<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Matt Lee</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mattl@cnuk.org">mattl@cnuk.org</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, May 7, 2010 at 2:23 AM<br>
Subject: [Autonomo.us] Thoughts on Facebook<br>To: discuss <<a href="mailto:discuss@lists.autonomo.us">discuss@lists.autonomo.us</a>><br><br><br><br>
## Thoughts on Facebook<br>
<br>
This is meant as a design document, as well as a commentary on our views<br>
for the future goal of creating a distributed, free social network. Part<br>
of it is designed to answer questions about some of the existing work<br>
that FooCorp has been involved with, and some ideas for where we should<br>
head next, in order to achieve our goal.<br>
<br>
### The problem<br>
<br>
Monolithic social networking sites are, in our opinion, bad -- bad for<br>
privacy, bad for user freedom, bad for autonomy. People ought to be able<br>
to have better control over their private information, people ought to<br>
be able to see how the software that uses their data works (and change<br>
it) and people ought to be able to use social software to communicate<br>
without the need for third-party services, hungry for advertising revenue.<br>
<br>
Therefore, we believe a solution to these things has these three steps:<br>
<br>
* Tools which are easy for the typical user to understand and control.<br>
<br>
* Tools which are easy for novice programmers to comprehend and modify.<br>
<br>
* Tools which are secure, yet easily installed and upgraded by novices.<br>
<br>
We don't believe the answer to this problem exists in a product or<br>
service, but rather in a collection of products and services, created by<br>
the free software community, on top of existing free software platforms.<br>
A free software solution would adhere to a simple, but common protocol,<br>
allowing the very basic social networking archetypes to be expressed,<br>
without hindering progress of development of other features or enhancements.<br>
<br>
For some time now, we have been investigating free service development,<br>
and understanding the desires for the creation of social software. These<br>
are our conclusions:<br>
<br>
* While most people want something browser based, a protocol needs to be<br>
developed that permits desktop clients as well.<br>
<br>
* The protocol should work over HTTP.<br>
<br>
* The current state of low-cost web hosting makes PHP and MySQL the<br>
clear contenders as the development platform of choice, much to the<br>
chagrin of some.<br>
<br>
* A testbed application needs to be created for people to see how the<br>
protocol should function.<br>
<br>
With that, we present our vision for GNU social.<br>
<br>
### GNU social<br>
<br>
GNU social is a project to create social software in the GNU project, as<br>
part of the GNU operating system.<br>
<br>
GNU social should not be a replacement for Facebook, and GNU social<br>
should not be in the business of creating user facing software.<br>
<br>
There are plenty of smart people who are already building cool<br>
autonomous projects, like StatusNet, which took microblogging to the<br>
next level, Filmaster, providing a highly polished social reviewing<br>
site, and our own GNU FM project that thanks to the efforts of some<br>
other smart folks, powers Libre.fm, our free music service. In addition,<br>
there are numerous upcoming projects, all hoping to shine through with<br>
their own solution for the decentralized social networking problem, the<br>
latest of which Diaspora, appears to be making great waves of progress<br>
of its own.<br>
<br>
Instead, we propose GNU social as something different to all these<br>
projects, and something common to them all as well. GNU social should<br>
instead lead on the creation of the glue that ties these projects<br>
together, as well as a simple, functional example of a basic social<br>
networking site, intended as a demonstration and proof of concept, not a<br>
contender in its own right.<br>
<br>
The initial work of the GNU social project should therefore be the<br>
development of a simple social networking protocol, agreed on by the<br>
other players in this space, simultaneously with the creation of the<br>
proof of concept, followed by sustained advocacy of the GNU social<br>
concept to other free software projects, and the creation of new social<br>
tools, both browser and desktop clients.<br>
<br>
What does the protocol look like? We'll be working with some of the best<br>
people out there in the free software and social web communities to<br>
bring you that answer.<br>
<br>
Thanks for reading,<br>
<br>
Rob Myers and Matt Lee<br>
Chief Paradigm Officers<br>
FooCorp<br>
May 6th 2010<br>
<br>
FOO88<br>
<br>
<br>
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