4 ms·

It seems like we are all royally screwed if policy is now being decided on and only through facebook. I have never had a FB account and will never have one. It

It seems like we are all royally screwed if policy is now being decided on and only through facebook. I have never had a FB account and will never have one. It seems extremely crazy to be required to go through a bunch of legal terms of service just to participate in government. In fact it may be illegal technically.

carlob 7y ago
I totally agree with you. And I'm very scared of the day a job, the school my kids go to or whatever important life activity will require me to have a facebook, whatsapp, linkedin, twitter or whatever account. We need something to replace these, possibly a federated, open standard, but I guess even the self hosted forums of yore were much better than this.
- mxuribe 7y ago
  There are numerous alternatives that could (and hopeful should) replace FB - through what is referred to as the FediVerse - specifically via Pleroma, Mastodon, GnuSocial, etc. While admittedly mastodon is the platform that gets the most mindshare (and most users access the fediverse through it), it is not the only one...And much like email, users employing mastodon as "their tool" can communicate with other users who might employ other tools like pleroma, etc. Users have a choice! And, this federated universe is all aligning on open federated standards like ActivityPub [1]. So, yeah, there are options already in existence...and, the challenge is less technical, and more: "how do you get YOUR network of friends/family onto the fediverse?" Well, the migration has already begun, so it should only be a matter of time... [1] https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/
  - majewsky 7y ago
    > Well, the migration has already begun, so it should only be a matter of time... As much as I would like this to be true, they said the same thing about XMPP.
javagram 7y ago
That seems extremely exaggerated. What’s illegal about private citizens choosing to use a service like Facebook to talk to each other? If you want to “participate in government” nothing stops you from showing up to town or county council meetings, planning commissions, and so on, or from sending letters to your elected officials, or a phone call, or running for office yourself.
- baq 7y ago
  At which point it stops being private and becomes public instead though? And what to do after it happens? Discussing town policy isn’t something that should be kept behind a gate, and especially not Facebook.
  - javagram 7y ago
    > At which point it stops being private and becomes public instead though? When the actual decisions are being made there. Many places have “open meeting” laws that require decisions be made out in the open. Facebook is not the ballot box, it is not the county council, it is not the town meeting. It’s just a place where people can choose to talk to each other. > Discussing town policy isn’t something that should be kept behind a gate, and especially not Facebook. This is what freedom of association and freedom of speech is though. If your neighbors choose to talk to each other through Facebook, Nextdoor, a google group, an email list, a BBS, or in their own living rooms, you shouldn’t be able to stop them from doing that, whatever it is they prefer to do.
sjg007 7y ago
You still need to have a city council meeting etc... my guess is that FB just helps get the conversation going. My problem with FB townhalls is that it just degenerates into politics, gun rights and trolls. You also get out of towners weighing in usually as trolls. I think the local newspaper is better forum.

carlob 7y ago

I totally agree with you. And I'm very scared of the day a job, the school my kids go to or whatever important life activity will require me to have a facebook, whatsapp, linkedin, twitter or whatever account. We need something to replace these, possibly a federated, open standard, but I guess even the self hosted forums of yore were much better than this.

mxuribe 7y ago
There are numerous alternatives that could (and hopeful should) replace FB - through what is referred to as the FediVerse - specifically via Pleroma, Mastodon, GnuSocial, etc. While admittedly mastodon is the platform that gets the most mindshare (and most users access the fediverse through it), it is not the only one...And much like email, users employing mastodon as "their tool" can communicate with other users who might employ other tools like pleroma, etc. Users have a choice! And, this federated universe is all aligning on open federated standards like ActivityPub [1]. So, yeah, there are options already in existence...and, the challenge is less technical, and more: "how do you get YOUR network of friends/family onto the fediverse?" Well, the migration has already begun, so it should only be a matter of time... [1] https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/
- majewsky 7y ago
  > Well, the migration has already begun, so it should only be a matter of time... As much as I would like this to be true, they said the same thing about XMPP.

javagram 7y ago

That seems extremely exaggerated. What’s illegal about private citizens choosing to use a service like Facebook to talk to each other? If you want to “participate in government” nothing stops you from showing up to town or county council meetings, planning commissions, and so on, or from sending letters to your elected officials, or a phone call, or running for office yourself.

baq 7y ago
At which point it stops being private and becomes public instead though? And what to do after it happens? Discussing town policy isn’t something that should be kept behind a gate, and especially not Facebook.
- javagram 7y ago
  > At which point it stops being private and becomes public instead though? When the actual decisions are being made there. Many places have “open meeting” laws that require decisions be made out in the open. Facebook is not the ballot box, it is not the county council, it is not the town meeting. It’s just a place where people can choose to talk to each other. > Discussing town policy isn’t something that should be kept behind a gate, and especially not Facebook. This is what freedom of association and freedom of speech is though. If your neighbors choose to talk to each other through Facebook, Nextdoor, a google group, an email list, a BBS, or in their own living rooms, you shouldn’t be able to stop them from doing that, whatever it is they prefer to do.

sjg007 7y ago

You still need to have a city council meeting etc... my guess is that FB just helps get the conversation going. My problem with FB townhalls is that it just degenerates into politics, gun rights and trolls. You also get out of towners weighing in usually as trolls. I think the local newspaper is better forum.