articles Archives - Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure

“A Better Approach to Privacy for Third-Party Social Media Tools”

Ethan and Chand mark a case for middleware like Block Party in Tech Policy Press.

Keyword: Decentralization

Map of United States postal service routes west of the Mississippi in 1867, depicting an early distributed communication network. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

This is an entry in our Keyword series, where we try to define the terms you’ll often hear when people talk about building a better Internet and put those keywords in their current context. The term decentralization gets thrown around a lot today, often referring to a paradigm shift in Internet technologies that’s just around… Continue reading Keyword: Decentralization

New_Public: A Social Network Taxonomy

Ethan writes about his 2×2 model of social media.

Prospect (UK): How to stop the internet becoming a junk heap

Ethan on enshitification.

Keyword: Accidental Infrastructure

An IRL example of accidental infrastructure: at the height of the COVID pandemic, parking spaces on city streets were converted into outdoor restaurant seating. Image via Wikimedia Commons user Eden, Janine and Jim.

This is an entry in our Keyword series, where we try to define the terms you’ll often hear when people talk about building a better Internet and put those keywords in their current context. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, people and organizations needed a new virtual space to host all kinds of… Continue reading Keyword: Accidental Infrastructure

Prospect (UK): Tech has an innate problem with bullshitters. But we don’t need to let them win

Ethan on bullshit.

Prospect (UK): What we would lose in a world without Twitter

Ethan writes about the dawn of Twitter’s Elon Musk era.

Prospect (UK): Is social media like a newspaper or a telephone? The answer has big implications

Ethan writes about how we should categorize platforms in order to regulate them.

Should You Leave Twitter for Mastodon?

What follows is the text of a tweet thread Ethan Zuckerman issued last week. Below it are some additional tweets embedded focusing on the case for leaving Twitter Long thread – buckle up. TL:DR; yes, you should join Mastodon. But you should stay on Twitter as well. What we need are more and different online… Continue reading Should You Leave Twitter for Mastodon?

We Love Music, So Why Is Joe Rogan Getting Rich?

"Now That's What I Call Music" was series that collected all the music you could hear on the radio for free. It used to cost about $20.

We’re Doing What We Love So Joe Rogan Can Get Paid Seven Figures Say the N-Word, Denigrate Trans People, and Undermine Vaccines