 UTC

- reply

Agreed. Also if mastodon.social's response to the takedown involves deleting posts, that deletion will get federated out, so the copies of the post on other instances will also be deleted.
By contrast, it looks like Bluesky implemented the takedown as with a moderation service that's required for all Turkish users in the Bluesky app. So this means that people who aren't in Turkey, and people using other apps, can still get it it -- which wouldn't be the case if .social takes a post down.
https://bsky.app/profile/nekorug.moe/post/3lmwgtwfggs2e
(Of course the Turkish judge might well find that Bluesky hasn't obeyed the order because they did it this way, so this is all subject to change, but I believe this is the current situation.)
@npub17m8…rsw8 @npub1whe…jcnz @npub1vl7…f6g0 @npub13za…8j89

2025-03-10 18:08:26 UTC

- reply

Nope. People can see my posts in their timelines even though I've turned off "Feature profile and posts in discovery algorithms" ... and my posts are in my RSS feed without an indication of my consent preferences.

2025-03-10 17:57:18 UTC

- reply

could somebody ask whether Surf pays attention to when people have opted out of discovery when curating feeds? It's great functionality, but not everybody wants their content to be discoverable!

2025-03-03 23:56:37 UTC

- reply

great question. and of the ones who have changed their minds, how many are thinking "science has now been politicized (in ways that directly affect me)" as opposed to "science has always been political (in ways I just didn't notice or acknowledge because they didn't affect me as directly)"

2025-02-25 06:22:33 UTC

- reply

thanks for sharing! There's an updated version at https://wedistribute.org/2023/06/a-partial-queer-trans-and-non-binary-history-of-mastodon-and-the-fediverse/ -- I'll update the post to point to that!
EDIT: And I also updated the link in https://privacy.thenexus.today/should-the-fediverse-welcome-surveillance-capitalism/ to point to the published version

2025-01-30 00:48:20 UTC

Another new instance, so a good time for another #introduction ...
Hi!!! I’m a strategist/entrepreneur/software engineer/activist, focusing on the intersection of justice, equity, and software engineering. I've been on the fediverse for a long time, and have several other accounts as well. I think of this as my "public facing" Mastodon account, replacing my previous @npub1nqt…plf3. I'm also into organizing, activism, psytrance, darkwave music, all kinds of books, and tarot.
I also run the Nexus of Privacy newsletter -- https://thenexusofprivacy.net and @nexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange -- where I write extensively about decentralized social networks as well as other aspects of tech justice. Here's a few highlights ...<li><a href="https://thenexusofprivacy.net/lessons-so-far-from-mastodon-for-independent-social-networks/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lessons (so far) from Mastodon for independent social networks</a> (2017), <a href="https://thenexusofprivacy.net/mastodon-a-partial-history/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Mastodon, a partial history (DRAFT)</a> (2022), and the followon-in-progress <a href="https://thenexusofprivacy.net/mastodon-two-years-later/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Mastodon, two years later</a></li><li><a href="https://thenexusofprivacy.net/strategies-for-the-free-fediverses/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Strategies for free fediverses (2024 draft)</a>, a work-in-progress for those who want to build fediverses that reject Meta – and surveillance capitalism more generally</li><li><a href="https://thenexusofprivacy.net/start-making-the-fediverse-less-toxic/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">5 things white people can do to start making the fediverse less toxic for Black people</a></li><li><a href="https://thenexusofprivacy.net/bluesky-atmosphere-fediverse/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">I for one welcome Bluesky, the ATmosphere, BTS ARMY, millions of Brazilians, Black Twitter, and sex worker Twitter to the fediverses!</a>, <a href="https://thenexusofprivacy.net/decentralization-and-erasure-blacksky-bluesky-and-the-atmosphere-2/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">"Decentralization" and erasure: Blacksky, Bluesky, and the ATmosphere</a>, and <a href="https://thenexusofprivacy.net/bluesky-and-the-battle-of-wormtongue/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Bluesky and The Battle of Wormtongue</a></li>