[Freedombox-discuss] Feedback on Freedombox from Hacker News

[Daniel Bryan]

Good to see the "you know this stuff will never catch on meme!!!"
apparently never gets old but I think this quote was pretty key:

If you want a project of this nature to see widespread use it will have to
> be fun, usable, and pretty.


I don't think it's facetious to say that 'fun', whatever that actually is,
will be absolutely key. People *love* to refresh Facebook endlessly, even
though they're usually dissatisfied with what they get. I wonder whether
it's possible to find a sweet spot where you still have some level of
Gameyness to the experience of a social network, without all carefully
tuned the psychological exploitation and carrot-and-stick stuff?

On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 7:15 AM, Joshua Spodek <joshuaspodek at yahoo.com>wrote:

> I commented on Freedombox on a site for entrepreneurially-minded hackers
> and programmers called Hacker News and got feedback that might be useful
> here. (It might not be useful so can always be ignored). I thought it
> offered constructive criticism from knowledgeable people.
>
> My post was on this thread, which was about Facebook using people's data
> more than they expect -- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3554087.
>
> Here is the thread for convenience, though it lost formatting and
> nesting. The first post is by me. The rest are by others. The word
> "reply" separates each post.
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> This is what Freedombox is for (also Diaspora). Freedombox is one of the
> few projects I make time to contribute to. I'm surprised it isn't one of
> the more popular projects among this community.
>
> Anyway, here are some links and background if you aren't familiar with
> it. From http://freedomboxfoundation.org and
> http://freedomboxfoundation.org/learn
>
> What is FreedomBox?
>
>    Email and telecommunications that protects privacy and resists
> eavesdropping
>
>    A publishing platform that resists oppression and censorship.
>
>    An organizing tool for democratic activists in hostile regimes.
>
>    An emergency communication network in times of crisis.
>
>
> If you live near New York City, there will be a hack-fest February 18,
> 19, 20 (more information in first link above). I hope to see you there.
>
> reply
>
>
> naner 23 hours ago | link
>
> I'm surprised it isn't one of the more popular projects among this
> community.
>
> You shouldn't be. My values align roughly with that of the freedombox
> creators/developers but I can easily see this will have poorer adoption
> than other well-intentioned technology like PGP or gNewSense.
>
> If you want a project of this nature to see widespread use it will have
> to be fun, usable, and pretty.
>
> reply
>
>
> aw3c2 1 day ago | link
>
> You guys need a much simpler "what is freedombox". From the /learn text
> I only get the impression that it is "Tor in a dedicated box". Where is
> the social network?
>
> reply
>
>
>
> ryanklee 23 hours ago | link
>
> I gave it my five-second rule, and browsed away feeling totally ignorant
> of what the platform was about (or even if it was a platform).
>
> reply
>
>
>
> Woost 23 hours ago | link
>
> Thirding. The "what is freedombox" posted here tells me basically
> nothing. It sounds closer to marketing fluff than an actual description
> of what freedombox is and does.
>
> Is it a social network? Twitter? Both? Something new? Why should I want
> to start using it, aside from claims of anonymity?
>
> reply
>
>
> pacala 1 day ago | link
>
> I follow a few high profile tech news source, but I never heard of
> Freedombox.
>
> One major worry I have about decentralized systems is crackers. It's
> hard enough to secure centralized systems using proprietary code behind
> firewalls managed by an army of experts. How can a decentralized system
> possibly avoid becoming a 0day distributed botnet?
>
> reply
>
>
>
> bootload 19 hours ago | link
>
> "... I follow a few high profile tech news source, but I never heard of
> Freedombox. ..."
>
> That's why it's important to read HN.
>
> Eben Moglen is one of the few lawyers I bother to listen too. It helps
> he has a CS background. Moglen did a talk at New York Technology Council
> & Internet Society, Friday, February 5, 2010 that outlined the idea
> behind the freedom box. I remember watching & listening to the recording
> just after the speech. It's worth the watch/listen to get the idea in
> full.
>
> The idea in short, "Own your own logs". Third parties can't infer what
> they don't have. The talk is located here
>
> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpHWnHxmnXg
>
> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOEMv0S8AcA
>
> or here for alternative AV formats ~ http://isoc-ny.org/?p=1338
>
> reply
>
>
> thomaslangston 1 day ago | link
>
> > It's hard enough to secure centralized systems using proprietary code
> behind firewalls managed by an army of experts. How can a decentralized
> system possibly avoid becoming a 0day distributed botnet?
>
> I do not understand your concern.
>
> Centralized systems are easier to crack, not harder. Proprietary code
> may or may not be easier to crack, but I'd lean towards easier.
> Distributed systems do not require you to not have firewalls.
> Distributed systems do not require you to not have experts managing
> them. Nodes of a distributed system do not have to obey the commands of
> other nodes or have a central control mechanism.
>
> How would a decentralized system ever become a 0day botnet?
>
> reply
>
>
> pacala 1 day ago | link
>
> The point of Freedombox is that everyone has his data in his own home.
> If average Joe wants to share this data with his friends, average Joe is
> going to run a server in his home. If the server code has a 0day
> exploit, average Joe server easily becomes a node in a botnet.
>
> How do you address the problem of managing a fleet of 800 Million
> servers running in 800 Million homes? Who are the experts that manage
> this problem and who finances their work? Why would average Joe trust
> them with his data? What is the technical device through which they have
> admin access to 800 Million servers in 800 Million homes?
>
> reply
>
>
>
> thomaslangston 13 hours ago | link
>
> That may be the setup of that project, but it isn't the status of every
> decentralized system. A decentralized system could as easily be funded
> by individual users buying hosted space with professional admins.
>
> I don't see the 0day exploit window of one additional application
> running on local users' boxes to be much cause for alarm. Somehow we
> muddled through decades of Windows boxes with everyone joining the Borg.
>
>
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