Was kind of excited to see something using the AT protocol other than Bluesky but then saw the big… “Login with Bluesky” and rolled my eyes so fucking hard while hitting the back button.
Until AT is truly decentralized I can’t justify joining up.
Maybe they changed it because it says “Login with atproto” now
You can use your own PDS (Personal Data Server), but to my understanding, you’re still using the Bluesky maintained PLC (Public Ledger of Credentials) which manages the DID identifiers. That still makes it very much centralized and while you technically can self-host, it’s still somewhat tied to the BS company.
Yeah this is problematic because once the PLC controlling entity decides they don’t like you or your PDS in general; they can simply cut your entire system off the federated structure.
Good for Deplatforming Nazis; but Bad for Freedom of Speech; if it’s used to deplatform more than any Nazi or Facist…
Then there’s the issues with having a For-Profit entity controlling the PLC. Bluesky is required by law to prioritize it’s profits and shareholders at least to some extent; if they ever become publicly traded. If they haven’t already.
I suspect we all will have to wait and see if this ever takes off in a direction we want it to. I don’t like how it looks already…as it makes control of your identity onerous and requires you to trust your PLC.
The PLC should be decentralized somehow. That might be something Bluesky has to kick off once they get the project off the ground and more users interested. We will see if they hold to their ideals; or if those ideals are misguided.
I think they’re already passing parts of the protocol to IETF as they become solidified with the end-goal to give the entire protocol over to IETF once it’s stable.
Actually digging deeper, I just came across this from late last month (3 weeks ago exactly):
https://docs.bsky.app/blog/plc-directory-org
So they’re making headway towards removing the PLC from their own control and putting it under a more “neutral” third party (that’s going to be open to debate). I wish they were working faster on these aspects though, because I think the AT protocol is very nice, I just am hesitant with how it’s currently organized. Once there is an independent PLC, that’s a step in the right direction, but we also need things like PLC mirroring and alternative PLCs that can federate with the initial “neutral” PLC.
“Built on AT protocol, centralized on BlueSky”. No thanks.
So… it’s a custom wrapper for Bluesky?
Not even open source it seems?
I’m a bit too spent to really kick the tires on yet another site, but there is a journalism community on there now.
