Has anyone used the Briar chat app?

I see how it's useful in high-risk situations. But has anyone used it for more daily chats, managed to build a more casual habit with it? Would love to hear experiences.

@dsfgs I'm not sure I follow. How is CloudFlare a MITM and what is the significance here? Why is it a problem?

@dsfgs I don't really know a nice way to say this, but... this seems like a super weird thing to focus on, and the arguments in the linked post seem completely out of touch with user behavior, etc.

Now to be clear: I would prefer if people didn't use centralized services in general, including CloudFlare.

But I think a personalized boycot based on instances using CloudFlare is entirely ridiculous.

@dsfgs 1. Isolating yourself on the level of follows is unlikely to have an effect. You need a system level policy to disincentivize using e.g. CloudFlare.

At the same time, we are already in a system of trust for the servers in the fediverse: they can read the data stored on them, it is not encrypted. Except DMs, everything can be read in the public feed of most servers anyway. DMs should probably be replaced with encrypted comms anyway. So what data is in danger?

@dsfgs First, the pragmatic impact of that boycot is nonexistent, both in political effect and actual data safety.

Second, it cuts you off from reasonable discussion with the people making these choices.

Third, you're missing the greater point of the system we all live in and what it incentivizes.

I'll elaborate a bit.

@dsfgs oh, a another note on trust: servers in #Fediverse could very easily be using other centralized systems that get data access, but don't transmit their presence as clearly. For example, hosting the database in Google Cloud.

We gotta trust and educate as much as possible here.

Oh look, another software anarchist, how original.

I'm part of a small software consultancy co-op based in Copenhagen. I wish I didn't have to toil under capitalism, but here we are.

I'm trying out the #fediverse experience to see if I can find more of a sense of community than the very Personal Brand focused Dunking of Twitter.

So far, it's felt pretty welcoming on here: lots of people, lots of tips on how to get started. But I have yet to find My People on here. #introduction #introductions