decentralized

The upcoming fully private and decentralized cross-chain exchange for cryptocurrencies aspiring to set new standards.

Friendica is a decentralized open-source social network which federates with many other social networks including diaspora*, Hubzilla, and the Fediverse of social networks. It can mirror too with Twitter and IFTTT, or export posts to Discourse, libertree, Tumblr, Wordpress and e-mail.

It is a good candidate for being an alternative to Facebook, and you can either join a public server, or self-host your own instance.

In this video I give an overview of Friendica's functionality and features, a comparison with Hubzilla, a look at it's interface, and a tour through the settings menu. I also make the case for it being a cleaner way to use Twitter.

Watch https://youtu.be/nS6oAy7ibqc

#technology #opensource #friendica #decentralized #selfhosted

Matrix is an open source project that publishes the Matrix open standard for secure, decentralised, real-time communication. You can self-host and federate, or join existing servers, to enable instant messaging, text chat in chatrooms, voice and video chat, file transfer, and even bridging between many other networks such as IRC, XMPP, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, RSS, Facebook Messenger, Discord, Slack, and many more.

End-to-End-Encryption, device verification and trust, replication of chatrooms for redundancy, are all hallmarks of Matrix. It can serve as a secure communications platform for governments with roving diplomats, or for end users be an alternative to Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp.

It is the opposite of a walled garden, with its vision of acting as a generic HTTP messaging and data synchronisation system for the whole web - allowing people, services and devices to easily communicate with each other, empowering users to own and control their data, and select the services and vendors they want to use.

Watch at https://youtu.be/3AVsNqH_-9M or at https://odysee.com/@GadgeteerZA:4/matrix-an-open-network-for-secure%2C-2:b

#technology #opensource #security #privacy #instantmessaging #matrix #alternativeto #selfhosting #federated #decentralised

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a real-time text chat social network that was created in 1988 in Finland, and is still in active use today.

In this video I talk about what it is and how it differs from other social networks, how to connect to it, I show what the user interface looks like, and end off with some tips on how to secure your nick ID.

It is often used for direct contact with technology project developers and other tech support, but there are also numerous social chat channels, or you can create your own channel in a few seconds if it does not already exist.

Watch at https://youtu.be/PDRzuVHFWLQ or on Odysee at https://odysee.com/@GadgeteerZA:4/overview-of-the-irc-real-time-chat:2?r=515TnKdvdv3jk94hmbJ2443NXHia7iQP

#technology #socialnetworks #alternativeto #IRC #social

This seems the perfect place to ask this question.

Is there any decentralized and/or federated platform, maybe a part of the fediverse as an alternative to mainstream and centralized platforms like ebay, amazon, aliexpress, mercadolibre, etc...?

Cross-posted from here.

Surf the internet like a chad with rss.

--

News Flash, Gnome Podcasts, LibreWolf + Privacy Redirect firefox extension.

News Flash

Gnome Podcasts

I think this is a pretty good setup for anti internet addiction without missing out on stuff you like. Avoid wasting time jumping into social media rabbit holes by using alternative frontends for the web browser. the setup is just two RSS applications and Librewolf.

Apps; News Flash, Gnome Podcasts. Librewolf + Privacy Redirect firefox extension. GTK theme; Material-Black-Mango

A few days ago I started using RSS again. I decided to use something other than liferea to suit the look and feel of my desktop environment. ended up using rss for everything; including Youtube, the podcasts I listen to, Twitter (using Nitter RSS), Peertube and Lemmy. Funnily enough I haven't used it for blog articles.

Yes, the headline has decentralized and messenger in the same sentence. Sounds good, doesn't it?

We are all in love with decentralized social topology, aren't we. But to make society reasonably decentralized, we need to remodel more than one level of it. I would like to bounce around some thoughts that may help establish a multilayer model of decentralized society.

::: Longwinded

1. Assumptions.

1.1. I use communications as an example of social activity that is a key to all other processes.

1.2. I assume that a decentralized network of heterogeneous communities is a good model for human society that we need now, as the all-crisis unfolds and neither democracy nor (even less) capitalism can offer any constructive approach.

1.3. I assume that the minimal provisions for an individual must include the right to participate in more than one community at the same time, the right to opt-out peacefully at any moment and the right to form a community (and participate in the network) on an equal basis.

2. Layers

2.1. "Fediverse". What we now see as fediverse is an implementation of communications pattern, where instances of various services can be associated with specific communities and their local users considered community members. Federation protocol provides a routine way to regulate interactions with other communities.

2.2. "Community Intranet". To control their collective memory, their policies/rituals and their boundaries, communities need to have control over the physical infrastructure of their "village intranet". It applies mostly to "natural" (local) communities, while "virtual" ones may need a trusted and neutral virtual hosting environment. The control should not, however, influence individual participation in remote communities.

2.3. "NetCommons". To keep the information flowing, society needs a non-owned, collectively managed transmission backbone. We can draw analogies with watershed management that is a known example of advantages and shortages of the commons approach.

2.4. "Platform Cooperatives". Economic (and, effectively, political) control of the means of production is a key to stability of the ecosystem. Thus, decentralized ecosystem of user cooperatives provides cohesion to the whole multilayered model. Every user becomes a member of the co-op(s) operating their community(ies) infrastructure. Community co-ops then form the "NetCoooperative", managing and maintaining the backbone systems and providing support, R&D and exception handling to communities in need.

3. Essential question is, whether such a model is comprehensive and complete enough to provide scaffolding for an attempt to implement proof-of-concept project.

Questions and comments welcome.

:::

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/63067

Hello!

I recently had issues with my self-hosted instance of Nextcloud so I started looking for an alternative to it.

I would like something that could allow me to make a local network of shared files between devices I choose, if that makes any sense.

I stumbled upon Syncthing but it doesen't seem what I had in mind: I understand that it replicates folders between devices, but I am looking for a way to distribuite files between machines. Again, like Nextcloud but without a central server to rely to.

Do you know if something of that sort exists?

Or if you have any other solution?

Thank you.

P.S. I am posting it here because it seems like some sort of self-hosting, but maybe I will cross-post it to the decentralized comunity.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/62292

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/62291

Performance + Fixes ready to enjoy :)

Public Domain Movies Key:

QmR9f898E2Y6H4rUqUQkB5g615wht1q4fxCPfZzxA4jXaR

https://github.com/ZorrillosDev/watchit-desktop/releases

More info:

• Visit our site watchitapp.site.
• Read our post in dev.to.
• Check out the roadmap to future features.
• Get in touch with us in gitter, reddit or watchit:matrix.org.
• See our FAQ for frequently asked questions.
• For help or bugs please create an issue.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/61545

A movie platform with a decentralized network approach.

Hi guys, for a few weeks some friends have been developing a movie platform with a decentralized network approach. We want to share it with the community. All are welcome to contrib.

Background

For a long time watching movies has overwhelmed me, I am simply limited by my time to go to the cinema. I am a movie fan but a developer with very little time to travel hours to buy a ticket and see the "latest" release of my "favorite movie" (In the country that i live, the cinemas are located in the capital and I live in a province with a few hours away).

Somehow the internet today helps us to cope with some of these problems, the other problem is that the internet offers very few resources to see good quality movies and those who offer it do so with movies that are definitely not the "last" launch of my "favorite movie" (sarcasm).

For this reason, a team of friends with the same ideology and need decided to take this crossroads to search, collect and expose a safe resource with quality films (no lag please), and that is where Watchit was born.

Unlike any current streaming service, Watchit decentralizes the way you normally watch your movies, helping to solve this "time/distance" factor at the same time.

Today, having the ability to share information with each other (P2P) directly, is simply amazing to me. My friend can have the "Spiderman" movie and transmit it to my other friend 300 KM away and that he can instead transmit the last "Avengers" movie for me to see it comfortably in my chair happily, it is also fantastic. This collective entertainment methodology is amazing.

Well, in order to decentralize our films so that everyone can have access to them, we resorted to incredible tools such as IPFS and OrbitDB, which allowed us to have created a DAPP (Decentralized App). In simple words, Watchit is an application that does not require external resources, but rather everyone helps everyone to make it work and this classifies it as a "Decentralized Autonomous Organization". We are all happy together :) yay!!

Watchit gives users control over the content network by welcoming enthusiasts or small studios who wish to have a platform without much "red tape" in between to promote or distribute their films.

Important note:

Some resources contain intellectual property or copyright so we consider that the content that is distributed through the application is the responsibility of its providers. The difference between these is that one provides legal public domain movies and the other versions may provides access to a database containing a wide variety of movies some containing copyright.

The real goal is to entertain but also to show the potential of decentralized networks, so whatever the goal, you will love Watchit!

The films used as examples in this article were included to feed the context, we do not promote copyright infringement.

How we built it

• Cross-platform ElectronJs apps builder
• Decentralized OrbitDB
• Golang IPFS implementation
• Bootstrap React App tool Create React App.

Where can i find the project?

Watchit Gateway | Watchit App | Awesome Orbit | Awesome IPFS

Special thanks to aphelionz, brokoli and vasa-develop for their contributions to this article.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/60741

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/60740

Some time ago I made the start of a front-end app store, but now is just sitting on my computer so if anyone wants to use it for anything contact me nd we can talk.

Hi. I posted a similar, lengthier post on raddle.me on this very topic. I've been a reddit user for a while, and I'm not leaving reddit, I love the site. I decided to journey onto other alternatives, just to see what's out there. Ooh boy!

My first alternative to reddit I tried was notabug.io. I noticed it's much more unmoderated, and saw some words I wish I could unsee. Everyone has a right to say whatever they want, I'm not saying they can't.

Second alternative I tried was Ruqqus. I'm still a member, but for how long, who knows? If you've heard of Voat, you'll understand why I won't be staying on Ruqqus for long. I saw a lot of white power/white supremacist advocacy, anti-semitic, racism, and homophobic threads, etc. They use the N-word a lot. Like, a lot.

Last alternative I tried was Aether. I used it in the past, and it wasn't at all toxic or bad. Recently, it's gotten worse. Much, much worse. They have an NSFW section, and same thing as Ruqqus. Lots of homophobia and racism.

I just felt I needed to air my grievances. Thanks for reading.

This open source and privacy focussed social network offers a lot more functionality than most other social networks especially in the P2P space. In this video I explain how to get connected to other peers, I give an overview of all the functions it can perform, and end off touring around the interface and showing how it works.

Functions include Chatrooms, Mail, Channels, Forums, Boards with more to come in the next version.

My RetroShare Link of the video at retroshare://file?name=My%20Overview%20Overview%20of%20RetroShare%20Social%20Network.mp4&size=581508519&hash=9633d48565b60031310ad9ce447b7de076524dd6

Watch at https://youtu.be/A-qkix_R6Hs

#technology #opensource #socialnetwork #retroshare

This seems super cool, and the in browser editor is certainly neat, but I am having a bit of a hard time understanding how the ActivityPub part of this works. It seems like you can somehow use your own ActivityPub compatible server and this is acting as a client only?

Blockchain isn't just about cryptocurrency - it's applications include a variety of industries including fintech, healthcare, tourism, agriculture, and education. Let’s explore what is blockchain technology and how does it work.

Big social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc hold their users captive through the high cost for users to migrate elsewhere ie. all they have to give up by leaving friends and family behind, finding a new alternative platform, losing follower counts, often losing sponsorships, etc. This is why Facebook for example cut off their messenger interconnectivity with XMPP years ago because then any Facebook user could leave, and stay in contact with friends and family on Facebook.

As the article points out there are also some downsides to decentralisation like maybe losing the ability for one network to do mass mobilisation for good.

Personally I've also held the belief that we need more interoperability rather than just breaking up a big tech company. We do already have protocols such as ActivityPub, XMPP, etc that are in use connecting completely different social networks together.

Break the walls down and let Big Tech compete more equally and openly with everyone. This will also give the smaller social media networks a chance to compete for attention.

See https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/01/twitter-and-interoperability-some-thoughts-peanut-gallery

#technology #bigtech #interoperability #socialnetworks #decentralisation

This is similar to Utopia, previously shared, with regard to functionality and peer-to-peer operation, but unlike Utopia this one is fully open source, is not blockchain based, and starts out with only connecting to your known friends. The devs are also known, and it uses well known PGP encryption which you share directly with your friend to get authenticated.

'Onion routing' is used for anonymity and needless to say you don't need your real-world credentials to register. Being P2P it does not require any servers or central services to operate - you connect to, and via, your friends directly, completely out of site of Big Tech.

It's a bit like your own private secure Facebook and is actually great for younger children to participate safely. There are no hidden costs, no ads and no terms of service. It installs on Windows, Linux and MacOS desktops, and on Android mobile. Sorry no iOS app.

See https://retroshare.cc

#technology #P2P #decentralized #socialnetwork #privacy

Facebook Marketplace Has Done Nothing But Destroyed The Third Hand Market, Tell Friends and Family To Stop Posting There or Post To Other Places Alongside It. As soon as I heard Facebook was creating a marketplace, I knew this is exactly how it would end up...

Facebook is absolutely killing the third hand market for buying and selling goods. You have to make an account to do anything, and this is exactly what they wanted. When people start flocking over to Facebook marketplace, they need to create accounts if they don't already have, therefore trying to lock them in like parasites. I refuse to create an account, but this has also brought a lot of personal frustration. Since the marketplace opened, it has heavily drawn away from similar services such as Craigslist. It really is true that "all the good stuff is on Facebook Marketplace", not all but a solid amount. I rarely come across good deals on other services anymore, and this is extremely frustrating. Again, this is exactly what Facebook wanted.

Not to mention the massive privacy concerns over this, not only are you locking into the Facebook ecosystem, but you have to give out a solid amount of personal information over to Facebook if you ever plan to meet people for items, which means it's pretty pointless to use Facebook on an anonymous account for this purpose. I am also in no way saying that other services such as LetGo are in any way privacy friendly.

Anyways, Facebook Marketplace is turning third party selling into a decentralized nightmare, and it is extremely frustrating. I don't see a lot of people putting up any fight over it besides the few who dislike Facebook, and even then they simply give in and make accounts because as I stated, there are good deals on there unfortunately. It honestly baffles me, how often I hear about Facebook in the news, how much I hear people complain about Facebook, yet they still use it.

But I think it's extremely important, to suggest to people to either stop using Facebook Marketplace, or at the very least post to other sites as well like Craigslist. This goes for friends, family, and even people you know on the internet. Just keep suggesting.

Which also brings me to a side-note, that it would be very awesome to see a libre alternative to these third party selling services. Of course I don't really expect it to pull massive business away from Facebook Marketplace, as much as I'd like it, but hopefully it will pull some business from the privacy disrespecting sites such as LetGo and others and also give us a better place to post. I think this would be very cool. A service may already exist, if it's good I'm all ears if you know of it.