Bluesky just announced a new ToS that suggests it’s gonna start forcing users to send their ID to (probably) Peter Thiel’s new ID verification company and a new Community Guidelines that looks a lot like the stuff that Fansly updated to right before it mass-banned furries and anyone who identifies themselves using terms like “catboy” or “puppygirl”, so I guess be aware that a flood of new users may be coming your way again

I would expect another wave in October when the changes are supposed to go into effect for those who clicked through without reading and ignore the meta discussions on their feed

@slightlyflightyone Oh yeah: lots of folks are probably going to walk away from Bluesky if they go age verification.

There is no site anywhere on the open web I'd upload an ID to use, and probably nothing on the dark net even asking

@slightlyflightyone where’s the source?

@OldSquida2 @slightlyflightyone Seconded.

@reflex @OldSquida2 everyone was forced to accept it with a big hubbaloo when we logged in today

@slightlyflightyone @OldSquida2 Anyone put up a diff so we can easily see the changes? A lot of us are not on BSky but have been trying to point out why it’s a bad idea for a while.

@reflex @OldSquida2 not that I have seen

there is a whole section in the Community Guidelines that wasn’t there before about ensuring your identity is authentic though

it lists adults roleplaying underage fictional characters as an example

Bluesky already has been bad about stuff banning furries for “encouraging bestiality” if they think adult artwork looks too animalistic, so I just see this as a gross escalation of existing problens

@slightlyflightyone Not sure if we read the same ToS…where did you get the connection to Peter Thiel? This is in direct response to the UK (and similar) age verification law - the same one that’s forcing some Mastodon servers to simply block connections from the UK entirely because they can’t afford to implement anything like that.

I’ll grant that - should the US gov’t pass a similar turdbucket of legislation *and* push Thiel’s ID system (WTF that looks like) - then yah, sure, but that’s several if’s along the way.

And again : this shit will hit the larger Fedi instances as well. This isn’t just a Bluesky issue.

@Caution Peter Thiel owns the service most of these companies are using: Persona

it was just a guess based on what everyone else is doing

Elon started his own company for it named X-something-or-other, but I don’t see Bluesky having the capital or will

@Caution also, section 4 of the new ToS talks about banning “roleplaying” as anyone other than your government ID shows while giving pretending to be younger than you are as an example: clearly targeting at least the ageplay and age regression communities (if not anyone whose e.g. gender differs from their ID)

the wording on rules against “bestiality” in section 2 is also vague and there are numerous references to “fictional depictions” that are extremely similar to what Itch, Steam, and Fansly recently used to ban a lot of furries from their platforms

@slightlyflightyone why would bsky do this?

@shroomie presumably pressure from Christian Nationalist and radfem groups, UK and U.S. lawmakers, and/or payment processors

same as with Fansly, Steam, and Itch earlier this summer

@slightlyflightyone yeah ig. i wish the world weren’t like this. the people responsible for moving money shouldn’t be able to gatekeep where the money goes.

@slightlyflightyone Right, so, first off, I was speaking specifically to the the new TOS, not the community guidelines. I hadn’t mentioned the community guidelines because a) I hadn’t looked them over yet, the TOS being what I was primarily concerned with atm because b) the community guidelines are not yet solidified. While the TOS is fixed (as in unchanging, not corrected) and go into effect next month, the CG are open for comments for another 2 weeks. The final version will be published on Sep 15 and go into effect a month later. If you’re concerned about it, jump in and comment. Gods know I plan on it.

Secondly, having now scanned them (including the specific passages you pointed out)… (1/3)

- the only fictional depiction that is banned is “Role-playing involving fictional minors in sexual contexts.” The “numerous” other mentions of it (of which there are 2) specifically note things that are permitted, not banned (which include pretending to be fictional individuals). The only thing they are banning (in that regard) is “Role-playing involving fictional minors in sexual contexts” which…whatever? 🤷🏽 This isn’t acceptable behaviour on any number of Fedi instances either.

Third (and most crucially) the rules that are being discussed are specific to the Bluesky app, not the network based off ATProto - just like the rules on Kolektiva don’t apply to other Masto instances by default. This includes other apps that work as well or better than the “official” one and (fucking finally) other instances. A number of marginalized communities are currently building their own instances/networks which won’t be subject to any of those rules.

That’s the whole point of decentralization, right? (2/3)

@Caution your analysis seems to neglect the reality that bluesky has a lot more power over AT than .social does over activitypub

the benefit of bsky for users who dislike fedi is almost entirely in how centralized it is

I’m not saying they *won’t* go with these guidelines verbatim, or insist they are acting in good faith in terms of the comment period having any real meaning, let’s get that clear. I haven’t the slightest faith that the T&S team there wouldn’t toss any number of us under the bus to stay up and (eventually) be profitable. Seriously. Fuck them. I *am* saying - and believe me when I say I am surprised to be doing so - that at the moment it appears that real decentralization and controllable federation may actually work as planned, which would render this whole thing fairly irrelevant.

(Also, it should be noted that a significant portion of the BS scene are as fond of Fedi as a large portion of Fedi is of them, so they’re a lot more likely to work on building out their own chunks of the ATmosphere than come here) (3/3)

@slightlyflightyone@kolektiva.social
It peeves me a little that fedi ia the last resort for them when it was always the best place, how could they not see that a millionaire owned platform was not their friend?
Better late than never I guess.

@raccoon I dunno, but it’s hard for me to feel especially comfortable or safe on fedi either, so I can’t super blame them

the stuff that makes me feel unsafe on all social media is the prevalence of cyberharassment since I always have been able to make a new account on any of these platforms whenever mods/owners powertrip on me and I continue to be able to on all of them

unfortunately, I think a lot of people mistakenly believe that the centralized power structure inherent to a site like Bluesky will protect them from harassment

“high levels of authoritarianism are good when the centre-right authoritarian is in power instead of the far right ones” seems to be a common belief in all areas of life at present :e

@slightlyflightyone@kolektiva.social
I'm sorry you feel unsafe, it sucks.
Thankfully we can defederate instances that cause problems.

@raccoon unfortunately, defederation is one of the tools used for harassment on fedi

instances defederate over things like differing stances on fictional depictions of abuse or kinks they think are bad

instances defederate because someone thinks queer millennial slang is cringe and starts a false narrative that it’s actually ableist and anti-immigrant

instances even defederate because other instances don’t acquiesce to their defederation demands

a lot of the instances that get a reputation for being “good” because they are left leaning end up being run by authoritarian abusers because being left-wing doesn’t make you immune to those patterns of behavior and a lot of people seem to be more comfortable justifying abuse perpetrated by someone they ideologically agree with

@slightlyflightyone @raccoon I don't see that stopping one or two harassers opening single-use accounts on open registration instances that are too big to defederate.

I want a system where anyone can have their own instance, but not do that.