Re:Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook
by lucideer on Thursday April 19, 2018 @05:18PM
(#16880255)
You're missing one very large differentiator: user control.
With Scuttlebutt, largely, the client controls every one of your points. Different clients (with different settings/controls) can interact with a network upon which other users are using completely separate clients, each with separate settings controlling how user data is contributed to the network. Consent is not an issue.
With Facebook, as a user, you need to agree to Facebook's strict terms to be a part of their closed network, and—largely—cannot do so with your own client with its own data-contributing settings. The only close equivalent is using something like uBlock with your own browser, but the control you have their is very limited.
I say consent is not an issue but I'll devil's advocate myself and describe a Scuttlebutt setup where it would be. Say a company sets up a normal centralised service, which you visit in your browser, sign up for a central account, and it's backed by Scuttlebutt behind the scenes. Users of that centralised service can connect to a larger Scuttlebutt network upon which other users may be using their own dedicated clients to access. Consent is an issue for that central service (which acts as a defacto client on your behalf), but not for the network at large.
With Scuttlebutt, largely, the client controls every one of your points. Different clients (with different settings/controls) can interact with a network upon which other users are using completely separate clients, each with separate settings controlling how user data is contributed to the network. Consent is not an issue.
With Facebook, as a user, you need to agree to Facebook's strict terms to be a part of their closed network, and—largely—cannot do so with your own client with its own data-contributing settings. The only close equivalent is using something like uBlock with your own browser, but the control you have their is very limited.
I say consent is not an issue but I'll devil's advocate myself and describe a Scuttlebutt setup where it would be. Say a company sets up a normal centralised service, which you visit in your browser, sign up for a central account, and it's backed by Scuttlebutt behind the scenes. Users of that centralised service can connect to a larger Scuttlebutt network upon which other users may be using their own dedicated clients to access. Consent is an issue for that central service (which acts as a defacto client on your behalf), but not for the network at large.