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Dominic Tarr is a developer who lives on a self-steering sailboat in New Zealand; he created Scuttlebutt, a secure messaging system that can run without servers, even without ISPs.

Scuttlebutt users host append-only, cryptographically signed logs of all the public messages they've seen in their journeys, and when they meet, they sync up these messages, using their local network, or even by exchanging USB sticks of cryptographically signed files.

Thought Scuttlebutt doesn't require an ISP or servers, it can supercharge its throughput and synchrony by connecting to public servers (called "pubs") that act as clearinghouses: but taking down all the pubs will not destroy the network, only slow it down as it falls back on slower, higher-latency, lower-reliability P2P meshes.

It reminds me a lot of Fidonet, Tom Jennings' classic BBS networking infrastructure that linked millions of people around the world by programming local dial-up BBSes to call one another during off-peak/low-tariff hours and swap messages destined for one another, or more distant nodes. Fidonet eventually got a bridge into Usenet (thanks to The Little Garden, John Gilmore's trailblazing San Francisco ISP) that supercharged it in much the way of Scuttlebutt's pubs.

In Scuttlebutt, the mesh suffices. With simply two computers, a local router, and electricity, you can exchange messages between the computers with minimal effort and no technical skills. Each account in Scuttlebutt is a diary (or log) of what a person has publicly and digitally said. As those people move around between different WiFi / LAN networks, their log gets copy-pasted to different computers, and so digital information spreads.

What word of mouth is for humans, Scuttlebutt is for social news feeds. It is unstoppable and spreads fast. Once the word is out (just an arbitrary example) that Apple is releasing a new iPhone model, there is no way to restrict that information from spreading. A person may tell that piece of information to any of their friends, and those friends may in turn spread that information onwards.

With typical gossip, however, information deteriorates as it spreads and eventually becomes harmful rumor. Scuttlebutt on the other hand makes word of mouth secure with cryptography. Each Scuttlebutt account is comprised of simply two things: an append-only diary and private/public asymmetric crypto keys. An accounts identity is its public key. There are no unique usernames, because you cant guarantee two people in separate places from choosing the same username, much like you cannot forbid the name John Smith to be given to a newborn in Canada if it is already taken by another person in Australia.

All information a person has published is registered in their diary. Public messages (like in Twitter) are the most common type of message in a diary, but youll also see I am friends with that person type of messages. To send a private message to someone, I simply record a message in my diary, but encrypt it first, so the message isnt plainly readable by anyone who gets their hands on a copy of the diary. Authenticity of diaries is preserved in that all diary entries reference the message that was written before, and then is signed. This prevents tampering and makes replication easier.

Scuttlebutt

AN OFF-GRID SOCIAL NETWORK [Andre Saltz]

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Scuttlebutt: an "off-grid" P2P social network that runs without servers and can fall back to sneakernet - Boing Boing

Social networks that fail to remove defamatoryfake news, hate speech and otherillegal content will be fined up to 50m (43m) under new plans agreed by the German government.

Angela Merkels cabinet voted on the measures amid concerns over free speech, with campaigners, technology firms and journalists raising fears that tightened regulations could restrict expression.

Heiko Maas, the German justice minister, vowed to push for similar rules Europe-wide, adding: There should be just as little tolerance for criminal incitement on social networks as on the street.

Trump calls leak fake newsand something that Nazi Germany would have done

We owe it to the victims of hate crime to manage this better.

The bill strengthens Germanys existing laws covering hate speech, slander, defamation, threats and incitement, adding to prison sentences already enforceable for Holocaust denial or inciting hatred against minorities.

The issue has taken on increasing urgency ahead of the countrys federal elections in September, with concerns the proliferation of fake news and racist content online could affect the outcome.

Fears over terror attacks claimed by Isis have been a point of contention, as has the reaction to the arrival of more than 1 million refugees in Germany over the past two years.

Facebookwon a court case last month after a Syrian refugee falsely accused of being a terrorist and attempted murderer in a series of xenophobic posts attempted to sue the social networking giant for damages.

Anas Modamani, whose chance selfie with Ms Merkel is one of a series of images seized upon by far-right groups, argued that failure to remove the posts put him at risk.

His lawyer pointed out that Facebooks community standards violations did not include libel, which is a criminal offence in Germany, the UK and elsewhere.

A photo of Anas Modamani taking a selfie with Angela Merkel went viral after it was used by news organisations around the world (Getty)

The new law would give social networks 24 hours to delete or block criminal content and seven days to deal with less clear-cut cases, with an obligation to report back to the person who filed the complaint about how it was handled.

Failure to comply could see a company fined up to 50m (43m), with its chief representative in Germany handed an additional penalty of 5m (4.3m).

The Digital Society Association was among the groups opposing the move, with its head Volker Tripp saying: It is the wrong approach to make social networks into a content police.

Bitkom, an association that represents digital companies, said the government should build up specialist teams to monitor online content for potential infringements, rather than expect social networks to do it themselves.

Given the short deadlines and the severe penalties, providers will be forced to delete doubtful statements as a precaution,said Bitkom manager Bernhard Rohleder.

That would have a serious impact on free speech on the internet.

Since it was unveiled last month, the draft law has been amended to include new categories of content, such as child pornography and now allows courts to order social networks to reveal the identity of the user behind criminal posts.

To address concerns over free speech, the legislation was tweaked to make clear that a fine would not necessarily be imposed after just one infraction, and still needs to be approved by the Bundestag.

Mr Maas said freedom of expression was of huge importance in Germany, but that freedom of expression ends where criminal law begins.

The justice ministry said research showed that Facebook deleted just 39 per cent of content reported by users and Twitteronly 1 per cent, despite signing a code of conduct in 2015 that included a pledge to delete hate speech within 24 hours.

The cabinet also approved a new law cracking down on the recognition of child marriage among arriving refugees on Wednesday.

It proposes automatically declaring certificates void if one of the partners was under the age of 16 when they wed, despite concerns that the move would leave young female asylum seekers and those with children vulnerable.

In principle, marriages involving under-18s will also not be recognised, but courts will be allowed to decide whether to annul them on a case-by-case basis after receiving advice from youth protection agencies.

Cabinet members agreed the measure as a newspaper report claimed that about 270,000 Syrians living in Germany have the right to bring their family members into the country.

Bilds report could add fuel to the raging debate about migration less than six months before national elections, where Ms Merkel is seeking a fourth term as Chancellor.

Her conservative bloc faces opposition from the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which haslost support in recent months amid improving poll performances by the centre-left Social Democrats.

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Germany to fine social networks up to 50m for not taking down illegal 'fake news' posts - The Independent

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The coder who built Mastodon is 24, fiercely independent, and ... - Mashable

Facebook today introduced new tools designed to help victims of so-called revenge porn.

Going forward, if you happen to come across an intimate image on Facebook that you believe was shared without permission, it will be easier to report it. To do so, just tap on the downward arrow or "" next to a post and click "Report."

Once you report it, "specially trained representatives" from Facebook's Community Operations team will review the image and, if it's found to be in violation of the social network's Community Standards, will take it down.

"In most cases, we will also disable the account for sharing intimate images without permission," Facebook's Head of Global Safety Antigone Davis wrote in a blog post. "We offer an appeals process if someone believes an image was taken down in error."

The company also plans to use "photo-matching technologies" to prevent any subsequent attempts to share the same image on not only Facebook but also Messenger and Instagram. If someone tries to share the image after it's been reported or removed, Facebook won't allow it and the person will get a notification stating that the image violates the social network's policies.

Finally, Facebook is partnering with safety organizations to offer revenge porn victims resources and support.

"These tools, developed in partnership with safety experts, are one example of the potential technology has to help keep people safe," Davis wrote. "We look forward to building on these tools and working with other companies to explore how they could be used across the industry."

According to a recent study from the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, 93 percent of US revenge porn victims suffer "significant emotional distress" as a result of the abuse, while 82 percent report "significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas" of their life.

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Facebook Introduces New Tools to Fight Revenge Porn - PCMag India

Twitter filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday to stop federal agencies from compelling the company to hand over information about an anti-Trump account.

The suit, which lists the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its secretary John Kelly among the defendants, claims that DHS is abusing its power by trying to unmask the identity of the person behind the @ALT_uscis account.

The account is one of many created after President Donald Trump took office, purporting to be owned by current or former employees of federal agencies who often send tweets to speak out anonymously against the Trump administration. Twitter received an administrative summons in March from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency requesting records that would reveal the identity of the @ALT_uscis account holder, according to the lawsuit.

Twitter's lawyers wrote that the company is refusing to give up that information because "permitting CBP to pierce the pseudonym of the @ALT_uscis account would have a grave chilling effect on the speech of that account in particular and on the many other 'alternative agency' accounts that have been created to voice dissent to government policies."

The CBP summons did not indicate that the any laws had been broken, nor did the agency obtain a court order to prevent Twitter from notifying the @ALT_uscis account holder about the request for information, according to the lawsuit. Twitter said that it informed the account holder on April 4, and told CBP that its request infringes on the First Amendment rights of the company and its users.

A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twitter, like other social media companies, frequently receives requests from law enforcement agencies to remove content or for more information about specific accounts. During the second half of last year, the company received 2,304 such requests from US law enforcement agencies, and offered up information for 82 percent of them, according to its latest transparency report.

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Feds, Seeking Twitter Account Data, Get Lawsuit Instead - PCMag India