To eveyone on Mastodon:
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@thisislieven Fedi potential vulnerabilities are only a portion of the picture.
PIR manages all the .org domains and is headquartered in the US.
Moreover A/I bank account has been blocked, as well as PayPal donations. The bank account is hosted at Banca Etica (lit. Ethical Bank). The bank stated that they can pay the fine for hosting an allegedly "terrorist" group, but US threatened to block all dollars transactions to that bank, impacting all of their customers.@s1m0n4 @thisislieven @LukefromDC Maybe some kind of leftist "hawala" system could get money to the A/I folks and others under blockade.
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@thisislieven @LukefromDC Yes. There are so called "bullet-proof hosting services" that ignore takedown requests from USA, but there are drawbacks to those. The main issue seems to be inability to receive any donations through banking services, all of them cowed by USA dollar dominance of the systems of exchange. Direct fund-raising for A/I and others targeted via your local social center or hacklab events seems to be the only way to fund these victims through whatever period of transition they must undergo.
Maybe we should set up a system with pigeons and tiny little wallets.
I know with the ICC sanctions the Netherlands helps the affected judges and staff behind the scenes, though no details have been disclosed. I can only hope Italy does the same for the people at A/I though it seems less likely given the politics of it all.
Europe really urgently needs its own independent banking structure and it's insanity we don't have it yet. Things are happening but it's at least a few years away, and then there's the question how it functions within an international context which for A/I and others is of course really important.
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Are you aware of the ICC sanctions? Several of the judges and other staff are sanctioned by the US and among the many issues they face is that they are unable to use any bank or other financial infrastructure, including European banks because each and every bank is at least in part reliant on US infrastructure and companies (Visa/Mastercard notably).
This will be no different for Banca Etica. I struggle to pass judgement on those banks - there is a case to be made that they can't let down their other customers and the damage would be even greater if they didn't comply.
This really is an abject failure of our leaders, national and on the EU level. Dependency even in the best of situations is not a smart idea and even less so when the level of dependency is not equal. But Trump didn't fall from the sky either, it has been clear for decades where the US was heading and that we were basically being extorted at our own cost for decades.
Something is changing and the Digital Euro will play a big part but the earliest rollout is expected in 2029. I'm not sure if we manage the three years in between and even if we may collectively that doesn't mean there aren't victims in the meantime. The ICC and now A/I for a start.
Europe dropped the ball, and I am a European who's generally happy to be so.
Wouldn't it make sense for all .org sites to at least create mirrors with TLDs that are not or at least less vulnerable?
@thisislieven I fully agree and I think the digital euro could be a solution.
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@LukefromDC We also need to be laying the groundwork for the next generation of decentralized social networking that can't be dismantled this way. The fediverse is incredibly vulnerable to DNS seizure (the technical part of the attack on A/I) to break federation and relationships across instances, and that vulnerability is entirely gratuitous from bad design choices in the protocol and failure to give users autonomous identity.
@dalias @LukefromDC a root server outside the us that handles the .stolen tld and anything the US blocks gets a free spot there? Or just a non icann set of root servers that we collectively decide to use.
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@LukefromDC I would love to understand where the fediverse is actually vulnerable.
I am nowhere near an expert on this but part of the fediverse is European and I guess it depends where the actual infrastructure is located and/or which company may host it.
The other part of course may be whether or not European politicians decide to go along and do whatever the US tells them to do - which, sadly not that unlikely. Especially Germany presents a risk here.
@thisislieven @LukefromDC As to the question of where the Fediverse is physically, @benjojo already tried to answer that. TL;DR Mostly Hetzner in the EU. https://blog.benjojo.co.uk/post/who-hosts-the-fediverse-instances
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Are you aware of the ICC sanctions? Several of the judges and other staff are sanctioned by the US and among the many issues they face is that they are unable to use any bank or other financial infrastructure, including European banks because each and every bank is at least in part reliant on US infrastructure and companies (Visa/Mastercard notably).
This will be no different for Banca Etica. I struggle to pass judgement on those banks - there is a case to be made that they can't let down their other customers and the damage would be even greater if they didn't comply.
This really is an abject failure of our leaders, national and on the EU level. Dependency even in the best of situations is not a smart idea and even less so when the level of dependency is not equal. But Trump didn't fall from the sky either, it has been clear for decades where the US was heading and that we were basically being extorted at our own cost for decades.
Something is changing and the Digital Euro will play a big part but the earliest rollout is expected in 2029. I'm not sure if we manage the three years in between and even if we may collectively that doesn't mean there aren't victims in the meantime. The ICC and now A/I for a start.
Europe dropped the ball, and I am a European who's generally happy to be so.
Wouldn't it make sense for all .org sites to at least create mirrors with TLDs that are not or at least less vulnerable?
@thisislieven @s1m0n4 @LukefromDC It is a concern that UK-native payment card and ATM networks have mostly been dismantled in favour of consolidation with Visa & Mastercard, though the BACS Faster Payments and CHAPS bank transfer settlement systems remain independent of them, nominally at least. So, the impact of possible US sanctions on UK based entities is only partially mitigated. Canada itself has their Interac system, The Netherlands has iDEAL and so on. Whilst I personally find cryptocurrency highly unsavoury and distasteful, UK-anians might be forced into using some of it in the worst case scenarios for Internet wide censorship which could unfold now. I could have snapped up the .org domain for my company; glad I didn't, but I do rely on its .net domain a lot. The .com domain was outright stolen by GoDaddy and flipped to opportunistic scumbags after the ICANN sunrise period.
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@clickhere @baedling @LukefromDC One of the easiest and best first step is probably to sign up for Tuta or Proton or something and start using it.
Start taking your privacy very seriously. Learn as much as you can about how much you are sharing and how to stop.
And I think they suggested trying to make as many people as aware of this as you can. If not, that should help also.
Insist on the type of communication systems they provided and don't settle.
@crazyeddie Thank you!
Yeah, this year I've been steadily transitioning away from US-based providers.
However, my new ones - such as #Mailfence and @thegoodcloud (@nextcloud) - are based on .com TLDs, which now worries me.
Gah.
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@thisislieven @s1m0n4 @LukefromDC It is a concern that UK-native payment card and ATM networks have mostly been dismantled in favour of consolidation with Visa & Mastercard, though the BACS Faster Payments and CHAPS bank transfer settlement systems remain independent of them, nominally at least. So, the impact of possible US sanctions on UK based entities is only partially mitigated. Canada itself has their Interac system, The Netherlands has iDEAL and so on. Whilst I personally find cryptocurrency highly unsavoury and distasteful, UK-anians might be forced into using some of it in the worst case scenarios for Internet wide censorship which could unfold now. I could have snapped up the .org domain for my company; glad I didn't, but I do rely on its .net domain a lot. The .com domain was outright stolen by GoDaddy and flipped to opportunistic scumbags after the ICANN sunrise period.
These national payment systems are generally a good thing though I have no details how everything works behind the scenes. The problem is that these are typically only for digital payments and payments in person (by card) still rely on US infrastructure. Another issue is that these systems typically only work within the respective country.
Both Brazil and India have their own payment systems that work both on- and offline and are incredibly successful. They are interesting cases, but they too only work within the borders.
The Digital Euro and Wero are supposed to address this and I hope it comes soon. While Wero replaces some national systems it's also intended to tie in with some other national systems across Europe (not just EU eventually). I am unaware if there's anything here in regards to the UK but it could be a worthwhile effort (though the UK being the UK that might be easier said than done).
At its most basic premise I find crypto interesting, especially given the massive flaws in our banking system globally. Sadly, the way it is being employed, and by whom, seems to make it more an evil than something good.
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To eveyone on Mastodon:
The real lesson of the US attack on autistici/inventi is that WE ARE NEXT. Mastodon servers mostly do not run things like PRISM, are often based outside the US, and compete directly with the Tech Bros and their ad and tracker supported shit for an audience.
Also lots of anti-Trump activism here.
If we don't fight for autistici/inventi today, we will have to fight for Mastodon tomorrow. Domino effects are real with Fascists as we saw at the start of WWII.
@LukefromDC smurfs. You need very clean smurfs with a minimum of two degrees of separation for the banking.
Staggered.
That’s about as specific as I care to get. -
These national payment systems are generally a good thing though I have no details how everything works behind the scenes. The problem is that these are typically only for digital payments and payments in person (by card) still rely on US infrastructure. Another issue is that these systems typically only work within the respective country.
Both Brazil and India have their own payment systems that work both on- and offline and are incredibly successful. They are interesting cases, but they too only work within the borders.
The Digital Euro and Wero are supposed to address this and I hope it comes soon. While Wero replaces some national systems it's also intended to tie in with some other national systems across Europe (not just EU eventually). I am unaware if there's anything here in regards to the UK but it could be a worthwhile effort (though the UK being the UK that might be easier said than done).
At its most basic premise I find crypto interesting, especially given the massive flaws in our banking system globally. Sadly, the way it is being employed, and by whom, seems to make it more an evil than something good.
@thisislieven
France also has its own sovereign circuit called CB for card payments, but it doesn't work abroad.In any case there's no bank in the world that, under the threat of having all dollar transactions frozen, won't comply with US requests.
Cryptos are limited too. People and organizations can't pay electricity bills or rent in bitcoins. Instead that's where the Digital Euro could play a role. Unfortunately it's still far from being implemented.
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@LukefromDC well the world would probably be better without social media at all....
@djsat2 Well .. then just log off and leave us alone.... -
A abekonge@venner.network shared this topic
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@GhostOnTheHalfShell @psoul also see that toot:
https://mstdn.science/users/dryak/statuses/117175633951136563/activityAnd the linked wewillfreeus write up.
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@GhostOnTheHalfShell @LukefromDC In a nutshell, this is what seems to be going on. "Terrorism" means networked activist left. (This reporter I cite doesn't mention UK war on Palestine Action, but that's cut from same cloth.)
“Trump’s War on the Left”: Jack Crosbie of Rolling Stone on the Prairieland Nine, NSPM-7 & More"
activism.https://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/26/trump_s_war_on_the_leftYeh know about his war, just didn’t recognize the specific attack (blocking email domaine)
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@crazyeddie Thank you!
Yeah, this year I've been steadily transitioning away from US-based providers.
However, my new ones - such as #Mailfence and @thegoodcloud (@nextcloud) - are based on .com TLDs, which now worries me.
Gah.
@clickhere @thegoodcloud @nextcloud @baedling @LukefromDC
Don't worry too much about that. Let them.
You can be concerned, but don't worry. It's not your responsibility.
One of the best things you could do to fight what's happening is not to panic and try to solve this when you can't. They want you panicked and doing things panicked people do. There's a few steps from A/I to nextcloud.com.
Using nextcloud and all that is already quite a lot and you should continue regardless of TLD stuff
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To eveyone on Mastodon:
The real lesson of the US attack on autistici/inventi is that WE ARE NEXT. Mastodon servers mostly do not run things like PRISM, are often based outside the US, and compete directly with the Tech Bros and their ad and tracker supported shit for an audience.
Also lots of anti-Trump activism here.
If we don't fight for autistici/inventi today, we will have to fight for Mastodon tomorrow. Domino effects are real with Fascists as we saw at the start of WWII.
@LukefromDC this news is 14 years late, people needed to hear this when they decided to hunt Kim Dotcom like he was bin Laden -
@clickhere @thegoodcloud @nextcloud @baedling @LukefromDC
Don't worry too much about that. Let them.
You can be concerned, but don't worry. It's not your responsibility.
One of the best things you could do to fight what's happening is not to panic and try to solve this when you can't. They want you panicked and doing things panicked people do. There's a few steps from A/I to nextcloud.com.
Using nextcloud and all that is already quite a lot and you should continue regardless of TLD stuff
@crazyeddie Thank you!
Okay. Deep breaths, and keep on going.
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@LukefromDC this news is 14 years late, people needed to hear this when they decided to hunt Kim Dotcom like he was bin Laden@feld @LukefromDC And being on a large Mastodon instance that has already been targeted by feds who have a full DB dump doesn't help either. Maybe it is time to use a decentralized network in a more decentralized fashion.
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@LukefromDC We also need to be laying the groundwork for the next generation of decentralized social networking that can't be dismantled this way. The fediverse is incredibly vulnerable to DNS seizure (the technical part of the attack on A/I) to break federation and relationships across instances, and that vulnerability is entirely gratuitous from bad design choices in the protocol and failure to give users autonomous identity.
@dalias @LukefromDC DHT, like for BitTorrent.
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To eveyone on Mastodon:
The real lesson of the US attack on autistici/inventi is that WE ARE NEXT. Mastodon servers mostly do not run things like PRISM, are often based outside the US, and compete directly with the Tech Bros and their ad and tracker supported shit for an audience.
Also lots of anti-Trump activism here.
If we don't fight for autistici/inventi today, we will have to fight for Mastodon tomorrow. Domino effects are real with Fascists as we saw at the start of WWII.
@LukefromDC
I can tell you with certainty that neither Zuckerberg nor Pichai really worry about Mastodon.
The authoritarian regime that can't take any criticism, though, that's a real concern! -
These national payment systems are generally a good thing though I have no details how everything works behind the scenes. The problem is that these are typically only for digital payments and payments in person (by card) still rely on US infrastructure. Another issue is that these systems typically only work within the respective country.
Both Brazil and India have their own payment systems that work both on- and offline and are incredibly successful. They are interesting cases, but they too only work within the borders.
The Digital Euro and Wero are supposed to address this and I hope it comes soon. While Wero replaces some national systems it's also intended to tie in with some other national systems across Europe (not just EU eventually). I am unaware if there's anything here in regards to the UK but it could be a worthwhile effort (though the UK being the UK that might be easier said than done).
At its most basic premise I find crypto interesting, especially given the massive flaws in our banking system globally. Sadly, the way it is being employed, and by whom, seems to make it more an evil than something good.
@thisislieven @bms @s1m0n4 For in-person payments cash is the way to go.
