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We fail to consider policy when thinking about centralized/federated services. Centralized services provide strong, regular policy adherence across the network,
by erkose 8y ago
We fail to consider policy when thinking about centralized/federated services. Centralized services provide strong, regular policy adherence across the network, whereas federated services provide weak, irregular policy adherence across the network. Centralized services can effectively silence a bad actor. They may also silence a good actor, but generally only under external pressure from government. Federated services have little or not ability to silence bad actors across the network, though individual instances may effectively silence "bad" actors. However in this capacity "bad" is not well understood and can simply mean the instance administrator does not like the person the silence. Individual instances may also give voice to bad actors.
- EGreg 8y agoWhy should “a service” silence anyone? How about letting people make their own decision who they want to talk to, without a third party saying “I forbid it”.
- canadaduane 8y agoCan I use an analogy from biology to shed light on the valid point you have? Human beings exist as part of a society--a larger organism. Imagine if a cell were permitted to send any proteins or RNA it wanted to its neighboring cells. As long as the signals are benign or simply "nuisance" level, it's fine. But if the signals subvert the very organism of which they are a part--for example, by tricking neighboring cells into ignoring programmed cell death and encouraging enlarged blood vessel growth in the area--then there is a real danger that these cells are becoming a cancer to the host body that sustains their very existence. I think the scare-quotes you put around "service" might be to show that a communication service that silences your communication is no service at all. But isn't that true of any complex, principle-based decision? If you have a friend who says he is going to blow up a federal building, and you report him, are you a "friend"? Some principles trump others--like saving lives over sustaining friendships, for instance. In the same manner, I think there are legitimate cases where a "service" should not serve. How that should work in practice is still being worked out--in the halls of tech companies and legislatures all over the world.
- Bizarro 8y agoHow that should work in practice is still being worked out--in the halls of tech companies and legislatures all over the world. You finally got to the crux of your argument after contorting around a bad analogy. Only tech companies and legislatures should be figuring out what services we should have. Let me tell you something. That position is the complete opposite of what Hacker News is all about.
- Terr_ 8y agoYou know, I'm pretty sure when they said "legislatures" they were implying the imperfect-but-normal ongoing political process. The one which stretches across dozens of different countries and with some influence by the billions of non-legislator citizens. Instead you seem to be a hurry to travel down a road that sometimes ends with the word "Statist" getting thrown around as an epithet against heretical outsiders. > [Disparagingly:] Only tech companies and legislatures should be figuring out what services we should have. Let's apply the same logic to non-digital goods and services: Do you believe it is fundamentally wrong for a government -- even with significant public support -- to interfere with one anonymous man's Galtian quest to sell radium toothpaste by mail?
- Bizarro 8y agoLet's apply the same logic to non-digital goods and services: Do you believe it is fundamentally wrong for a government -- even with significant public support -- to interfere with one anonymous man's Galtian quest to sell radium toothpaste by mail? Amazing...even after I point out his janky biology analogy, you go ahead and try one yourself. You people can't help but to double down.
- 18pfsmt 8y agoSome people are interested in designing systems where no central authority can control anything, while others are more interested in determining which entity should have control over everything.
- 8y ago