silverpill

silverpill, 1 day ago to random

If only there was a way to integrate peer to peer payments into federated social media without relying on Stripe and Google... Maybe someday it will be discovered!

https://mastodon.social/users/dansup/statuses/112489844955494674

silverpill, 11 days ago to random

Someone wrote a simple installation guide for #Mitra

https://buck.al/mitra-installation/

silverpill, 15 days ago to article_interop

Article Interop WG: How to represent titles?

Should title be inserted into Article.content as an <h1> tag, or should it go to Article.name?

@article_interop

silverpill, 18 days ago to random

Testing strikethrough text

The result should look like the attached screenie

silverpill, 26 days ago to random

Mitra v2.17.0 has been released. From now on these announcements will be published from @mitra account

https://mitra.social/objects/018f214d-8273-0d4f-42b3-602feee5ee1f

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

https://activitypub.ghost.org/

Who's next? Substack? Twitter?

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

FEP-ef61 update, as promised: https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/pulls/304

Introducing ap:// URLs

#fep_ef61

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

Changes in my FEP-ef61 implementation: the resolver endpoint was replaced with gateway, and did:ap URLs were replaced with ap:// URLs

https://mitra.social/.well-known/apgateway/did:key:z6MkjtdL1hhAtJDRTti4JZtjGVkMiqbrQWhLQjK8wV4neCvS/actor

Also found a way to use existing URL library to parse ap:// URLs. A massive FEP-ef61 update is coming.

#fep_ef61

silverpill, 1 month ago to fediverse

https://nlnet.nl/project/WebXDC-XMPP/

#ActivityPub devs should take note

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

#Mitra v2.16.0

https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/releases/tag/v2.16.0
https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra-web/releases/tag/v2.16.0

• Full text search. The search query needs to be prefixed with ">". Only shows posts created by the current user.
• Loading latest posts from other servers (this feature is currently only available to users with 'admin' role).

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

#Mitra v2.15.0

https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/releases/tag/v2.15.0
https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra-web/releases/tag/v2.15.0

• Emoji picker in post editor (for custom emojis).
• Subscription access without payment. Subscriber status can now be given as a gift, or in exchange for off-site payment (in any currency). To do this, navigate to any profile page and click on "Subscriber details" item in profile menu.

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

https://matrix.org/blog/2024/04/open-source-publicly-funded-service/

>FOSS maintenance should be funded by governments on behalf of the taxpayer

Matrix people are struggling to maintain their tech and they are begging governments to take money from YOU to help them stay afloat.

Let them sink. We already have XMPP, and E2EE over AP is also coming.

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

Recommendations for working with nested signed objects (FEP-8b32):

https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/pulls/292/files

FEP-ae97 and FEP-ef61 require embedding signed objects into other signed objects (example: Create activity), but Data Integrity specification doesn't say how to do that correctly.

Looks like we have two options:

1. Use RDF canonicalization instead of JCS, double down on JSON-LD and RDF
2. Use JCS, but break compatibility with some JSON-LD processors

The proposed change represents option 2 (discussion on SocialHub: https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/use-cases-of-fep-8b32-object-integrity-proofs/3249/18).

#fep_ef61

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

#Mitra v2.14.0

https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/releases/tag/v2.14.0
https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra-web/releases/tag/v2.14.0

• Unicode emoji shortcodes :cat: 🐱
• Deleting one's own account
• SVG icons are inlined (UI loads faster, easier customization)

silverpill, 1 month ago to random

https://help.instagram.com/914046486923176/

>When Threads blocks communication with other servers on the fediverse
>...fails to meet our Community Guidelines...
>We’ll also block a server if it doesn’t have a:
>Sufficient privacy policy; or
>Publicly available policy to restrict access to users under the age of 13; or
>Publicly accessible feed

There are two fediverses. One of them will comply with these rules, and with whatever rules come after that.

silverpill, 2 months ago to random

It's official now: Threads implemented FEP-e232

https://engineering.fb.com/2024/03/21/networking-traffic/threads-has-entered-the-fediverse/

Article contains a couple of minor inaccuracies: _misskey_quote doesn't build on FEP-e232, and the other property name is quoteUrl, not quoteURL. But overall it's good and I hope other implementers will notice it.

#FEP

silverpill, 2 months ago to random

Decentralized identifiers (DIDs) can be divided into 3 categories, depending on where the authority resides:

• Secret key (did:key, did:pkh).
• Server (did:web).
• Blockchain (hundreds of them).

With a #DID derived from a secret key you can truly own your identity. Unfortunately, key rotation is not supported, and if you lose your key, you lose everything. This can be partially mitigated with distributed key generation techniques that make key recovery possible if only M of N shards are available, but they are complicated.

Servers can rotate keys, but they can also suddenly disappear, and again you lose everything.

Blockchain-based systems support key rotation and don't have a single point of failure (if done right). Sometimes they are called "servers with superpowers". However, popular ones are not suitable for the job because writing to them is very expensive and their clients need powerful computing devices and a lot of storage.

Is there a way around that? Yes. Blockchains can be very lightweight and they don't actually need a cryptocurrency, miners or stakers in order to work. There is a simple consensus algorithm known as Proof of authority, and one of the Fediverse competitors, Bluesky, seems to be planning to build such system:

https://github.com/did-method-plc/did-method-plc

>We are actively hoping to replace it with or evolve it into something less centralized - likely a permissioned DID consortium.

They are afraid to say the B-word, but "permissioned consortium" is exactly what it is. Of course, their identity #blockchain doesn't have to be the only one in existence. I think in the future we might see quite a lot of "identity cooperatives" of different shapes and sizes. Perhaps even a universal client, curl for identity, can be developed.

silverpill, 2 months ago to random

#Mitra v2.13.0

https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/releases/tag/v2.13.0
https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra-web/releases/tag/v2.13.0

• Notifications about emoji reactions.
• Public posts can be exported in FEP-ef61 format (exported objects are not very useful at the moment, but it's a first step towards data portability)

silverpill, 2 months ago to random

https://letter.open-web-advocacy.org/

>We write to express our concern at Apple’s decision to remove Web Apps (PWAs)...

This is truly pathetic. Just stop using it. Throw away your iPhone or whatever overpriced dysfunctional device you have

No, instead they will go to great lengths to "fix" Apple

silverpill, 2 months ago to random

FEP-ef61 actor: https://mitra.social/users/weekinfediverse/fep_ef61

The identity key of this actor is controlled by the server, which generates and signs an actor object on GET request.

Starting with custodial keys is easier than with non-custodial, so I will probably continue working in this direction. The next step is exporting posts.

silverpill, 3 months ago to random

#Mitra v2.11.0

https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/releases/tag/v2.11.0
https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra-web/releases/tag/v2.11.0

• Mentions can be limited in profile settings. Only two options are supported in this version: accept mentions from everybody and accept mentions only from known users. Known users include followers/following, and everyone else who was discovered by the server more than 1 hour ago. This may be effective against the spam from newly registered accounts, or may not - I haven't been able to test it.
• Federated timeline is visible to all local users

silverpill, 3 months ago to random

#Mitra v2.10.0

https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/releases/tag/v2.10.0
https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra-web/releases/tag/v2.10.0

Descriptions (alt text) can be added to uploaded images.
This release also includes a security patch.

silverpill, 3 months ago to random

#Mitra v2.9.0

https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/releases/tag/v2.9.0
https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra-web/releases/tag/v2.9.0

Highlights:

• Generating Ed25519 keys for all accounts (in preparation for FEP-8b32 activation).
• Send notification to admin when a new user is registered.
• Legacy identity proofs are greyed out on profile page and a small button is displayed that triggers re-verification. In the near future Mitra will stop accepting legacy identity proofs (FEP-c390 identity proofs were implemented in 1.28.0 / 2023-06-26).
• Added "Federated" timeline (aka TWKN). Currently visible only to admins.

silverpill, 3 months ago to random

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/security/advisories/GHSA-3fjr-858r-92rw

>Due to insufficient origin validation in all Mastodon, attackers can impersonate and take over any remote account.

A similar vulnerability was discovered and closed in Mitra. As far as I know, takeover is not possible here, only impersonation, but still it can be quite bad. Update to v2.8.0 if you haven't already

Other Fediverse software might also be affected

silverpill, 3 months ago to random

#Mitra v2.8.0

https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/releases/tag/v2.8.0
https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra-web/releases/tag/v2.8.0

Various bugfixes and minor improvements.