Aral Balkan
EU leaving Fediverse (Mastodon & PeerTube) because no one wants to operate the servers
“In recent years, a total of 40 institutions have opened an account with EU Voice, including the EU Data Protection Supervisor, the European Court of Justice and the EU Commission. The video platform, on the other hand, was used by six institutions … the EU institutions were thus the largest group of public institutions in the Fediverse worldwide.”
Aral Balkan
“…the EDPS regards the pilo project as a great success. It has proven that public institutions such as EU institutions can offer social media platforms that respect the fundamental rights of the individual. They are thus an alternative to the usual platforms that belong to a handful of large players … Or not - because none of the more than 40 bodies, institutions and agencies throughout the EU can be found that want to operate and moderate two servers permanently.”
Aral Balkan
Wish I could say I was surprised by this but, in my experience, at least, it is par for the course.
We do not have predictable funding for technology for the common good in the EU. We have piecemeal funding for features, etc. What I recently referred to as “begging for scraps” when telling someone why I wasn’t going to apply for their latest round of funding (we’ve applied for and never received any EU funding for our work on the Small Web).
1/N
Aral Balkan
Six years ago we ran a pilot project with the City of Ghent to explore what it would be like for a municipality to provide every citizen with their own place on the web at a domain they (the citizen) owned and controlled.
We prototyped. Everyone loved it. And then? Our budget was cancelled when a conservative local government got elected.
We need long-term funding that’s not privy to the whims of the shifting political winds.
2/3
Aral Balkan
So what do we need, ideally? The equivalent of VC but for tech for the common good.
Pick ten organisations working the common good and give them €5M each. Let them experiment. Let them pivot. Let them cooperate. The only thing you don’t let them do is exit. You can’t sell. Build something for the commons that will live on for the next ten, twenty, fifty years… if not more.
I said as much 5 years ago at the European Parliament:
https://ar.al/2019/11/29/the-future-of-internet-regulation-at-the-european-parliament/
3/3
Aral Balkan
@leean00 I have a damn job because I sold two family homes to keep us going and because my partner contracts to bring in the money so I can work on the free stuff.
It’s not something I’d expect anyone else do for the privilege of contributing to the commons. And it sure as hell isn’t the system we need if we want to encourage young folks to work for the common good instead of at Google, FB, etc.
All that said, yes, the US is the standard bearer of everything that’s wrong under capitalism.
Andrew Leer
@aral That's okay; you could live in the US instead and be completely dominated by giant companies that disrupt your job and ensure that you will never be able to retire or buy a house and the government regulates nothing ever because "*ahem* Well, that would be un-American" whatever that means.
At least you have a damn job.
Aral Balkan
@zeitverschreib Yeah, they’re basically a mom and pop store and broke so 🤷♂️
zeitverschreib
@aral Absolut verständlich, dass eine Organisation wie die EU nicht die Mittel aufbringen kann oder gar will, die notwendige Infrastruktur und Administration sicherzustellen.
Ich möchte mir gar nicht vorstellen, von welche Summen und bürokratischen Hürden wir da sprechen.
Piiieps & Brummm
To all reading this:
Don't just complain. Write your local EU parlamentarian and ask, if (s)he could intervene on behalf of the #EU #Fediverse presence. Especially with the upcoming elections, this will have at least some impact.
By the way:
A classic letter - yes, written on dead tree - has more impact than just an email. Keep it polite and explain your personal motivation to write.
This is one of your rights as a citizen in a #democracy. Write your parlimentarians!
Martin Haſeneyer
@aral If server maintenance is a thing, There ARE people out to support.
Being the service provider for the instances of two education networks in Germany, we would not need to start from zero. And I assume even more experienced people are available if anyone had asked them.
Aral Balkan
@salubrium Of course! Digital Single Market, man!
salubrium
@aral But they'll keep a presence on Facebook? TikTok even? X?
Aral Balkan
@davidsabine Oh it’s important for everything to survive on its own revenue? Sure. Let’s implement that for militaries and then talk. I see absolutely nothing wrong with tech for the common good being funded from the commons (or taxes).
The only reason I’m designing my solution so it can sustainable under capitalism is because I don’t trust funding from the commons. Maybe, one day…
David Sabine
@aral, "Pick ten organisations working the common good and give them €5M each. Let them experiment. Let them pivot. Let them cooperate. The only thing you don’t let them do is exit."
You've just described "government subsidy" - it happens all the time and it consistently produces companies that are tethered to the state and reliant on taxpayers. Please produce a list of companies started by a state (ANY state) that can survive on its own revenues?
David Sabine
@aral - are you seriously going to argue equivalency between "social media platforms" and military?
Like posting cat pics is as important to a state as protecting its citizens against hostile foreign militaries?
Aral Balkan
@davidsabine Yep, because “social media” is “posting cat pics”. Not Cambridge Analytica. Not Trump and Boris in office. Not the genocide in Myanmar. No impact on human rights or democracy… fuck it, why am I even wasting my time?
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