Podcasting Chat Community

This is an incredible interview, with two very brave civil rights monitors. Reporting on what communities in Minneapolis have experiencing at the hands of masked ICE thugs, and the surveillance tech being deployed by ICE in "Operation Metro Surge”;

https://techpolicy.press/ai-surveillance-and-the-siege-of-minneapolis

This is why I've started talking about technofascism. Because the historical parallels are chilling, and the role of corporate tech platforms and their collaborator owners is undeniable.

#podcasts #TechPolicyPress

"... the massive amount of money - billions and trillions of dollars - that as [Alejandra Montoya-Boyer] said ... could be going in to supporting our communities. People are getting obscenely wealthy from surveiling us."

#IrnaLandrum, 2026

https://techpolicy.press/ai-surveillance-and-the-siege-of-minneapolis

It wasn't Mussolini, but someone wrote; fascism should more rightly be called corporatism; it's the merger of state and corporate power. In this case, their' tech power.

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#podcasts #TechPolicyPress #surveillance #technofascism

"... the massive amount of money - billions and trillions of dollars - that as [Alejandra] said ... could be going in to supporting our communities. People are getting obscenely wealthy from surveiling us."

https://techpolicy.press/ai-surveillance-and-the-siege-of-minneapolis

It wasn't Mussolini, but someone wrote that fascism should more rightly be called corporatism; the merger of state and corporate power. Particular corporations' technology power.

#podcasts #TechPolicyPress #surveillance #technofascism

@fluffy
> what could be done using a more IndieWeb approach. atom or mf2 for publishing, WebSub+WebMention for push, bearer tokens exchanged via TicketAuth for private access

Knock yourself out. Let a thousand flowers bloom! ; )

After a few days/ weeks of furious hacking, you'll either give up in disgust and tombstone your repo, or a get a PoC working. If you do, celebrate and announce the fact.

Then you can recruit web/app designers who've never had access to the private repo (with the Discord layout code). They can then build Free Code interfaces on top of your glue and gaffer tape layer. Voila, a fully libre service with all the key features of Discord

Rinse, repeat for other DataFarms we'd like to replace.

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@benpate
> We could probably rebuild most of Discord's features as an Emissary inbox without doing a lot of back end code

One way to rapid prototype this would be to cheat. Copy as much as Discord's HTML/CSS/JS as you can get hold of. Chuck it in a private repo, accessible only to you/ your team.

Then you only need to build a layer of scripting glue and gaffer tape between that and an existing AP back-end (#Emissary, @Bonfire, dealer's choice). Published under a free license.

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#Discord

@FenTiger
> Roomy implements its own storage. ATProto is only really used as an identity / sign-in layer.

@zicklag's reply to @benpate suggests it's both/and;

Zicklag (@zicklag@mastodon.social)

@benpate @klu9@ohai.social @strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz ATProto is used only for authentication, optional integrations, and optional backups. We have our own somewhat generic event streaming server that we use for chat spaces, where each chat space could be migrated to another server without the permission of the current host. It's "federated" in that each chat space will be able to be hosted on a different server and the client will still be able to join them all from the same app.

Mastodon (mastodon.social)

The Roomy server has a copy of the data, and backs it up to PDS for people logged in with ATProto accounts. Not sure what implications this has for people logging in with ActivityPub accounts. But Solid pods could, in theory, be used like PDS a la @activitypods.

@erlend

@zicklag
> I'm always open to questions!

How far off the mark was I in this pair of posts, about how Roomy uses ATProto and what that suggests for how it might use ActivityPub?

Strypey (@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz)

(1/2) @benpate@mastodon.social > you’re only signing in with your ActivityPub identity though? The article is light on specifics, but it seems like Roomy is a client app, not a server+client app like Mastodon. So in ATProto jargon; https://dustycloud.org/blog/how-decentralized-is-bluesky/ ... Roomy is an AppView, using the PDS for a logged in ATProto account as a data store (not sure if or how it uses Relays). @klu9@ohai.social

Mastodon - NZOSS (mastodon.nzoss.nz)

> we don't need to replicate the chats to different servers

So "channels" and "servers" (as Discord uses these terms) would be tied to the originating server, like MUC in XMPP? Not replicated using the data storage of the participating accounts, as Matrix does?

@benpate @klu9

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If Roomy enabled signing in with a fediverse account as an identity, there's no PDS to use for data. So I'm guessing the plan is to implement the Mastodon API, enabling Roomy to act as a fediverse client, and use a logged in account's home service as the data store?

What would be really intriguing is if Roomy borrowed from the @activitypods approach, allowing a fediverse account to be used as identity, with a Solid pod as the data store.

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@benpate
> you’re only signing in with your ActivityPub identity though?

The article is light on specifics, but it seems like Roomy is a client app, not a server+client app like Mastodon. So in ATProto jargon;

How decentralized is Bluesky really? -- Dustycloud Brainstorms

(dustycloud.org)

... Roomy is an AppView, using the PDS for a logged in ATProto account as a data store (not sure if or how it uses Relays).

@klu9

"... [The] problem with the 'smart home', in the context of the law of the home, is that the data ... doesn't stay in the home. If it ... was all localised there, police would ... at least need a warrant to get into that privileged space of the home."

#AndrewGuthrieFerguson, Professor, Washington University Law School, 2026

https://techpolicy.press/how-to-apply-the-tyrant-test-to-technology

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#podcasts #TechPolicyPress

Intriguing how when it comes to a fossil fuel project, the NatACTs can grasp the logic that increasing public spending on infrastructure in the short term can result in savings for the public down the line;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/focusonpolitics?share=9fff2be2-c439-4427-93bc-2c43daf79584

A shame they didn't apply that logic to;

* canning prescription charges
* EV subsidies
* iRex
* hospital rebuilds
* public housing builds
* National Resilience Fund

... and particularly in this case climate change mitigation.

#podcasts #RNZ #FocusOnPolitics