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*32C3 preroll music*

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Herald: I’m happy to introduce
Katharina Nocun. She is a…

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*applause*

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She’s a privacy activist and

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she worked for the Federation of
German consumer organisations;

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and also for the German working
group on Data Retention.

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She was on the board of
the German Pirate Party

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and nowadays she’s working for Campact

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as a campaigner for digital rights.

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Campact is an online petition
platform here in Germany.

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But also she’s an economist.

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And she did some research
on why it is so difficult

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for decentralized social networks

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to compete with Facebook.
So it’s the perfect talk

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for the mission statement of this
Congress – Katharina Nocun!

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*applause*

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Katharina Nocun: Yeah, thank you very
much for this awesome introduction.

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And first of all I need to excuse
myself: I catched a cold, so

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just imagine that I’m shouting at
you all the time. Because I can’t.

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Yeah, why did I do some research on
the topic of Facebook and Diaspora?

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You know I really hate
Facebook. During my time

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at the Federal consumer
organization of Germany

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we sued Facebook a lot.
We also sued Google a lot.

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And when I studied economics
friends of me asked me:

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“Yeah, let’s found a Facebook Group
and there we can exchange exams and…

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that’s so cool, that’s so awesome”
and I said: “Yeah, well, no,

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I don’t have a Facebook
account and I don’t want to”.

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*applause*

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And then I asked…
I mean it worked out fine,

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we opened a group on weriseup.net,

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so we exchanged our exams
there. But still I asked myself

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why can’t I convince more people to
join Diaspora or other networks.

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And that’s why I did
this research project.

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So let’s talk about gated
communities and the internet.

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The internet is based at large
parts on free protocols,

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so everything is okay, isn’t it?

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Okay, everything is okay?

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*mumble and laughter from audience*

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Yeah, in the beginning of the internet
there were many many nodes

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and they were connected to one
another as equals. And today

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the internet is a giant web
which is interconnected

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with more and more aspects
of all-eyes (?). But what started

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as a playground for nerds and
scientists is not only today

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a powerful economic driving force
but changes a lot of aspects of

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how economics work, how politics
work and how public debates work.

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But it also changed in
a way I really dislike.

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The main topic of this Congress
is ‘Gated Communities’

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and I think it’s a very
important issue to address

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that above this open layer of the
Internet, above this open protocol

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gated, closed islands of
gated communities emerged

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and we see clear that those
are trends for concentration

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in the hands of just
a few platform owners.

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So what can we do about it? I think
social networks are an important benchmark

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for these trends and, as an economist,
I have a clear word for what is happening

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right now on many areas on the web:

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it’s market failure. Because
there is no real competition

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possible with Facebook. There
is no real competition possible

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with other large platforms.
And that’s why this talk

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will try to explain why we should
care that Facebook has become

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the de facto social network provider
for large parts of the world

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and how this came about.
And, most importantly,

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what lessons we can draw from
certain dynamics on the market,

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for market entry options for
decentralized social networks.

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So, first of all, why should we care?

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Some numbers:
if Facebook was a state,

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it would have more inhabitants than
Europe, China or the Americas.

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And every fifth human being on this planet

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logs in on Facebook
at least once per month.

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That’s an incredible number.
And the reason for the success

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of social networks as an
idea is because it connects

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to a very basic human need for us.
Because we are social creatures.

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So, I think, addressing this human need,

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that we are social, that we want to
exchange, to share with one another,

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is an incredible, cool, powerful idea. And

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social networks most importantly
add context to content.

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It makes a difference if a friend of mine
shares an article about Star Wars,

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how stupid the new Star Wars movie
is than some journalist just writes

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an article about it. And social
networks are so important for us

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because the web is filled with
information about everything.

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And social networks allow us to filter
this information through social ties.

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And it’s not only the place where
we can spread birthday messages,

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“Happy Birthday, I thought about you
because Facebook reminded me

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I should do so”.
But Facebook is also the place

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where we can found groups, where we
can not only exchange maybe exams

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for economics classes, but where we
can call for action and organize protest.

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And, back then, when I studied in Hamburg,

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there was a point where
I registered on Facebook

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under a fake name.
I was called ‘Maria Musterfrau’.

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And this Maria Musterfrau
founded different events

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on Facebook, for demonstration
against the ACTA treaty.

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ACTA, it was a treaty…

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it had a lot to do with copyrights, and

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also in some areas with privacy
issues. And we called for action

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on the web, and 15,000 people came
to our demonstration in Hamburg.

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So basically I think social networks
are a very, very powerful idea

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to enhance democracy, freedom of speech.

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But, unfortunately, I don’t think
that the structure of Facebook

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as the de facto social network
provider of the world

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is the best way to provide
this idea to the people.

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So we heard a lot on TV,
on the newspapers,

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about the Facebook revolution; how
the Facebook revolution would

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empower democracy etc.,
and freedom of speech.

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And, in fact, for generations,
media institutions such as

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TV channels or newspapers were
the gatekeepers for public debates.

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If you wanted to influence public debates

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you needed to get past these
gatekeepers. And it is true

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that the internet or social media allowed

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to implement setting
a topic from bottom-up.

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And that is a very powerful idea. But
this tale of the power of Facebook

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as an enabler or catalyst
for freedom of speech,

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I think it’s really a tale, it’s a
very simplified story. Because

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the inconvenient truth
is that today, if you

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want to influence public debates,
you have new gatekeepers.

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And Facebook is one of the most
important gatekeepers of our time.

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Take e.g. secret algorithms,
which filter information

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that is revealed to us, not on the basis
which information we want to see,

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but on assumed click-and-interaction
rates. Based on economic incentives,

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because they want to make
money out of this interaction.

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Facebook thereby creates virtual
filter bubbles around us.

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It’s not only that we can filter
information through our social ties,

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but Facebook sits in the middle,
as bottleneck for information

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and control. Whether or not
this is really provided to us.

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And, most importantly, Facebook
decides which content is allowed

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on its network and which content is
banned. Take e.g. the case of nudity;

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or the example of violence.

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Facebook is much, much more liberal
to depict violence on its network

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than nudity. E.g. when you
have a mother feeding a child,

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Facebook is more likely [for you]
to be banned than someone

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beating someone else up.
And if you ask Kurdish activists

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on the topic of what they think about
freedom of speech on Facebook

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they will tell you a pretty different
tale than we see on the media

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when they talk about the
Facebook revolution.

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Because during the last years there were
several cases where president Erdoğan,

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the Turkish Prime Minister,
addressed Facebook,

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because he wanted to have some
profiles of activists or parties banned.

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And Facebook complied.

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And talking about social network is
not only about freedom of speech.

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One of the most important topics,
I think, is also the issue of privacy.

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And for me, the decisive privacy
struggles are not whether or not

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someone sees our selfies on Facebook.
Because I guess most people want

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that other people see their selfies on
Facebook. For me the decisive struggles

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are rather about our browser history that
Facebook collects through Like buttons.

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It’s about connection information.
It’s about our Search queries and

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the right to register under a fake name.
Because what I did back then,

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when I organized demonstration in
Hamburg, that was clearly illegal.

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You are not allowed to register under
a fake name. And what would have happened

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if Facebook decided one day, or 2 days
before the demonstration was launched,

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or maybe before that: “let’s delete
this account, let’s delete this event”.

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We would have a problem.

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And based on the information
on which profiles we click

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our provider knows with whom we are in
love and whether or not we moved on

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after a break-up. That are pretty
important information about us;

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and we should never forget that
the information that is stored

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in order to sell us cars, and
diamonds and fancy stuff

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can also be used in order to target
activists. And in the wrong hands

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this data on activists
is pretty dangerous.

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So as we see there is a clear
conflict between shareholder value

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and public interest. And I do not
have a problem with social network.

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As I told you, I love the idea. But I do
have a problem when we put corporations

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in a position to exploit this very
sensitive part of our lives.

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But fortunately there is an alternative.

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In 2010 four young students from the US

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launched a crowdfunding project
on kickstarter. And they asked

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for 10,000 US$ in order to change
their internships and summer jobs

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for the opportunity to work full time
on a decentralized open source

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alternative social network. And
the reaction was really stunning.

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Because they asked for 10,000 $
and what they got in the end,

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after 39 days, was 20 times
more than they asked for.

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It was 200,000 $. And what
was the goal of Diaspora?

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The founders wanted to give the users
first of all a better bargaining position

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against the dominant
social network provider.

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They wanted to give users
more control over their data

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and they wanted to implement
a structure for social networks

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that provides a better
control against censorship

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and control of governments.

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So what does it mean,
‘a decentralized social network’?

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To talk about the issue of centralization
or decentralization is important because

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a lot of the power structure between users
and the platform owners can be foreseen

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somehow through the technical
infrastructure that is implemented. And

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you can say that there are 3 basic
kinds of different network structures,

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which be ‘centralized’,
‘decentralized’ and ‘distributed’.

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In the centralized design which
is represented e.g. by Facebook

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there is one network platform owner
in the middle like a spider in the web

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collecting all the data. He’s the
bottleneck. You can’t go besides

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this bottleneck in order to communicate
with other members of the platform.

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In contrast to that a fully
distributed system would be like…

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or is a peer-to-peer system where
every user is at the same time

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a node of the network.
So, again, it’s a network of equals.

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But unfortunately it’s a bit tricky to
provide a distributed social network

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on large scale because as you can
imagine you would need encryption,

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on a large scale because otherwise every
other member of the network would have

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the potential to access your private
data. And there are some projects

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researching on that. But in 2010
when Diaspora was founded

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the idea was to start with
a decentralized structure.

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And the most important feature
of such a decentralized structure

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is that you don’t have
one server where every…

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like every interaction is going through
but you have different servers.

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And because it’s open source everyone
is free to set up their own server;

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or you as a user can maybe
chose “I trust person X,

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and she’s running a Diaspora pod,
and I join”; or I don’t trust anyone

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and I set up my own pod.

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And talking about freedom of
speech or government pressure:

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One interesting feature is that
it’s much, much more difficult

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to censor or to control data
flows from government level

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in a decentralized or distributed
system because if there is a server

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under pressure you just
can move to another server.

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This slide shows what’s
the state of Diaspora

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right now. We have now… well we live
in the year 2015. Some years passed

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since this idea was announced. And

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here you see the Top 10 active Diaspora
servers. Or they’re also called pods.

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And first of all we see
that in the last years

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there was a development or a trend
that more and more servers

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are located in Germany. The biggest
server once… or the most active server

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once was joindiaspora.com
which was the first server

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that called for like
registration for anyone.

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And today most servers are in Germany.

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And looking at the number
of registered users

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you see that the Top 10
Diaspora pods together

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have roundabout half a Million users.

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So anyone who’s telling you
“Diaspora is dead!”, you can tell:

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“Diaspora is not dead!”.
It’s pretty alive. And

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there are roundabout between
20.000 and 30.000 people

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who log in to the Diaspora
network, or connected networks

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at least once per month. And
this number is rather increasing…

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…over the last years. So we see
that Diaspora has a relatively small

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00:18:02,790 --> 00:18:08,260
but stable user base. But in
the end when we look at the…

227
00:18:08,260 --> 00:18:12,640
what was announced we see
that it’s clearly failed its goal

228
00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:18,020
to overcome Facebook or to overthrow
Facebook as the de facto social network

229
00:18:18,020 --> 00:18:23,060
of the world. So we need to ask ourselves:

230
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“Why didn’t this happen?”

231
00:18:28,630 --> 00:18:33,230
And in IT it’s said that ‘Code is
Law’. And in economics it’s said

232
00:18:33,230 --> 00:18:38,880
that the market structures
are telling you a lot

233
00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:46,130
about which outcome is most likely
to come out of a situation on the market.

234
00:18:46,130 --> 00:18:49,340
That means that market structure are
a powerful tool that can provide

235
00:18:49,340 --> 00:18:54,260
some explanations why we live in
such a decade of gated communities

236
00:18:54,260 --> 00:18:59,170
and why decentralized alternatives
struggle so hard to overcome Facebook

237
00:18:59,170 --> 00:19:06,400
and others. And talking about

238
00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,690
market structures or
features of certain markets:

239
00:19:10,690 --> 00:19:15,820
the most important feature on
the market for social networks

240
00:19:15,820 --> 00:19:20,990
is of course the ‘network effect’.
So: what’s the network effect?

241
00:19:20,990 --> 00:19:25,870
Imagine you get a very tempting
offer for a mobile contract.

242
00:19:25,870 --> 00:19:30,090
And it offers really everything you
were craving for: different features,

243
00:19:30,090 --> 00:19:36,520
a new mobile for free, and
very very low, competitive prize.

244
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:41,180
But there’s just one twist with
this offer: the operator tells you:

245
00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:46,400
“Well, you can accept this offer, but the
problem is you can only communicate

246
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:50,390
with other members of our network.
Everyone else will be banned

247
00:19:50,390 --> 00:19:54,850
from calling you or being called.”

248
00:19:54,850 --> 00:19:59,360
Would you accept such an offer?
Would you join a gated community?

249
00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:06,020
I don’t think so. I wouldn’t.
And this example

250
00:20:06,020 --> 00:20:11,070
shows really what the
network effect is all about.

251
00:20:11,070 --> 00:20:15,600
The ‘global network
effect’ means simply that

252
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:19,980
the more users join a network the
more connections are available

253
00:20:19,980 --> 00:20:24,180
and therefor the more attractive it
becomes for other people to join.

254
00:20:24,180 --> 00:20:27,810
The more people join
– more people join etc.

255
00:20:27,810 --> 00:20:33,320
And therefor it’s a structure that really
empowers the growth of monopolies

256
00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:38,090
or big platforms. And

257
00:20:38,090 --> 00:20:42,380
through this Bandwagon effect
with positive feedback loops

258
00:20:42,380 --> 00:20:47,320
you can clearly see that
monopolies are enforced.

259
00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:51,340
But talking about social networks: the
global effect is really not so important,

260
00:20:51,340 --> 00:20:57,430
I think. Because when I think about social
networks or communication platforms

261
00:20:57,430 --> 00:21:01,960
I really don’t care about the market
share in China, or in Brazil,

262
00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:07,940
or in the US. I care about the
market share among my friends,

263
00:21:07,940 --> 00:21:15,950
I care about on which platform I can reach
my family, or my business contacts.

264
00:21:15,950 --> 00:21:22,550
And that’s true for a lot of people.
I mean, most people communicate intensely

265
00:21:22,550 --> 00:21:27,820
always with a very small subset of people.
And that is how the ‘local network effect’

266
00:21:27,820 --> 00:21:33,040
works. If everyone here in this room…
or if everyone I’m friends with

267
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:37,240
– rather to say – would switch to an
alternative platform I would follow.

268
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:41,810
Always. Because I want
to reach these people.

269
00:21:41,810 --> 00:21:47,040
And interestingly the success
of Facebook was not so much

270
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:51,400
about the global network effect.
This effect came later.

271
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:56,660
First of all it was about
the local network effect.

272
00:21:56,660 --> 00:22:00,400
Because when Facebook emerged they
had a certain strategy for growth.

273
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:05,210
And first of all Facebook was
in the first month or year

274
00:22:05,210 --> 00:22:08,560
only available for Harvard students.

275
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:13,790
You even needed a valid Harvard
University address in order to register.

276
00:22:13,790 --> 00:22:18,140
Everyone else was banned from the network.

277
00:22:18,140 --> 00:22:22,040
So imagine the situation: you are new
at the university and most likely

278
00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:25,780
you moved to Harvard.
You don’t know anyone there.

279
00:22:25,780 --> 00:22:29,970
But you make new friends and all these
new friends are on this platform.

280
00:22:29,970 --> 00:22:33,840
So you know you will meet
people you want to meet there.

281
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:39,220
So you join. And only after having reached

282
00:22:39,220 --> 00:22:43,370
a critical mass in Harvard
Facebook expanded

283
00:22:43,370 --> 00:22:48,160
to other Ivy League colleges.
These are very prestigious colleges

284
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:53,980
in the US and you can be really lucky if
you are accepted at one of these colleges.

285
00:22:53,980 --> 00:22:57,960
And again, you needed a valid
university address in order to register.

286
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:02,810
And everyone else was banned.

287
00:23:02,810 --> 00:23:07,430
And only after they reached a critical
mass there they expanded.

288
00:23:07,430 --> 00:23:11,630
And allowed any university
student to log in.

289
00:23:11,630 --> 00:23:16,780
Then they expanded again.
And allowed any school…

290
00:23:16,780 --> 00:23:22,620
or any member of a school to join.
Then they chose several institutions,

291
00:23:22,620 --> 00:23:26,590
which were also allowed to join. And
only after they reached a critical mass

292
00:23:26,590 --> 00:23:36,150
in every of these communities they
opened for the general public.

293
00:23:36,150 --> 00:23:41,630
And that is how social networks
– or also different kinds of networks

294
00:23:41,630 --> 00:23:45,950
which are based on communication –
how they grow.

295
00:23:45,950 --> 00:23:49,580
And this strategy is successful
because people who joined early

296
00:23:49,580 --> 00:23:53,750
on Facebook knew that they would
find meaningful connections there,

297
00:23:53,750 --> 00:23:58,460
not anyone. As I told you: you don’t
care about the market share in China.

298
00:23:58,460 --> 00:24:02,450
You care about the market share
maybe on the CCC congress, or maybe

299
00:24:02,450 --> 00:24:06,980
at your local hackerspace, or maybe at
your school or university, or at work,

300
00:24:06,980 --> 00:24:13,790
or at your sucker clob… soccer club.
*laughs*

301
00:24:13,790 --> 00:24:19,480
*laughter, relenting applause*

302
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:23,220
Well, and...
*laughs again*

303
00:24:23,220 --> 00:24:26,710
Facebook was not the only network
that understood how important

304
00:24:26,710 --> 00:24:31,380
these local network effects
are in order to grow.

305
00:24:31,380 --> 00:24:36,530
You often find invite-only structures,
searchable friends-of-friends lists,

306
00:24:36,530 --> 00:24:40,590
or invite applications, or…
These fancy upload functions

307
00:24:40,590 --> 00:24:45,540
for your address book… yeah, it’s
all about the local network effect,

308
00:24:45,540 --> 00:24:50,550
it’s all about local growth.

309
00:24:50,550 --> 00:24:54,810
But unfortunately it’s not only the
global and the local network effect

310
00:24:54,810 --> 00:24:59,210
that benefits Facebook. It’s also
the indirect network effect,

311
00:24:59,210 --> 00:25:03,540
or also called
‘cross sided network effect’.

312
00:25:03,540 --> 00:25:07,260
And one example, what does
it mean, ‘indirect network effect’,

313
00:25:07,260 --> 00:25:13,230
one network effect again?
Facebook opens its platform

314
00:25:13,230 --> 00:25:17,270
for app developers. Any app
developer is free to join Facebook

315
00:25:17,270 --> 00:25:20,530
– of course you have some restrictions –
but you don’t need to pay money

316
00:25:20,530 --> 00:25:26,310
in order to place your app on Facebook.
And why does Facebook act in such a way?

317
00:25:26,310 --> 00:25:30,970
Because the more apps you have,
the more interaction you have

318
00:25:30,970 --> 00:25:35,110
the more people are likely to join.
And the more people join

319
00:25:35,110 --> 00:25:39,670
the more apps you have. Then
more people will join. So you have

320
00:25:39,670 --> 00:25:44,600
a likelihood that more apps
can contribute to growth.

321
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,230
And maybe you don’t care about apps.

322
00:25:48,230 --> 00:25:51,670
I know pretty much people
from my time at university

323
00:25:51,670 --> 00:25:59,660
that were so addicted to Farmville.

324
00:25:59,660 --> 00:26:03,440
Or CandyCrush, or whatever.
But this Farmville thing really

325
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:07,910
ruled at university when
you looked at the laptops.

326
00:26:07,910 --> 00:26:11,360
Another interesting cross
sided network effect is

327
00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:15,340
e.g. an example where you tried…

328
00:26:15,340 --> 00:26:18,360
when you succeed to
attract more advertisers,

329
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:21,900
and these more advertisers pay you
more money, you use this money

330
00:26:21,900 --> 00:26:26,860
in order to provide better
services to your users and

331
00:26:26,860 --> 00:26:33,240
maybe more users join because of this.
This attracts more advertisers etc.

332
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:38,060
So this is another effect that

333
00:26:38,060 --> 00:26:42,280
leads to an increase in growth
– for the largest platform!

334
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,100
Or for large platforms. And on top
of that you still of course have

335
00:26:46,100 --> 00:26:50,500
economies of scale, like in
many different other markets.

336
00:26:50,500 --> 00:26:53,990
Economies of scale basically
means the marginal costs

337
00:26:53,990 --> 00:27:00,320
for every additional user just decreases.

338
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,650
And of course this doesn’t
make competition any easier.

339
00:27:04,650 --> 00:27:08,800
And at this point it is to understand
– talking about Facebook

340
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:12,900
as a gated community –
how it came about that

341
00:27:12,900 --> 00:27:17,930
it is in fact today a gated
community. Because

342
00:27:17,930 --> 00:27:22,350
it wouldn’t if Facebook would
provide e.g. open standards

343
00:27:22,350 --> 00:27:28,020
and the ability to interconnect
between different networks.

344
00:27:28,020 --> 00:27:32,870
Imagine a situation where
you just could join Diaspora

345
00:27:32,870 --> 00:27:38,040
and you still could contact all
your contacts from Facebook.

346
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:42,800
How much more people would then
switch from Facebook to Diaspora?

347
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:50,440
I think this number would
be pretty high. And…

348
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:56,400
maybe some of you may think
this is like a total[ly] naive dream

349
00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:02,030
of open standards in social networks.
But I guess everyone of you

350
00:28:02,030 --> 00:28:06,700
has an email address. And do you care

351
00:28:06,700 --> 00:28:10,730
which provider your
communication partner chooses?

352
00:28:10,730 --> 00:28:14,130
I mean you don’t need to care
because it’s an open protocol.

353
00:28:14,130 --> 00:28:17,780
As long as this person
uses the email technology

354
00:28:17,780 --> 00:28:20,700
you can communicate with [it].

355
00:28:20,700 --> 00:28:27,010
And the issues of whether or
not a communication platform

356
00:28:27,010 --> 00:28:30,770
shuts down and uses proprietary standards,

357
00:28:30,770 --> 00:28:36,860
and maybe implements
incompatibility on purpose

358
00:28:36,860 --> 00:28:41,290
is because that standards have the power

359
00:28:41,290 --> 00:28:45,320
to change the reference
point for the network effect.

360
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,910
As I told you with the example of email:

361
00:28:49,910 --> 00:28:55,080
the relevant number concerning the
local and the global network effect

362
00:28:55,080 --> 00:29:00,930
with email is not the number who’s on
Gmail or the number of people who use GMX

363
00:29:00,930 --> 00:29:05,670
or T-Online, whatever there is.
But the relevant number is really

364
00:29:05,670 --> 00:29:10,330
who uses this technology.

365
00:29:10,330 --> 00:29:14,230
And that is why there
are very high incentives:

366
00:29:14,230 --> 00:29:17,830
once you became a big player
because of the global network effect,

367
00:29:17,830 --> 00:29:21,090
the local network effect,
the indirect network effect,

368
00:29:21,090 --> 00:29:27,490
just to close your gates and
shut your competitors out.

369
00:29:27,490 --> 00:29:32,490
And it won’t get better.
In fact it will get worse.

370
00:29:32,490 --> 00:29:37,110
E.g. we see a lot of companies
that in the beginning provide pretty

371
00:29:37,110 --> 00:29:42,280
open standards, or invite application
writers to write mobile applications,

372
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:46,770
such as Twitter, but at some
point they always close down.

373
00:29:46,770 --> 00:29:50,920
Once Facebook chat was
compatible with Jabber.

374
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:56,100
And the Google chat was compatible
with Jabber, with XMPP, too.

375
00:29:56,100 --> 00:30:00,440
But at some point they just
decided to close down.

376
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:04,270
And if you compete with a gated community

377
00:30:04,270 --> 00:30:09,330
this means also something else.
It means that a new feature

378
00:30:09,330 --> 00:30:14,320
won’t help you that much.
When you try to get users

379
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:20,550
to switch. Because maybe e.g. there will…

380
00:30:20,550 --> 00:30:23,770
imagine a new social network with
a fancy feature and everyone says:

381
00:30:23,770 --> 00:30:27,260
“Oh, I like this feature but at the
same point at the same time

382
00:30:27,260 --> 00:30:30,870
a lot of people will say: “Yeah, I like
this feature but still it’s more important

383
00:30:30,870 --> 00:30:35,050
to communicate with all of my
friends.” This gives you time.

384
00:30:35,050 --> 00:30:39,530
Of course people are more likely to
switch but you have time to adapt

385
00:30:39,530 --> 00:30:44,980
as a monopolist, as a big platform
in order to copy these features.

386
00:30:44,980 --> 00:30:51,660
Or maybe to buy the whole company
like Facebook does frequently.

387
00:30:51,660 --> 00:30:55,790
And it becomes more likely
– with the possibility just to close up

388
00:30:55,790 --> 00:30:59,370
your community and make
a gated community out of it –

389
00:30:59,370 --> 00:31:03,070
that the first mover on the market
will take it all. The first company,

390
00:31:03,070 --> 00:31:07,330
or the first platform that
manages to get a critical mass

391
00:31:07,330 --> 00:31:12,600
and shuts down is most likely to become
the de facto [standard] platform provider

392
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:17,830
for all of the users.

393
00:31:17,830 --> 00:31:22,680
But unfortunately these are
not all the economic effects

394
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,230
that make it less likely that
people leave Facebook.

395
00:31:26,230 --> 00:31:31,440
There are still the ‘switching cause’
and the ‘lock-in’ effect.

396
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:35,160
Imagine you want to leave
from Facebook, you have

397
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:40,070
all your photos there, you have all your
contacts there, you have interaction data.

398
00:31:40,070 --> 00:31:43,380
And maybe you can move some of your
photos; but it’s incredibly annoying

399
00:31:43,380 --> 00:31:47,510
when you don’t have data portability
in place. And there are some data

400
00:31:47,510 --> 00:31:51,140
which are really lost.
You can’t take them with you.

401
00:31:51,140 --> 00:31:55,530
And that is why switching is so hard.
And the longer you are member

402
00:31:55,530 --> 00:31:59,470
of such are platform which doesn’t
allow you just to take your stuff

403
00:31:59,470 --> 00:32:03,480
when you move out the more
you become locked in.

404
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:07,720
And the problem about the situation
is: once the operator knows

405
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:12,470
that you won’t be very likely
someone who just switches

406
00:32:12,470 --> 00:32:17,860
he will care less. He will care
less when you complain about

407
00:32:17,860 --> 00:32:21,490
the new ‘Terms of Services’, he will
care less when you complain about

408
00:32:21,490 --> 00:32:25,980
privacy issues, or the advertising
policy or whatever. He will just

409
00:32:25,980 --> 00:32:32,590
don’t give a shit.

410
00:32:32,590 --> 00:32:35,780
And the problem is: once you have
a gated community, of course

411
00:32:35,780 --> 00:32:40,770
[you] want to monetize it.
And the less likely users can make

412
00:32:40,770 --> 00:32:45,720
a credible threat to leave in case
they don’t like the business model

413
00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:53,170
or the way how their data or
they themselves are treated

414
00:32:53,170 --> 00:32:57,610
the more you can just take out of this
network. Because people will start

415
00:32:57,610 --> 00:33:02,140
to tolerate things they would never
tolerate under other conditions.

416
00:33:02,140 --> 00:33:06,590
In the case of email I would just switch
my email provider. In the case of Facebook

417
00:33:06,590 --> 00:33:11,240
most people won’t
switch the social network.

418
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,190
In the business model of Facebook we are
not the consumers. That’s very important

419
00:33:15,190 --> 00:33:19,710
to keep in mind. We are the product
being sold. And advertisers pay

420
00:33:19,710 --> 00:33:23,450
for the really really scarce
resource on the internet:

421
00:33:23,450 --> 00:33:28,630
It’s access to the users!
It’s our attention.

422
00:33:28,630 --> 00:33:33,910
And this here is some data
on how much worth…

423
00:33:33,910 --> 00:33:38,150
or how much revenue is generated per user.

424
00:33:38,150 --> 00:33:42,330
And you see that when
you’re from the US or Canada

425
00:33:42,330 --> 00:33:49,840
your data per year is worth ca. 8 Dollars.

426
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:54,490
So you pay such an amount
of money for getting a service

427
00:33:54,490 --> 00:34:01,360
that costs the provider approx. some
pennies, because of economies of scale.

428
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:11,118
So that’s why gated communities
are everywhere. It’s a gold mine.

429
00:34:11,118 --> 00:34:18,130
And the problem is, talking about
platforms such as Facebook…

430
00:34:18,130 --> 00:34:22,320
We are not talking anymore
about just social networks.

431
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:26,409
Because it’s a platform.

432
00:34:26,409 --> 00:34:32,139
And platforms that have the network
effects and ‘lock-in’ on their side

433
00:34:32,139 --> 00:34:36,270
try often to transfer their
dominant market position

434
00:34:36,270 --> 00:34:42,560
from one market to another market.
And one common strategy is bundling.

435
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:48,389
Bundling appears when you
only can get a certain service

436
00:34:48,389 --> 00:34:52,260
as a bundle of services, and you
can’t just get a single service

437
00:34:52,260 --> 00:34:56,820
without the whole bundle. Some
examples concerning Facebook:

438
00:34:56,820 --> 00:35:00,490
Why do you need Jabber when you
have a Facebook chat that can’t even

439
00:35:00,490 --> 00:35:05,760
communicate with Jabber. Or do you really
need Skype when you have Google Hangouts

440
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:10,900
on your Google+ account?
Or e.g. would you still

441
00:35:10,900 --> 00:35:15,260
upload videos on Youtube or Vimeo
when you want to spread them

442
00:35:15,260 --> 00:35:19,920
via Facebook, and you know that Facebook
systematically downgrades every video

443
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:25,760
that isn’t uploaded on their servers?

444
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,490
And this strategy has devastating results.

445
00:35:29,490 --> 00:35:33,740
It’s causing that the
gates, or the borders

446
00:35:33,740 --> 00:35:38,060
of a gated community are constantly
expanding. That means larger

447
00:35:38,060 --> 00:35:44,220
and larger parts of the internet are
becoming parts of some gated community.

448
00:35:44,220 --> 00:35:48,110
And Facebook and others even
have managed to kill net neutrality

449
00:35:48,110 --> 00:35:51,400
in various countries in order
to expand their borders

450
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:55,520
to the level of internet access.

451
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:59,700
The fight about net neutrality is nothing
else; the fight about net neutrality

452
00:35:59,700 --> 00:36:03,870
is about gated communities that
try to expand their borders

453
00:36:03,870 --> 00:36:10,350
to a level where they don’t
belong. And they had no powers

454
00:36:10,350 --> 00:36:14,540
until now. And it is sad to see

455
00:36:14,540 --> 00:36:18,770
but for many people, like for
many people I met on university,

456
00:36:18,770 --> 00:36:23,960
back then when I studied here,
Facebook is the Internet!

457
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,910
Because Facebook provides
everything they basically need.

458
00:36:27,910 --> 00:36:38,931
Everything but freedom,
and privacy, and choice.

459
00:36:38,931 --> 00:36:43,460
I admit this was a pretty
depressing overview

460
00:36:43,460 --> 00:36:49,420
over market structures.
So let’s see what do we do

461
00:36:49,420 --> 00:36:53,870
with this knowledge and what
has it to do with Diaspora,

462
00:36:53,870 --> 00:37:00,690
the alternative social
network? First of all

463
00:37:00,690 --> 00:37:06,400
let me say one thing:
I know it is a convenient dream

464
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,860
that one day the next
big social network, or

465
00:37:09,860 --> 00:37:14,470
the next big free software project
will come and rescue us all from

466
00:37:14,470 --> 00:37:17,760
the dominance of platform owners.

467
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:22,070
But competing with such
giant platforms like Google,

468
00:37:22,070 --> 00:37:26,450
Facebook or Apple, or Microsoft:

469
00:37:26,450 --> 00:37:30,730
it’s not very likely that this
will happen overnight.

470
00:37:30,730 --> 00:37:35,340
And I love heroes… I love
super heroes, I love comics, but

471
00:37:35,340 --> 00:37:39,730
unfortunately this is not
realistic in such a situation.

472
00:37:39,730 --> 00:37:45,020
We need to work hard
in order to accomplish that.

473
00:37:45,020 --> 00:37:49,330
And a cool feature will not change this.
Because the history showed that

474
00:37:49,330 --> 00:37:53,780
every time Diaspora tried
to implement a new feature

475
00:37:53,780 --> 00:37:57,220
in order to compete with Facebook we had

476
00:37:57,220 --> 00:38:02,830
the situation that other
social networks instantly

477
00:38:02,830 --> 00:38:06,720
copied this feature.
E.g. how many of you…

478
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:12,330
I don’t know how many of you
are on Facebook… but…

479
00:38:12,330 --> 00:38:16,750
but you know today you can differentiate
on Facebook between friends,

480
00:38:16,750 --> 00:38:20,440
close friends, business contacts etc.

481
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:25,500
This is a relatively new feature.
And first, interestingly,

482
00:38:25,500 --> 00:38:29,760
Diaspora implemented
such a differentiation

483
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:36,020
of contact levels,
and called it ‘aspects’.

484
00:38:36,020 --> 00:38:39,750
And then Google+ came and announced:

485
00:38:39,750 --> 00:38:43,590
“Yeah, we have something
better, we have ‘circles’!”

486
00:38:43,590 --> 00:38:49,420
And it was basically the same principle.
And then Facebook of course copied it.

487
00:38:49,420 --> 00:38:52,680
So we need to face this inconvenient
truth: Facebook and others will

488
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:56,780
always have a bigger staff, more
money, and a larger user base.

489
00:38:56,780 --> 00:39:00,340
And they will use it against us.
So if you’re dreaming that

490
00:39:00,340 --> 00:39:04,440
maybe there will come
a new feature, or a new tool;

491
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:07,550
and all the teens are like:
“Hell yeah, I want to use this!

492
00:39:07,550 --> 00:39:12,260
Fuck Facebook, my parents are
on Facebook!” *laughter*

493
00:39:12,260 --> 00:39:16,860
This happened before. Do you know
Instagram? Do you know Whatsapp?

494
00:39:16,860 --> 00:39:22,680
Do you know who bought it?
Facebook!

495
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:27,270
So we need to really think,
in order to win this fight.

496
00:39:27,270 --> 00:39:31,120
Or at least to keep struggling.
What are killer features?

497
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:37,270
What are the killer features of open
source decentralized social networks?

498
00:39:37,270 --> 00:39:41,430
I just told you: open source,
decentralized, non-corporate,

499
00:39:41,430 --> 00:39:45,630
privacy-aware,…
Facebook will not copy that!

500
00:39:45,630 --> 00:39:49,760
*laughter and applause*

501
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:58,760
*applause*

502
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:03,980
So, you know, I got really curious
– because I knew that my colleagues

503
00:40:03,980 --> 00:40:09,750
from university are not on Diaspora –
so I really got curious:

504
00:40:09,750 --> 00:40:14,220
who is on Diaspora? Who
are these 20..30.000 users

505
00:40:14,220 --> 00:40:18,070
who log in per month?
And this is an analysis

506
00:40:18,070 --> 00:40:22,320
of the most used hashtags on
Geraspora. Geraspora is right now

507
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:26,590
the most active Diaspora pod.

508
00:40:26,590 --> 00:40:30,750
What kind of community do
you think is on Diaspora?

509
00:40:30,750 --> 00:40:35,610
Top hashtags such as:
Linux, Gnu, Hackernews, ja?

510
00:40:35,610 --> 00:40:39,060
From my point of view this is very
awesome, and I think: “Yeah, this is

511
00:40:39,060 --> 00:40:42,750
a community I would like to join!”.

512
00:40:42,750 --> 00:40:47,040
So in fact, when we remember
what is important

513
00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:51,420
for social networks in order to grow?
It’s the local network effect.

514
00:40:51,420 --> 00:40:57,610
And in fact we already managed
to attract a very, very specific group.

515
00:40:57,610 --> 00:41:01,010
And this group is not very
likely to switch. Because:

516
00:41:01,010 --> 00:41:04,800
do you think your local hackerspace would
maybe switch from Diaspora to Facebook,

517
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:10,920
because Facebook is so awesome?
I don’t think so.

518
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:15,840
And there will be also some new features –

519
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,660
I can proudly announce because
some of the developers

520
00:41:19,660 --> 00:41:23,800
just told me I should do –
*laughs*

521
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:27,250
which can even make the
network more attractive

522
00:41:27,250 --> 00:41:32,460
for groups like hackerspaces or whatever.
*singular dull laughter from audience*

523
00:41:32,460 --> 00:41:36,070
There will be... *laughs in reaction*
there will be

524
00:41:36,070 --> 00:41:40,240
chat extensions soon which
is compatible with XMPP,

525
00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:45,030
or based on XMPP so that you can
add all your Jabber contacts in there.

526
00:41:45,030 --> 00:41:49,890
And for me it’s pretty convenient because
I use Jabber over time-at-work.

527
00:41:49,890 --> 00:41:54,320
So guess what will be open
all the time at work!

528
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:58,460
Diaspora… ooh, here is sitting
someone from my work!

529
00:41:58,460 --> 00:42:00,950
*laughter*

530
00:42:00,950 --> 00:42:03,590
Because it’s so super efficient. And…
*laughter*

531
00:42:03,590 --> 00:42:06,320
other features are planned as well!

532
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:12,760
*applause*

533
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:16,170
There are other features planned
as well. There shall be

534
00:42:16,170 --> 00:42:19,960
a group feature soon which is
not very easy to implement

535
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,970
because in a decentralized
network it’s a bit tricky.

536
00:42:22,970 --> 00:42:25,870
But they’re planning to do it.
And they’re also thinking about

537
00:42:25,870 --> 00:42:29,770
adding ‘events’ which is pretty
awesome e.g. when you want

538
00:42:29,770 --> 00:42:33,000
to coordinate in your local
hackerspace, in your group, and

539
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:37,490
you have on your chat an idea for an
event – bang! – you can set it up

540
00:42:37,490 --> 00:42:42,970
on Diaspora. So is this
a gated community for hackers?

541
00:42:42,970 --> 00:42:47,620
I don’t think so because it’s open,
it uses open protocols,

542
00:42:47,620 --> 00:42:51,020
and I am sure, or I know
there are a lot of other groups

543
00:42:51,020 --> 00:42:55,340
we can address with such
a network in order to join.

544
00:42:55,340 --> 00:42:58,640
Because this is how
social networks expand.

545
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:03,530
Group by group – by group. So what
other groups could like these features?

546
00:43:03,530 --> 00:43:08,230
What groups could e.g.
dislike corporate power?

547
00:43:08,230 --> 00:43:12,270
What kind of activists could
dislike NSA backdoors?

548
00:43:12,270 --> 00:43:15,800
Or what kind of public institution
or even companies

549
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:20,780
could feel a bit uncomfortable
to put all their data

550
00:43:20,780 --> 00:43:24,120
on an US server? And there are
some companies or institutions

551
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:28,100
who really are craving for
a social solution on servers

552
00:43:28,100 --> 00:43:32,680
they can host by themselves.
So I think it’s a winning strategy

553
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:38,340
to address this group, also to ask:
“What kind of features do you want?”

554
00:43:38,340 --> 00:43:41,740
and this is what the Diaspora
community did. They asked their users:

555
00:43:41,740 --> 00:43:44,430
“What do you want?” and they said:
“Jabber, we want Jabber!”.

556
00:43:44,430 --> 00:43:48,900
So they implemented Jabber.
And this is how we really can grow.

557
00:43:48,900 --> 00:43:52,660
Step by step through local
network effect. And

558
00:43:52,660 --> 00:43:56,750
there have been interesting cooperations
with the Diaspora networks,

559
00:43:56,750 --> 00:44:01,430
or other networks that have
a decentralized nature already,

560
00:44:01,430 --> 00:44:06,400
e.g. the most active German Diaspora pod

561
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:11,990
Geraspora is right now funded in
some part by a German newspaper,

562
00:44:11,990 --> 00:44:18,140
the Donaukurier. And the Donaukurier
interestingly… *sudden laughter*

563
00:44:18,140 --> 00:44:21,310
the Donaukurier one day
asked… they had this idea:

564
00:44:21,310 --> 00:44:25,660
“Yeah we want maybe to experiment
a bit with decentralized alternatives;

565
00:44:25,660 --> 00:44:30,560
we like this idea… but they didn’t
want to set up a server on their own.

566
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:34,650
So they decided to give regular funding.
And they are still giving regular funding.

567
00:44:34,650 --> 00:44:39,320
Or there are requests of
different groups or even…

568
00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:43,160
there was a request from youth workers
which were interested to use

569
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:46,860
such a network for communication
with their clients.

570
00:44:46,860 --> 00:44:52,510
Because obviously you don’t want
any data concerning youth work

571
00:44:52,510 --> 00:44:57,850
hosted on Facebook.
And these requests, they are happening,

572
00:44:57,850 --> 00:45:01,240
and I think this is very
promising to work on this basic

573
00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:06,410
in order to expand group by group.

574
00:45:06,410 --> 00:45:10,790
And we should not forget: there are
certain windows of opportunity

575
00:45:10,790 --> 00:45:15,140
which might convince more people

576
00:45:15,140 --> 00:45:18,500
that Diaspora is really an awesome idea

577
00:45:18,500 --> 00:45:24,010
and the killer features
are really worth trying it.

578
00:45:24,010 --> 00:45:28,400
There have been such
windows of opportunity, e.g.

579
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:35,380
there was a time… or there
was a constant time of the…

580
00:45:35,380 --> 00:45:41,150
Mr. Erdoğan who is banning various
social media platforms in Turkey.

581
00:45:41,150 --> 00:45:45,110
And every time he does the Geraspora pod

582
00:45:45,110 --> 00:45:49,920
sees an increased traffic
from Turkish subnets.

583
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:53,211
And another interesting effect is that

584
00:45:53,211 --> 00:46:00,270
every time Facebook announces
changes in the Terms of Service,

585
00:46:00,270 --> 00:46:04,270
again there is a peak. And

586
00:46:04,270 --> 00:46:08,260
these windows of opportunity
– unfortunately I have to say this –

587
00:46:08,260 --> 00:46:11,820
they will be more frequent in the future.

588
00:46:11,820 --> 00:46:15,730
Unfortunately it happened before and it
will happen again. And once you will have

589
00:46:15,730 --> 00:46:20,270
a big leak of data from Facebook. And

590
00:46:20,270 --> 00:46:24,660
this can happen anytime; maybe
more people will be convinced

591
00:46:24,660 --> 00:46:29,310
to try a decentralized alternative.

592
00:46:29,310 --> 00:46:32,740
And it is also important, as
these examples showed,

593
00:46:32,740 --> 00:46:36,730
e.g. from Turkey, that we need
these alternatives right now.

594
00:46:36,730 --> 00:46:41,690
There are right now people who need such
an alternative, not only hackerspaces.

595
00:46:41,690 --> 00:46:46,060
And therefor I’m very, very happy
that we are trying to provide

596
00:46:46,060 --> 00:46:55,210
such an alternative right now.

597
00:46:55,210 --> 00:47:01,930
But competing with a large platform,
as Facebook is right now,

598
00:47:01,930 --> 00:47:07,440
we need also to see that this is
a task we never can manage alone.

599
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:12,150
We can’t compete with such a network
without allies at our side

600
00:47:12,150 --> 00:47:17,190
which have also super
powers like we have. And

601
00:47:17,190 --> 00:47:21,060
one of the most interesting
developments of the last year is that

602
00:47:21,060 --> 00:47:26,540
Diaspora is in fact not alone
any more. Diaspora is part

603
00:47:26,540 --> 00:47:31,920
of the so called ‘Federation’.
And the Federation consists of

604
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:38,050
different decentralized social networks
such as Diaspora, friendica or Redmatrix.

605
00:47:38,050 --> 00:47:41,470
And they are interconnected,
they speak the same protocol.

606
00:47:41,470 --> 00:47:45,750
So it doesn’t matter whether my friends
are on friendica, on Redmatrix

607
00:47:45,750 --> 00:47:50,410
or on Diaspora. I can
communicate with them.

608
00:47:50,410 --> 00:47:53,850
And therefor by pooling their
users together they change

609
00:47:53,850 --> 00:47:58,300
the reference point of the network
effect. And if you are considering

610
00:47:58,300 --> 00:48:02,750
to launch a new social network on your own

611
00:48:02,750 --> 00:48:07,470
you’re free to do. And if you join the
Federation you already have a user base.

612
00:48:07,470 --> 00:48:14,160
And this is a very, very
exciting and powerful idea.

613
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:19,580
Because the networks inside
the Federation are quite different.

614
00:48:19,580 --> 00:48:25,380
Diaspora e.g. has a very
clean, easy design for users.

615
00:48:25,380 --> 00:48:30,420
And some people really like that.

616
00:48:30,420 --> 00:48:34,070
The other networks have
other strengths. E.g. friendica

617
00:48:34,070 --> 00:48:38,370
is really an interconnection
machine. One of the guys who’s

618
00:48:38,370 --> 00:48:41,650
working on the development team,
he’s really looking for any loop hole

619
00:48:41,650 --> 00:48:46,940
he can get into other networks in
order to establish an interconnection

620
00:48:46,940 --> 00:48:51,320
even if the operator doesn’t want to.
And that’s awesome.

621
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:55,920
And e.g. friendica already
speaks email protocol

622
00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:59,040
and Jabber.
And Redmatrix on the other hand:

623
00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:04,130
it is a fork, Redmatric and friendica

624
00:49:04,130 --> 00:49:08,930
share large parts of the same code.

625
00:49:08,930 --> 00:49:12,850
But Redmatrix has a very,
very strong emphasis

626
00:49:12,850 --> 00:49:17,890
on privacy. And they’re
experimenting with apps,

627
00:49:17,890 --> 00:49:21,640
and OpenID and different features

628
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:25,870
which the other networks
don’t provide. So I think

629
00:49:25,870 --> 00:49:30,020
such a federation or such a bundling
of your powers, such a looking for allies

630
00:49:30,020 --> 00:49:35,200
is a very powerful thing to do,
not only for you as a network.

631
00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:39,090
But also for your users.
As a user I can vote by feet just –

632
00:49:39,090 --> 00:49:42,770
if I don’t like Diaspora then I just
join friendica. But I still have

633
00:49:42,770 --> 00:49:47,260
all my contacts from my local
hackerspace and that’s awesome.

634
00:49:47,260 --> 00:49:53,730
And in the long run when
we look at how this works:

635
00:49:53,730 --> 00:49:59,690
this is really a small version of
how the concept of social networks

636
00:49:59,690 --> 00:50:04,470
could look like if we just had open
protocols. And that’s also very important,

637
00:50:04,470 --> 00:50:08,230
also for the political struggle,
for open protocols to provide

638
00:50:08,230 --> 00:50:13,820
that such a thing works.

639
00:50:13,820 --> 00:50:17,910
But competing with large
platforms like Facebook

640
00:50:17,910 --> 00:50:21,110
you’re not only competing
with a social network,

641
00:50:21,110 --> 00:50:24,910
you’re competing with an alternative
eco system. So we need really to think

642
00:50:24,910 --> 00:50:29,340
how to build an eco system
on our own. And

643
00:50:29,340 --> 00:50:33,110
every time there is a new
idea or a new feature

644
00:50:33,110 --> 00:50:36,780
Facebook would like to
implement they just copy it,

645
00:50:36,780 --> 00:50:40,600
or they buy it. And the big strength

646
00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:45,910
of the Free Software movement is
that we don’t nee monetary incentives

647
00:50:45,910 --> 00:50:49,490
to work together. Because
we share similar goals.

648
00:50:49,490 --> 00:50:53,960
So instead of trying to provide
all the features by yourself

649
00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:57,480
the really winning strategy
is just to stay open.

650
00:50:57,480 --> 00:51:02,890
Just to talk to other projects in order
to find maybe shared protocols,

651
00:51:02,890 --> 00:51:08,790
or maybe find ways how you can
integrate your work into another work,

652
00:51:08,790 --> 00:51:12,940
and how you can benefit from one another.

653
00:51:12,940 --> 00:51:18,830
One example: When I bought
this crappy Android phone

654
00:51:18,830 --> 00:51:24,610
there was a pre-installed
Google+ app on it.

655
00:51:24,610 --> 00:51:27,830
It’s disgusting, I know, but…
*laughter*

656
00:51:27,830 --> 00:51:32,790
*applause*
I really…

657
00:51:32,790 --> 00:51:37,141
But I really like the idea of…
maybe one day

658
00:51:37,141 --> 00:51:41,860
I will be able to buy
a free operating system

659
00:51:41,860 --> 00:51:45,200
without any connections to Google.
And I would really love

660
00:51:45,200 --> 00:51:49,700
to have my Diaspora or friendica, whatever
app, pre-installed. Or maybe an app

661
00:51:49,700 --> 00:51:54,950
to connect anything inside the Federation.

662
00:51:54,950 --> 00:51:59,350
So we need also to bundle. I mean
Facebook does it, we also need to do it.

663
00:51:59,350 --> 00:52:03,590
And some first steps are made.
E.g. there are some projects

664
00:52:03,590 --> 00:52:08,060
for home-made clouds where you just
can buy your plug-and-play device

665
00:52:08,060 --> 00:52:13,080
and you would be able to get it
soon with pre-installed version

666
00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:17,490
of a Diaspora pod. So it won’t
be the hackers any more

667
00:52:17,490 --> 00:52:22,830
who have their own pod
but maybe the left activists

668
00:52:22,830 --> 00:52:28,630
who’s protesting
against neo-liberal politics.

669
00:52:28,630 --> 00:52:32,510
And that’s cool.
And there’s another example

670
00:52:32,510 --> 00:52:37,550
that cooperation really can work.

671
00:52:37,550 --> 00:52:42,530
When you take e.g. Firefox.
Firefox is the most used browser,

672
00:52:42,530 --> 00:52:47,240
at least in Germany.
And Firefox has a feature:

673
00:52:47,240 --> 00:52:51,590
you can have included share
buttons inside Firefox.

674
00:52:51,590 --> 00:52:54,941
And you can not only choose
between Facebook and Twitter,

675
00:52:54,941 --> 00:53:00,150
and others, but you can also
choose to use Diaspora.

676
00:53:00,150 --> 00:53:05,520
And this kind of cooperation is
something we clearly need more

677
00:53:05,520 --> 00:53:12,700
in order to overcome gated
communities such as Facebook.

678
00:53:12,700 --> 00:53:16,950
So you know I’m an economist.

679
00:53:16,950 --> 00:53:20,580
So I was trained to believe
in the idea of free markets

680
00:53:20,580 --> 00:53:27,380
and fair competition etc.
It’s a bit like studying Dark Magic.

681
00:53:27,380 --> 00:53:34,190
But in fact really I believe that
competition is at least in some areas

682
00:53:34,190 --> 00:53:38,510
something that makes sense. But
at some points you need to see

683
00:53:38,510 --> 00:53:44,410
when a market just fails
so hard that it doesn’t deliver

684
00:53:44,410 --> 00:53:49,200
the best possible solution. And I don’t
think it’s the best possible solution

685
00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:53,510
if you can’t really choose. If there’s no
competition. And there is no competition

686
00:53:53,510 --> 00:53:59,510
with Facebook. So the reason
why Diaspora and the others

687
00:53:59,510 --> 00:54:04,190
struggle so hard is not because their
idea isn’t great, or their technology

688
00:54:04,190 --> 00:54:10,130
is not the better one, maybe.
But it is the openness of the web

689
00:54:10,130 --> 00:54:16,480
that is threatened systematically when
monopolies use the network effect

690
00:54:16,480 --> 00:54:21,320
in order to create more and more gated
communities and expand the borders

691
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:25,780
of these gated communities
more and more. And

692
00:54:25,780 --> 00:54:29,170
the inconvenient truth is also…
I mean I presented some ideas

693
00:54:29,170 --> 00:54:33,790
how we can overcome this.
But it will remain hard

694
00:54:33,790 --> 00:54:39,119
as long as the structures
are like they are right now.

695
00:54:39,119 --> 00:54:43,520
And I read one very interesting article

696
00:54:43,520 --> 00:54:49,200
where the journalist asked the inventor
of the protocol for email attachments:

697
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:54,020
“What would happen if this idea of email

698
00:54:54,020 --> 00:54:58,369
was invented today?” and he replied:

699
00:54:58,369 --> 00:55:02,200
“In this environment, if somebody
invented email, whoever managed

700
00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:11,780
to get critical mass first would become
the world’s de facto email provider”.

701
00:55:11,780 --> 00:55:14,780
Imagine such a world!
I mean it’s disgusting!

702
00:55:14,780 --> 00:55:20,440
But right now we have such a situation
in the area of social network.

703
00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:25,110
Here we are! Facebook has become the
world’s de facto social network provider

704
00:55:25,110 --> 00:55:31,170
in large parts of the world. Every
fifth human being on this planet

705
00:55:31,170 --> 00:55:35,380
logs in on Facebook
at least once per month.

706
00:55:35,380 --> 00:55:39,160
And it has this position not because
it’s better than others but only

707
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:43,900
because of market dynamics
and because it was lucky.

708
00:55:43,900 --> 00:55:48,530
There is no real competition,
and this is market failure. And

709
00:55:48,530 --> 00:55:51,640
when Tim Berners-Lee invented
the internet protocol that freed us

710
00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:59,540
from the gated communities
of Compuserve and others

711
00:55:59,540 --> 00:56:03,320
he gave it just away. He
didn’t say: “Yeah, I want to…

712
00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:07,960
I have this business model, it’s super
cool, it’s based on targeted advertisement

713
00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:12,990
and I will build a gated community
around my internet”.

714
00:56:12,990 --> 00:56:17,860
He gave it away for free.
And because people like him

715
00:56:17,860 --> 00:56:21,770
gave protocols or new ideas
away for free and opened it

716
00:56:21,770 --> 00:56:27,410
we had this incredible development,
where we had so much innovation,

717
00:56:27,410 --> 00:56:32,400
so much creativity through these
open structures. But this is not

718
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:37,080
how market regulation should work.
I mean market regulation should not

719
00:56:37,080 --> 00:56:41,370
rely upon that someone who
has the next cool, big idea

720
00:56:41,370 --> 00:56:48,370
that can change the world for better
would just be a cool person.

721
00:56:53,170 --> 00:57:05,850
So, finally…
*applause*

722
00:57:05,850 --> 00:57:08,480
Some people argue when we
talk about social networks

723
00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:11,960
and the dominance of Facebook
that this is only a trend.

724
00:57:11,960 --> 00:57:17,040
It would go away one day all the
teens switch to another network.

725
00:57:17,040 --> 00:57:20,470
Facebook will be gone.

726
00:57:20,470 --> 00:57:24,779
And I remember hearing similar things
about the internet as such. *laughter*

727
00:57:24,779 --> 00:57:30,600
“It’s only a trend. It will
go away.” But I don't think so.

728
00:57:30,600 --> 00:57:34,660
And I also don’t think so
about social networks

729
00:57:34,660 --> 00:57:38,560
because social networks are
a very, very powerful idea.

730
00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:42,391
They are super awesome. And
maybe Facebook declines one day

731
00:57:42,391 --> 00:57:48,340
because all the teens realize that
their parents are on Facebook as well.

732
00:57:48,340 --> 00:57:52,050
But what will be next?
If the next big thing

733
00:57:52,050 --> 00:57:57,420
is also a gated community
nothing has changed.

734
00:57:57,420 --> 00:58:02,700
So in order to change things we
not only need to provide alternatives

735
00:58:02,700 --> 00:58:08,890
such as the Federation:
Diaspora, friendica, etc.

736
00:58:08,890 --> 00:58:13,250
We need to support them, because

737
00:58:13,250 --> 00:58:18,530
maybe you are looking for
friends: where should you go?

738
00:58:18,530 --> 00:58:21,600
*laughs* Maybe you find
interesting people on Diaspora.

739
00:58:21,600 --> 00:58:26,010
And they really deserve our support.
As users, as donators,

740
00:58:26,010 --> 00:58:30,930
as developers or as allies.
And you should never forget

741
00:58:30,930 --> 00:58:35,300
that programming free software
and building alternative eco systems

742
00:58:35,300 --> 00:58:39,640
to what we see outside in
this gated community world (?)

743
00:58:39,640 --> 00:58:43,430
is also a political act.
It’s not only writing software.

744
00:58:43,430 --> 00:58:48,430
It’s writing an alternative code for
how we want the world to be!

745
00:58:48,430 --> 00:58:51,910
And there is an alternative
to patent wars.

746
00:58:51,910 --> 00:58:54,950
There is an alternative to gated
communities and business models

747
00:58:54,950 --> 00:58:58,730
that only are based on
exploiting our privacy.

748
00:58:58,730 --> 00:59:02,690
And such projects represent
the visions of a better world

749
00:59:02,690 --> 00:59:06,619
and that’s why I would
like to support them.

750
00:59:06,619 --> 00:59:11,320
But we also need to address,
in order to win this fight,

751
00:59:11,320 --> 00:59:15,000
that these alternatives
don’t face fair competition.

752
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:18,920
This is market failure on a large scale.

753
00:59:18,920 --> 00:59:23,710
And that is why we need to fight for
open standards; and in order to change

754
00:59:23,710 --> 00:59:28,990
the market structures that will create
gated communities over and over again

755
00:59:28,990 --> 00:59:34,020
we need to force Facebook… we need
to force them and not just kindly ask:

756
00:59:34,020 --> 00:59:37,850
“Mr. Zuckerberg, would you
please be so kind to consider

757
00:59:37,850 --> 00:59:42,030
to tear down this wall?”.
This will not work!

758
00:59:42,030 --> 00:59:46,170
We need to talk about political solutions.
And we need to address this

759
00:59:46,170 --> 00:59:50,109
as a need for market regulation in order
that the better solution can win.

760
00:59:50,109 --> 01:00:11,390
Thank you.
*applause*

761
01:00:11,390 --> 01:00:15,900
Herald: Yeah, tear down this wall.
Ronald Reagan at its best,

762
01:00:15,900 --> 01:00:18,640
at least Mr. Zuckeberg
is watching the stream or

763
01:00:18,640 --> 01:00:22,220
Oettinger is watching the steam.
You know what to do!

764
01:00:22,220 --> 01:00:25,340
So come we now to the
Questions and Answers.

765
01:00:25,340 --> 01:00:28,610
Microphones on the left,
on the right, and also:

766
01:00:28,610 --> 01:00:31,100
are there any questions from the internet?

767
01:00:31,100 --> 01:00:32,860
Signal Angel: Yes, I have
2 questions from the internet.

768
01:00:32,860 --> 01:00:36,990
Herald: Okay, we will start with the
internet because I’m sure you are here

769
01:00:36,990 --> 01:00:41,860
after the talk that people can ask you.
So, okay, dear internet!

770
01:00:41,860 --> 01:00:44,930
Question: What is the relation of
Diaspora and GNU-social or Pump.io

771
01:00:44,930 --> 01:00:47,670
Are there plans to merge the protocols?

772
01:00:47,670 --> 01:00:52,600
Katharina: I think for this
question you would really need

773
01:00:52,600 --> 01:00:56,440
to ask the developers.
But I can ask this room:

774
01:00:56,440 --> 01:01:01,650
hey, Diaspora developers: are you here?
*points into audience*

775
01:01:01,650 --> 01:01:06,170
Yeah, there! Do you want
to say something about this?

776
01:01:06,170 --> 01:01:08,700
Herald: Please just when
you’ll go to the microphone,

777
01:01:08,700 --> 01:01:11,210
otherwise it’s not
hear in this steam.

778
01:01:11,210 --> 01:01:14,459
Katharina: Yeah, a worm
applaus to Dennis Schubert

779
01:01:14,459 --> 01:01:22,699
*applause*

780
01:01:22,699 --> 01:01:25,690
Dennis: So no, there are no
actual plans to merge protocols

781
01:01:25,690 --> 01:01:28,109
but there are discussions
on defining a new protocol.

782
01:01:28,109 --> 01:01:33,590
That supports all social
networks together. So, yeah.

783
01:01:33,590 --> 01:01:36,520
Herald: Is there another question on…
*applause*

784
01:01:36,520 --> 01:01:38,590
Is there another question
from the internet?

785
01:01:38,590 --> 01:01:43,740
Question: Yes: is there a way to import
from Facebook to Diaspora?

786
01:01:43,740 --> 01:01:49,830
Katharina: To import data…
Yeah this is a interesting thing

787
01:01:49,830 --> 01:01:53,730
e.g. … yeah, I had this
in my presentation,

788
01:01:53,730 --> 01:01:57,300
but because of out-of-time
reasons I deleted it.

789
01:01:57,300 --> 01:02:00,510
There is fortunately this
new EU Privacy Law,

790
01:02:00,510 --> 01:02:06,510
the Privacy Regulation,
which will also force platforms

791
01:02:06,510 --> 01:02:11,970
such as Facebook to provide
like a data dump of your data

792
01:02:11,970 --> 01:02:16,479
– you can take with you. But I’m
still a bit not very convinced

793
01:02:16,479 --> 01:02:22,220
how this will work out, whether or not
ALL the data is included.

794
01:02:22,220 --> 01:02:26,140
It would be very convenient
if you just had one like…

795
01:02:26,140 --> 01:02:29,340
one data dump and you could
just download it and upload it.

796
01:02:29,340 --> 01:02:33,760
But we need to wait and
see how this will develop.

797
01:02:33,760 --> 01:02:39,409
Herald: Okay, I’m sorry to hear but at
least we are out of time now.

798
01:02:39,409 --> 01:02:42,810
All [remaining] questions
afterwards with Katharina.

799
01:02:42,810 --> 01:02:47,140
Give her another warm applaus!
For the federous (?) talk!

800
01:02:47,140 --> 01:02:53,020
*postroll music*

801
01:02:53,020 --> 01:02:57,901
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