[Air-L] More secure alternatives to popular social media?

[sky]

Thanks for sharing this, Charles. I've just been making the shift over
to more secure services, in part because I work with activists and need
to keep their data safe. I've switched to a riseup email server, full
disk encryption, encrypted chat and video call services, and secure
browsing. If anyone else is considering making similar shifts, the
Tactical Technology 'Alternatives' page is very helpful:
https://alternatives.tacticaltech.org/

Part of the research I'm doing at the moment is looking at how activists
in the squares movement deal with digital security issues. Our research
so far has looked at Occupy Oakland, anti-fascists in Athens, and
activists in Tunisia, but we don't have anything published just yet -
the first publication is in review at the moment. I'm happy to send you
more information if you're interested.

On Sun, 2013-08-18 at 11:35 +0200, Charles Ess wrote:
> Hi all,
> Partly in response to what some are calling "the Snowden Summer" - also
> including the trial and sentencing of Bradley Manning - I've been poking
> into these matters a bit more earnestly, including subscribing to a
> (terrific) email listserv - liberationtech - operated from Stanford and
> including a number of luminaries, including some well-known AoIR folk.
> 
> I'm intrigued by the raft of suggestions for more secure alternatives to
> contemporary and widely popular email services, social media, etc.,
> including, e.g.:
> 
> > Welcome to Trsst: An Open and Secure Alternative to Twitter
> > 
> > Post your thoughts, share links, and follow other interesting people or web
> > sites, using the web or your mobile or any software of your choice.
> > All of your private posts to individuals or friends and family are securely
> > encrypted so that even your hosting provider - or government - can't unlock
> > them.
> > All of your public posts are digitally signed so you can prove that no one -
> > and no government - modified or censored your writings.
> > You control your identity and your posts and can move them to another site or
> > hosting provider at any time.
> > Think of Trsst as an RSS reader (and writer) that works like Twitter but built
> > for the open web.  The public stuff stays public and search-indexable, and the
> > private stuff is encrypted and secured.  Only you will hold your keys, so your
> > hosting provider can't sell you out.
> > 
> > 
> > http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1904431672/trsst-a-distributed-secure-blog
> > -platform-for-the-o/description
> 
> I call this to our collective attention as it raises a number of ethical,
> social, political - and, yea, lo, verily - research questions and
> possibilities.
> 
> Beginning with: is anyone doing some close study on the migration(s) to and
> from such alternatives, possibly alternative practices that emerge as a
> result of the sense of having greater privacy and security, etc.?
> 
> Seems like a terrific route to follow - if anyone has resources and helpful
> signposts, would appreciate your sharing, either onlist or offlist.
> 
> Many thanks in advance -
> Charles
> 
> Professor in Media Studies
> Department of Media and Communication
> 
> Director, Centre for Research on Media Innovations
> <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/research/center/media-innovations/>
> 
> University of Oslo 
> P.O. Box 1093 Blindern
> NO-0317 
> Oslo Norway
> email: charles.ess at media.uio.no
> 
> 
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-- 
Due to security concerns with Gmail and other Google services, I'm
switching over to Riseup. From now on, please email me at:
skyc at riseup.net