@w7voa I haven't read the article, but I've read that the report from Stanford that this article is based on is much more factual, and does not conclude what the headline says. Most people will never see CSAM on the fediverse, since the few instances that allow it are defederated by virtually all other instances. (Apparently, those few instances are based in Japan, where the laws surrounding CSAM are more lenient.)
@w7voa Either it's illegal in its host nation or it isn't. If it isn't, we'll block federation, as we almost certainly have. I'm tired of hit pieces and vague terms being used to promote centralized control.
@w7voa based off what I’ve heard about the maturity of the available moderation tools, I’m not surprised. Hopefully this is an area where #Mastodon, and the #Fediverse’s, openness will result in better tooling becoming available across the board.
The article states, "... child abuse material across some of Mastodon’s most popular networks..."
I have seen some dicey stuff on mstdn.jp (86K active users) which makes it a popular server. They have poor moderation. I have them limited on my instance because they also host award-winning authors and such and so I didn't think a block was fair.
We don't see it because of great moderation on our servers who do block and limit the poorly moderated ones, but if anyone goes and looks for it, I'm sure they can find it easily enough.
For the record, I have not observed any such material on my timeline. Likely that most #Mastodon instances (servers) have blocked the originating sources for such content.
@w7voa you (and me) probably have a nicely curated timeline and are in careful instances. Who knows what happens in instances made for trolls and the whatnot
@joy@w7voa No reaction I hope and stay and be active. The whole web has this issue so this seems targeted. Someone should rebuttal this piece and demonstrate what a fantastic job the admins are doing
This feels like a pivotal moment in time and should be captured in a documentary
@w7voa Also it's simply misleading. It's like saying "home computers are rife with CSA materials!" because certain criminals are using their computers that way.
Anyone can buy a computer to misuse, and anyone can start an instance to misuse. Nobody federates with them, though.
@w7voa I haven't seen any of this either. But the possibility of having to moderate that sort of content is very discouraging when considering hosting a Mastodon instance or any other service that allows user generated content, especially photo or video content. There are too few tools available to help, PhotoDNA mentioned in the paper has a "qualified customers" requirement, with no explanation of what defines such a customer.
@w7voa I have not either. I wonder if WaPo confuses servers using the software with actual well-run fedi instances? (Can't read the article as is behind a firewall)
pretty sure almost nobody has. it's ridiculous. there's a ton of it on the internet but nobody says don't open a browser. the headline at least should reflect that, not be sensationalist.
@w7voa thank you for sharing this! (I don't have a WaPo subscription and though my library will carry the article digitally, that usually takes 48 hours)
@w7voa Tricky thing with Mastadon… you could not see it on your timeline and, as far as you could tell, does not exist due to it being blocked, but does not mean it isn’t happening. Is this Mastodon’s problem? Certainly an image problem if their name keeps coming up in relation to it but does Apache get implicated when a website with such content is discovered? Is Gmail tarnished if emails with such content are discovered?
"“Investment in one or more centralized clearinghouses for performing content scanning (as well as investment in moderation tooling) would be beneficial to the Fediverse as a whole,”...
Another challenge for decentralized platforms, Thiel said, is that pockets of dangerous content can emerge in communities with more lax guidelines.
@w7voa ANYONE can start a mastodon instance and do anything they want with it. What the article didn’t mention is that those kinds of instances are blocked and defederated by the larger community.
@w7voa I know 'black box' moderation systems are a hotly debated topic but I would not be opposed to a PhotoDNA integration in Mastodon, both for local posts and incoming federated media.
didn't say it wasn't, it's obviously a problem that needs to be tackled, but with the decentralization of the fediverse, when anyone can spin up a mastodon instance at any time they like, including renaming, and refederating, the press is going to continue to blame mastodon en toto as a brand, even if there is constant defederation, which of course should happen. it's unsolvable in a decentralized system.
I completely agree with you. My experience of it has been great. I really appreciate the effort our admin puts forth. It’s not fair to the rest of Mastodon. Journalists should add more context.
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