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Over the years, I've realized how far we've drifted from the original idea of the World Wide Web. These days, it feels more like a corporate, big-tech web. I think there's real value in self-hosting as much as possible while still using major platforms, especially when you can pick more European and reasonable options.

People often forget that YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram were once independent companies, not owned by Meta or Google. Google was meant to be ad-free, and OpenAI was founded as a non-profit research organization, etc.

We'll probably never return to that vision, but I'm glad I own most my data and have about half of my tech self-hosted and open-sourced. It's only a dent, but I'm proud of that dent.

#OpenWeb #Internet #SocialMedia #BigTech

#internet #socialmedia #openweb #BigTech
in reply to Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

〽️ɪɢᴜᴇʟ
mastodon - Link to source
〽️ɪɢᴜᴇʟ
• •
projects like Mastodon are a good step in the right dimension.
in reply to 〽️ɪɢᴜᴇʟ

Roni Rolle Laukkarinen
mastodon - Link to source
Roni Rolle Laukkarinen
• •
@bitbraindev Yeah. Though I feel conflicted when new solutions show up, like true self-hosting for Bluesky and so on. But I still use IRC even though Matrix exists. It doesn't necessarily mean we always need to look for something "better".
@〽️ɪɢᴜᴇʟ
in reply to Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

Martina Neumayer
mastodon - Link to source
Martina Neumayer
• •
If I remember correctly, even the inventor of the www, sir Tim Berners-Lee, in one of the interviews regretted its own invention, watching his work being totally destroyed by greedy corporations and their pursuit of money. If he said that loud, that means something.
Anyway, if you want, you can ask him yourself what he thinks about all this, because he is here on Mastodon.
This entry was edited (6 days ago)
in reply to Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

Martina Neumayer
mastodon - Link to source
Martina Neumayer
• •

Yeap it is. This interview was from the time when AI didn't exist yet, and its main topic was about corporations cluttering the internet with their invasive advertisements. Unfortunately I don't remember where I saw it. It was for sure on tv, but which channel was it? No idea.

Yes, I know he is here 😉

in reply to Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

Martina Neumayer
mastodon - Link to source
Martina Neumayer
• •
You know, he's getting on in years, so his online activity might be a bit off. That's obvious. But even back then, less than ten years later in 1997, he was already warning about what could happen, and that's exactly what we're seeing today. What he said back then has come true to the letter. It's like he hit the jackpot in the lottery.
in reply to Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
mastodon - Link to source
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
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Google was meant to be ad-free


Early Google ads were great. They were plain text (no JavaScript injecting malware, no large things slowing down page loads, non-invasive) and they were selected based on the content of the page.

Now, they are huge monstrosities and are based on aggressive profiling. And the worst thing is that the profiling is always a trailing indicator. I clicked on a bunch of Google ads in the early days because they were directly relevant to the thing I was interested in at that precise moment. I haven’t clicked on one for years now because they’re always based on an out-of-date model of me. At best they show me ads for things I was looking for but have now bought and no longer need.

in reply to Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

Ian K Tindale
iceshrimp - Link to source
Ian K Tindale
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When you say and I quote “like a corporate, big-tech web”, I will contest the use of the word ‘web’ there. That’s exactly what it is not. There’s no web-ness about any of it today. It’s still called the WWW, but really although it’s world and wide, it’s not web. Not at all. Not in any way. Outside of some personal websites there’s no way any such (can’t call it a website, it’s not of a web) site will offer any way to link to any other – why would they, they’d lose you, it’s the last thing any site wants to do. It’s literally the opposite of a web – no interconnection, no acknowledgement that any other site even exists out there, just a trap, once you’re in, you can’t go sideways to another site, only stay here.
in reply to Ian K Tindale

Roni Rolle Laukkarinen
mastodon - Link to source
Roni Rolle Laukkarinen
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@u0421793 If you like to nitpick the definition of a word, you're right in a way. But that's kind of the point about how it has changed. Then again, many servers form a sort of web with CDNs and so on, connecting across continents. But yes, in the traditional sense, it's not really a web anymore, and that's kind of sad.
@Ian K Tindale
in reply to Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

Fenix
mastodon - Link to source
Fenix
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I have no data in a Cloud, only local and on paper, in case the power is down.
in reply to Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

PypeBros
mastodon - Link to source
PypeBros
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I could use a hint on how to support that motion on my fresh minimal phone ...

mastodon.social/@PypeBros/1160…

PypeBros (@PypeBros@mastodon.social)

Oh, does anyone here has experience with one of #Freedroid browsers ? and more specifically, does it go through #cloudflare walls as the one currently on sourceforge ?
PypeBros (Mastodon)
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