Asylum for Facebook Refugees
By Aliza Earnshaw & MarkDilley
email or post a comment for Aliza Earnshaw / email or post a comment for MarkDilley
Worried because your favorite music site is recommending songs your Facebook friends like -- and you didn't even tell {{{2}}} (visit) you're on Facebook?
You aren't alone. A lot of people worry about what the most popular social networking sites are doing with their personal data. Fortunately, some of those people are programmers with the actual ability to do something about it. This list introduces you to some social sites where you can control your own information.
If you're not quite ready to make the break, you could also join the Facebook protest, or at least check out your privacy levels on da'book with {{{2}}} (visit). Then you'll know if you really have something to worry about.
Once you've found an alternative you like, you can take the next scary step: deleting your Facebook account. Learn how at {{{2}}} (visit), or check out wikiHow's article on How to Quit Facebook.
Alternative social networking sites
- {{{2}}} (visit) Diaspora's got all the buzz right now (mid-May 2010). Apart from positioning itself as a privacy-guarding alternative to Facebook, the project got attention when the four New York University students who are creating Diaspora went public with their plea for funding to get the project off the ground, at the site {{{2}}} (visit). They made their pitch in mid-April, hoping to raise $10,000 by 1 June. As of 19 May, they'd raised more than $174,000 from more than 5,000 people -- much of it in increments of $25 or so, proving that their message resonates with lots of people.
- {{{2}}} (visit) Sounds cozy, doesn't it? This project is the undertaking of two German and one Swiss programmer. They've created an open-source protocol that enables individual computers to be linked so people can put all their web accounts in one place and share whatever they like with anyone else on the network. The goal is to have a single place for all your shared info and data -- one that you control.
- {{{2}}} (visit) Backed by U.K. telecom conglomerate Vodafone Group PLC, this project is an open-source protocol that can turn any server using an open communications standard into a social network. Others can develop applications such as those developed for Facebook and other social networks.
- {{{2}}} (visit) The creation of a developer in Texas, Get6 is an open-source technology that allows people running the software to share anything with each other that they'd share on another social network -- AND share with their friends on Facebook and other commercial social networks.
- {{{2}}} (visit) A social networking platform built on WordPress, BuddyPress helps people with similar interests communicate and share.
- {{{2}}} (visit) Pidder, the creation of four German IT professionals, is a system for creating private identities and guarding one's private data. The system also includes encrypted messaging. People using Pidder can use their identities all over the web, knowing that their private information is under their sole control.
- {{{2}}} (visit) Technology collective {{{2}}} (visit) started this project as a secure alternative to commercial networks such as Facebook. The system is designed for grassroots organizers -- hence the name.
See the post about this list on the AboutUs weblog.
