Stop at Zona-M

The FCC Net Neutrality decision on Dec. 14th, 2017 (*) has rightly caused a lot of outrage, and concrete reactions, both political (e.g. petitions) and technical ones

The “Law of Unintended Consequences” states that “an intervention in a complex system tends to create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes”. I wonder if some 100% legitimate aspirations and well-intentioned proposals to make the internet less “white and western” may have just such consequences.

A few weeks ago, one of my Facebook contacts, whom I’ll call “Jane”, complained on her wall that Facebook had blocked one of her posts. Facebook and free speech myths ensued.

Please have a look at this scary title, just appeared on the Web:

(this is a guest post by Emanuel Pastreich, director of The Asia Institute, and Professor at Kyung Hee University. The post, originally published at Truthout, in April 2014, is now reposted here on invitation of the author, to whom I am grateful. My own proposal for a better alternative to Facebook and similar services is here)

I just found online what is, in my opinion, another proof that certain concerns about the “Twitter replacement” called Mastodon are solid… but the solutions that get the most attention right now may be dead ends.