Robin Berjon

Governance & Standards at @protocollabs — Former NYT, W3C TAG, science.ai — Privacy, Web, Science, Politics, Philosophy. (he/him/Ishmael)

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Last Notes

2024-11-27 07:56:10 UTC

We know that OSS projects drift into oligarchies and become ossified. When we don't want to just let them die, we can learn from theoretical models of institutional change to understand how to compost the oligarchy and regrow the project from within.
https://berjon.com/transmutations/

2024-11-23 17:37:58 UTC

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@nprofile…dzj8 Yes!

2024-08-21 09:54:15 UTC

@nprofile…ndcz @nprofile…88e7 I tend to agree. My thinking is: "build what we need to have, if we can reuse parts of the web great, if not it doesn't matter."
That said, I think that building the new things without trying to save the web might actually… save the web. The web's great at general-purpose document retrieval. Shifting the rest off the web could make that part work great again.

2024-08-18 14:31:55 UTC

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@npub1wnd…8kcm http://www.lechateaubriand.net/ Pas donné, mais qualité étoilée pour moins.

2024-08-14 14:55:52 UTC

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@npub15au…qven Glad you liked it! I'm ex-NYT — I know exactly what you mean ;)

2024-08-14 13:44:09 UTC

In case you missed it over the weekend: check out this Tech Policy Press piece I wrote with Cristina Caffarra about the wrong and right ways remedies to use now that Google Search is officially a monopoly!
https://www.techpolicy.press/google-is-a-monopolist-wrong-and-right-ways-to-think-about-remedies/

2024-08-02 16:30:08 UTC

What few people know is that things were perfectly fine with AI initially. It's actually customer support chatbots that triggered the Butlerian Jihad.

2024-08-02 00:29:09 UTC

American friends! Thank you for having me over for a whole 9 years. It's been wild, I made lifelong friendships, and grew in ways I wouldn't have guessed.
I hope I brought you the right kind of trouble. Come visit - I know I'll be back! ♥

2024-07-22 19:49:33 UTC

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Chrome remains the only browser with no meaningful privacy protection. Worse, it tracks its users in highly deceptive and invasive ways.
What Chrome does is deliver data and eyeballs to Google. Your safety as users is entirely a secondary consideration.
No diligent CISO should allow Chrome to be used except for testing.

2024-07-22 19:48:26 UTC

Five years ago when the Chrome team announced the Privacy Sandbox, I called a "delaying tactic." Not getting rid of cookies as the first step was never going to work.
Today they announced that they won't be deprecating third-party cookies. That's five years wasted.
Receipts: https://x.com/robinberjon/status/1164583701973483525
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/831/869/590/238/285/original/039e198e2815881d.png

2024-07-21 20:01:19 UTC

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@npub1v99…xhpf Neither had I, found completely at random.

2024-07-21 18:50:33 UTC

A more in-depth elegy is called for, but I will point out, with great sadness, that James C. Scott passing away on the day of the Crowdstrike incident is a sign if ever there was one, although a bit on the nose.

2024-07-20 21:40:33 UTC

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@npub1cgl…0jx3 No, especially not with the kind of turbulence we got!

2024-07-20 21:00:09 UTC

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@npub1cl5…nzfu Thank you, got there! And yes: the Internet is becoming the infrastructure of infrastructure, so its fragility is infectious...

2024-07-20 16:28:35 UTC

Hour 24 of a 5h flight, briefly stranded in Houston and all the displays are still Microsoft Blue. "Welcome on the plane to nowhere" says the staff.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/819/758/831/176/791/original/912a4fa03cc48d52.jpg

2024-07-19 15:30:35 UTC

You know who has written about how our concentrated tech monocultures create fragile systems that predictably collapse at large scales?
Yup, that's right, it's @npub1yj9…5vlu and I (stuck in Seattle), that's who.
https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/

2024-07-19 00:22:22 UTC

Question for the lawyers: when a browser links to a search engine and gets paid for the traffic, what distinguishes that from affiliate marketing?

2024-07-18 05:45:40 UTC

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@npub1cl5…nzfu I'm delighted that you liked it!

2024-07-18 05:44:38 UTC

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@npub17qe…83t5 Thank you for reading it!

2024-07-16 00:12:23 UTC

We often talk about ethics in tech but how much of an impact has that really made? I think that we can do better, but for that we need to give up on useless habits, hone our skills, and focus a lot more on governance.
https://berjon.com/ethicswishing/

2024-07-14 21:05:45 UTC

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@npub1v99…xhpf Thank you, I'm really happy to hear that!

2024-07-13 04:44:36 UTC

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@npub1lma…68cf It very much is, but that we need to eliminate rather than recapture!

2024-07-12 00:23:14 UTC

Has anyone written a unified view of all the major fees and rents that tech platforms impose on other businesses (e.g. from app stores, ad cuts, seller fees), not counting imposed labour?
These are de facto the internet's tax system. I'd find a collated view of it both useful and fascinating.

2024-07-08 15:08:05 UTC

Information wants to be free
from corporate capture.

2024-07-08 02:11:19 UTC

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@npub1slm…aefa It's not finalised but it's solid.

2024-07-07 21:30:30 UTC

I'm not crying you're crying.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/747/335/979/797/420/original/807f0a03a0104da7.jpg

2024-07-03 22:03:31 UTC

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@npub1cwk…qe8n Yes! Let's meet there! Yay!

2024-07-03 21:51:41 UTC

Starting next month I will be living in Brussels, Belgium! 🇧🇪
If you're there, know good people who are, want to meet when you're visiting, hit me up! My exact arrival is still unspecified, but will be "in August". I'm excited to see folks there and for what we can accomplish!

2024-07-01 18:47:22 UTC

Along with 35 colleagues, I have signed an open letter to the UN to keep the internet decentralised, open, and multistakeholder. While our existing governance model needs an upgrade, replacing it with hierarchical state control is not the answer. #OpenInternet
https://open-internet-governance.org/letter

2024-06-18 04:09:30 UTC

I've tried to take on the question of what it would take to make the internet public interest technology. This took me on a trip through transnational infrastructure, standards, governance, industrial policy, and a whole cast of creative thinkers and next-generation projects.
It's complicated, but I have hope!
https://berjon.com/public-interest-internet/

2024-06-06 00:36:56 UTC

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@npub1lh0…upks Is there one that's not terrible?

2024-05-31 20:23:10 UTC

Are you thinking about digital infrastructure?
Do you have plans this weekend?
There's still time to apply for a Digital Infrastructure Insights Funds grant and put the fun in funded!
https://mailchi.mp/544bc327c6fe/diif-countdown-2024-rfp-deadline-june-2nd

2024-05-29 21:50:31 UTC

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@npub1t8r…rvnw I even miss XSLT :)

2024-05-29 16:31:53 UTC

The fact that anyone is still using Google Search *at all* is a demonstration of the power of defaults and switching friction. In a competitive market, this joke of a product would just be dead already.
https://www.platformer.news/google-ai-overviews-eat-rocks-glue-pizza/

2024-05-19 01:44:58 UTC

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@npub1lh0…upks Accessible by others, but you're the one editing? I haven't tried it, but there's a hosted service that goes with Obsidian.

2024-05-10 17:50:16 UTC

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@npub1lh0…upks Don't jinx it, man!

2024-05-09 16:11:57 UTC

You wanted to read Rewilding but prefer it in Portuguese?
Right there for you! https://outraspalavras.net/tecnologiaemdisputa/internet-a-alternativa-refloresta/

2024-05-07 17:59:47 UTC

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@npub1nd8…2zkd Congrats Ben, this is super deserved.

2024-05-04 16:18:25 UTC

Hey look, we're in The Guardian with @npub1yj9…5vlu!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/04/the-internet-is-in-decline-it-needs-rewilding

2024-05-02 21:22:43 UTC

Check out the updated tracks list for IPFS Camp! So much good stuff coming to Brussels this summer…
https://blog.ipfs.tech/ipfs-camp-2024-track-list/

2024-05-02 19:11:46 UTC

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And second, the default slot and royalties deals have a dreadful effect on competition, the web, and society, but some of the money levied that way is deployed usefully and we should preserve that.
We can do so by formalizing how that levy works (WIP): https://darobin.github.io/wise/.

2024-05-02 19:11:11 UTC

As closing arguments of the Google Search trial proceed, there are two things I would like to flag.
First, the way in which search works on the web is stuck in the 90s. We need not stay there and can imagine alternatives (that aren't crappy AI): https://berjon.com/fixing-search/.

2024-05-01 14:18:01 UTC

I'm delighted to share the German translation of the Rewilding essay from @npub1yj9…5vlu and I! Deep thanks to Netzpolitik.
https://netzpolitik.org/2024/essay-wir-muessen-zurueck-zum-wilden-internet/

2024-04-30 20:03:21 UTC

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@npub1xjq…4rgh Hahaha, keep me posted, I'm really curious to hear if that could be a thing. It would make for a great IPFS Camp topic too. (Hint hint)

2024-04-30 17:16:24 UTC

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@npub1xjq…4rgh I think that Mark is doing something like that (really).
That said, I'm not sure you need the Fuse indirection: Tantivy has a pluggable directory abstraction that could go straight to WNFS.

2024-04-30 17:07:45 UTC

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@npub1xjq…4rgh Yeah: "A tantivy index is a collection of smaller independent immutable segments." This is promising, but the file names don't seem to be content addressable (though I'm not sure, maybe they can be!).

2024-04-30 14:37:55 UTC

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@npub1xjq…4rgh I really like that it's built around results customisability. I think that's a killer feature, assuming the indexing isn't the issue here.
I wonder if it can store its index on IPFS :)

2024-04-30 13:40:35 UTC

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@npub1xjq…4rgh Huh, the results I get are pretty dated (I suspect it's very strongly derating third-party trackers) but this is interesting thanks!

2024-04-30 00:32:53 UTC

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@npub1kw7…mwjd Thanks a lot for including us!

2024-04-28 20:12:43 UTC

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@npub1w3c…nac0 thank you!

2024-04-23 14:41:54 UTC

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@npub18ar…wgu2 Thank you ❤️‍🔥

2024-03-15 20:15:48 UTC

For the avoidance of doubt: at no point have I or will I ever give an interview in my capacity as vice-chair of the W3C's Board of directors. Any indication to the contrary is disingenuous.

2023-06-07 14:29:09 UTC

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@npub1nd8…2zkd It hasn't happened?