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Facebook killer concept

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  Facebook killer concept treetaxi <noreply@treetaxi.invalid> - 2012-12-02 20:15 -0700

#2574 — Facebook killer concept

--- short rant, feel free to ignore --
We are increasingly hearing stories of how social media is turning from
a nice place to keep in contact with friends & family into a privacy
destroying broadcaster of our intimate lives, vulnerable to hackers,
open to direct marketers, and even the Federal government is trying to
get into the act.

Alternatives like Diaspora have the same Achilles heel, which I feel is
the central server, where all our personal information and
communications are kept under nobody-knows-what kind of security
protocols.  So I've been thinking of how the central server can be
removed from the equation.

--rant end --

The basic FB account consists of a personal profile, a news-stream and
the oft-maligned timeline.  For moderate sized groups of friends
(probably less than 100) the average desktop should be able to store
these files locally.  With updates available through some user-to-user
method like email or IM, things like frat-party pictures or office
griping could be shared while bypassing quasi-public venues like FB &al.

I think I could hack something out myself, but it would be ugly, involve
manual steps, and just like the only telephone in town, it wouldn't get
any calls. So I'm broadcasting the idea to anyone that wants to give it
a whirl.

What I propose is a 4 layer protocol consisting of:

Presentation<>Addressing<>[Encryption]<>Transport

The presentation layer would generate a local html file for familiarity
and a user friendly interface. It could add thumbnail pictures of
posters, and pass user-entered comments to the next layer.

The Addressing layer would use standard usenet protocols (RFC 5536) to
add a threaded structure to conversations and (perhaps) profile-updates.
Header information would aid in file-handling procedures for the
presentation layer and non-text attachments.

An optional encryption layer could be added using pgp/gpg methods, but
for ease of use, keyring security would be non-interactive and therefore
a bit lax when compared to most heavy-duty encryption programs.

The transport layer might require an embedded Email, IM etc. program,
since most communication software existing is difficult to interface to.
'Friends' would be whitelisted with everything else going to dev/null.

***
I've tried to make it as open platform as possible so different programs
can play with each other.  I think it would see research and corporate
uses as well as social media.

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