Re: Truth Social as an example of the limits of free software

[Paul Sutton via libreplanet-discuss <libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org>]

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Good post, however the decision to use free software is taken by 
humans,and the decision to respect or acknowledge the license is also a 
human decision. So is the problem with people rather than the software.

Another problem seems to be the media,  obsessed with headlines and 
generating income from in some cases poor, lazy and sloppy journalism, 
it sells ads so who cares, but people want 'instant' updates this is 
very difficult with fast developing stories.  It takes time to 
investigate, fact check and write.

Truth.social only made headlines because Trump was behind it.  Mastodon 
made the headlines briefly as there was a big exodus from Twitter, but 
the media don't want to give these smaller players equal air time and 
given how Mastodon is being reported as hard to use, perhaps that is a 
'good' thing.

Where does freedom to write and publish balance between earning enough 
money to live, one of the reasons facebook can't carry news is that they 
don't want to pay media outlets for that news as per recent laws,  the 
downside of what this law has done,  is that while it fixes payment in 
the case of the fires in Canada where people NEED the news,  they didn't 
get the updates needed.

I am not sure happened in Maui but it seems the warning was sent out via 
social media as the sirens failed, but we need to wait for the 
investigation to find out what actually happened there.

All we can do is keep going and promote free software in the best light 
we can, listen to any criticism, and acknowledge this and address the 
issues / concerns raised.

Paul


On 04/09/2023 23:23, Akira Urushibata wrote:
> Last month I posted a message here on the problems of non-free
> software in voting machines.  I was pointed out that free software
> does not completely solve the problems; even with free software there
> are numerous opportunities for bad actors to upset the process.
> 
> I understand the limits of free software.  One problem I identify is
> that some people use free software not because they value freedom, but
> simply because it is economical to do so.  The great charm of free
> software is absence of charge.  Often there are additional merits:
> quality is high, problems are few, documentation is reliable and there
> exists a community of engineers who understand the code.  People who
> exploit the "cheapness" do nothing to promote free software and its
> philosophy; they do not say: "This product is possible thanks to the
> free software packages X, Y, Z and many more.  We are grateful to all
> the develpers who worked on them while making this available to the
> public on gracious terms."
> 
> The Truth Social social media service is an example of a product
> developed, owned and used by people who care little of the liberty
> which free software makes possible.  Truth Social uses Mastadon as its
> back-end and Soapbox as its front-end.  They released their derived
> work for public testing without making available the source code in
> violation of the license.  (Mastodon and Soapbox are AGPL.)  They
> eventually released the source code in .zip format.
> 
> When Truth Social was launched, it proclaimed to be a "big tent"
> platform allowing for "free expression" without "discriminating on the
> basis of political ideology".  The name "Truth Social" suggests that
> they care about truth and society.  In reality Truth Social is a chamber
> where extreme opinions far from the truth circulate.  It is for people
> who like to say and hear such things.  We know that incorrect
> information is bad for freedom.  However, Truth Social members value
> the freedom to pursue their personal pleasure and comfort above all
> else.  For them what makes them feel good is "truth" and such good
> feeling is the foundation of "social" interaction.
> 
> A critical problem Truth Social faces is that the extreme opinions
> make many people uncomfortable.  They will never consider signing up
> to participate in the dialogue.  Advertisers feel the same way.  As a
> result the platform is financialy insecure.  It is estimated that it
> loses 1.7 million dollar each month.  It started out with 37 million
> dollars in late 2021 - early 2022.  Without additional funds, it won't
> be able to continue for long.  Elon Musk's X (foremerly Twitter) faces
> a similar fate.  A little inspection reveals that under Musk's rule it
> has followed a course similar to that of Truth Social.
> 
> I have taken a look into Truth Social here but my main objective is to
> bring attention to the limits of free software.  It appears to me that
> freedom is good, but it can be combined with bad things.  Literacy
> greatly enhances one's freedom but one can argue that efforts to
> eradicate illitearcy violate the illiterate man's freedom to remain
> so.  In the above I have shown that free software can be used in a
> product which spreads falsehood, encourages ignorance and
> irrationality and endorses greed, selfishness and lack of gratitude.
> This makes me feel that we have much more to do than just call for
> freedom in software.
> 
> In classical Chinese philosophy, Lao Zi stresses freedom.  Confucius
> preaches sound education, consideration toward others, gratitude and
> rituals.  Lao Zi advocates small communities of people living simple
> lives.  Confucius and his followers refined a body of thought which
> would later support imperial dynasties.  Unfortunately it became
> excessively sophisticated.  Combined with a writing system which
> employs more than a thousand characters this led to a stark class
> distinction between the literate and the illiterate.
> 
> ---
> 
> Truth Social - Wikipedia
> (See "Software")
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Social
> 
> Trump's Social Media Platform and the Affero General Public License
> (of Mastodon) - Conservancy Blog - Software Freedom Conservancy
> https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/oct/21/trump-group-agplv3/
> 
> The Trump Truth Social network removes the most freedom-friendly
> features of the Fediverse
> https://pocketnow.com/trump-truth-social-network-removes-most-freedom-friendly-features-fediverse/
> 
> On Trump's Truth Social: Ads for Miracle Cures, Scams and Fake
> Merchandise
> The New York Times
> https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/technology/trump-truth-social-ads.html
> 
> Trump Media's proposed merger partner Digital World faces crucial vote
> The Washington Post
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/02/truth-social-trump-media-digital-world/
> 
> How to Lose Money: Buy Digital World Acquisition Corp.
> Morningstar
> https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/how-lose-money-buy-digital-world-acquisition-corp
> 
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Paul Sutton, Cert Cont Sci (Open)
https://personaljournal.ca/paulsutton/
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