5 ms·

> The question is how do we go back to the old more free internet, or if anything how do we free ourselves from the yolk of the likes of Zuckerberg? I'm alread

> The question is how do we go back to the old more free internet, or if anything how do we free ourselves from the yolk of the likes of Zuckerberg? I'm already free from Zuckerberg, Dorsey, and their coterie of techbros nostalgic for the dominance of AOL over the internet ordinary people used. I have my own website, that I built myself on a domain I've registered, and my own email at my own domain. It's my HN username dot org, if you care. The free internet is still here. There's nothing stopping you from building your own website, registering a domain, and renting a VPS to host it. Nor is there anything to stop you from rejecting GMail and Outlook for personal email and going with a provider that will let you use your domain. There's nothing stopping you from using RSS feeds to keep up with other people's blogs, or just bookmarking your favorites and visiting people's website's periodically. All of the old tech is still here, waiting to be used. The only thing stopping you from taking advantage is you. After all, Alex Jones still has infowars dot com. stormfront dot org is still online, offering a safe space for fascists. There's nothing stopping 45 from giving his kid a couple hundred a week in exchange for registering a domain and firing up a blog where he can say whatever he likes and nobody has to listen if the don't want to. The problem is that the free/open internet isn't "good enough" for people who aren't content with free speech but think they're entitled to an audience. That's why the culture war has consumed social media. Right-wingers think they're entitled to an audience, and left-wingers think they have the right to set themselves as arbiters of who deserves to have their message distributed. What neither side can agree on is that EVERYBODY has the right to speak and NOBODY is entitled to an audience. They don't understand that an individual's right to speak ends where everybody else's right to ignore him begins.

zzo38computer 6y ago
I also run my own server, with email, HTTP, NNTP, etc. (Mine also happens to match my HN username with dot org.) (You are not limited to website and email; you can include other servers too if you want to have, and some are better for some other purposes.) I don't use Facebook, I don't write on Twitter, and my email is not Gmail. > What neither side can agree on is that EVERYBODY has the right to speak and NOBODY is entitled to an audience. They don't understand that an individual's right to speak ends where everybody else's right to ignore him begins. This part I agree. Everyone should have freedom of speech, but you can't force someone to listen if they do not wish to do so. (Of course, it also mean, people have the right to criticize what someone else says, too, that is also important to have.) I am not "right/left" wing, I think.
- demifiend 6y ago
  > Of course, it also mean, people have the right to criticize what someone else says, too, that is also important to have. The right to criticize is part of the right to freedom of speech. However, you are not obligated to listen to your critics. You still have the right to ignore them, regardless of the merits of their criticism.

zzo38computer 6y ago

I also run my own server, with email, HTTP, NNTP, etc. (Mine also happens to match my HN username with dot org.) (You are not limited to website and email; you can include other servers too if you want to have, and some are better for some other purposes.) I don't use Facebook, I don't write on Twitter, and my email is not Gmail. > What neither side can agree on is that EVERYBODY has the right to speak and NOBODY is entitled to an audience. They don't understand that an individual's right to speak ends where everybody else's right to ignore him begins. This part I agree. Everyone should have freedom of speech, but you can't force someone to listen if they do not wish to do so. (Of course, it also mean, people have the right to criticize what someone else says, too, that is also important to have.) I am not "right/left" wing, I think.

demifiend 6y ago
> Of course, it also mean, people have the right to criticize what someone else says, too, that is also important to have. The right to criticize is part of the right to freedom of speech. However, you are not obligated to listen to your critics. You still have the right to ignore them, regardless of the merits of their criticism.