This article is so misleading. XMPP died for the same reason all technology dies. No one used it. Even if Google hadn’t ever used it, it would still be dead. I know this because Google Talk and ALL Google chat apps are dead. WhatsApp killed them all.

I’m not saying it’s different. I’m saying that the current plan in no achieves the goal of keeping the fediverse open and out of the control of large corporations.

If you want to know how to prevent them from taking control, you better start working out the specifics of how they will do that. Otherwise your actions may end up helping them.

No one seems to have considered the possibility that Facebook are well aware of what people think of them. That they looked at the technology and thought “we don’t have to do anything, those idiots hate us so much they will do the job for us and give us the private marketplace we desire”

How? Everyone says some form of this, but never gives any details of how they will do that. Or how defederation will prevent that.

You are afraid that they will control the marketplace, and then turn around telling everyone to defederate, which just gives them a walled garden marketplace on a silver platter.

Ah, so just fear mongering and hoping that the fear based knee-jerk reaction isn’t actually playing directly into their hands.

What point was that? If you don’t join Threads, they don’t have your data. They do have everything you publish to the Fediverse though, no matter what you do.

They can already harvest the data. Nothing on the ActivityPub is private

Yeah, yeah, parrot the line and then please explain how?

Extending means making extra functionality that others haven’t implemented, so that your offering is more attractive. You use it to build a walled garden. Defederation just skips that step and does it for them. They don’t even have to extend.

Because every time this argument starts, someone mentions how they don’t want the fediverse to go down the xmpp path, and the argument has its origin in this article

https://ploum.net/2023-06-23-how-to-kill-decentralised-networks.html

I would like to point out that xmpp still exists. Google Talk does not. WhatsApp killed xmpp, not Google

But it doesn’t keep him away. Defederation means they consume all of the data from ActivityPub, you consume none of theirs. You are creating a walled garden for them that makes it harder for Threads users to leave.

How is Threads going to breach your privacy by federating with your instance? How is de federating from Threads going to protect your privacy?

Humans have asymmetric features. No one is symmetrical

Everyone is searched going through customs. There are also dogs trained to sniff out everything.

Which just had some leaks about how insecure it is.

Windows Hello didn’t. The hardware wasn’t implemented correctly allowing the authentication to be bypassed. You misunderstood the issue here

They sync shit using iCloud…

They sync the public key with iCloud, not the private key. You misunderstood how it works.

It doesn’t matter how many keys deep you have to go.

There is no “keys deep” there is a public/private key pair that authenticates a single device with a single account. You have misunderstood how a local key store works.

The compromised item is already obtained when you obtained the device.

Which means someone trying to access my account requires physical access to my device. Passwords, no matter how strong leave you open to remote attack.

Can you tell me the process to revoke the private key from your fingerprint reader on your phone?

Open the authencator app and remove the account. Or uninstall the authenticator app. Or delete your local phone account. Or factory reset if you want to go nuclear.

Alternatively if you lost your phone, go to the account online. Browse to the security section and delete the device from the list. Most services have the ability to sign out remotely. All that’s doing is revoking the key. The phone doesn’t have to do anything. The fact you think something needs change in the “blob” shows you do not understand how encryption works.

If I were to bump into you, and lift your phone.

Again physical access, not remote access. Much smaller attack vector than a password.

It puts all the power into another companies hands… and takes ALL of it out of yours.

You think passwords take power from the company that stores your passwords remotely? You have no idea how they are storing that password. You don’t have to trust the company, you just have to trust the open standard these companies are implementing and that public/private key encryption is the standard used to secure the entire Internet.

Also, whats more likely… that you break a device or that a user CANNOT learn how to use a password manager?

Virtually no one uses a password manager. It’s too much hassle.

There is no service on the face of the planet that strictly accepts tokens from Bio tools. Simply using Bio doesn’t stop those online from bruteforcing the underlying password.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/how-to-go-passwordless-with-your-microsoft-account-674ce301-3574-4387-a93d-916751764c43

https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-password/

https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/12/apple-passkey/

No. I “Spread FUD” because I understand that a good password MUST be revocable. Which Bio CANNOT be. Bio is a username.

Incorrect because your bio is not the password, the private key is. The private key is revocable. Your bio just unlocks your hardware key store and makes the private key accessible to the software.

This is what I mean when I say people do not understand biometric authentication.

No, wrong. Still two factor because your fingerprint plus your device.

These authentication methods aren’t as simple as the two factor Google Authenticator 6 digit number. They are cryptographically secure keys. Even if someone finds out what the token is, they still cannot send a valid request because they cannot generate a digitally signed request using the private key locked in your device’s hardware, unlocked by your biometrics.

Passwords are inherently insecure and relatively easy to break. Digital signatures and secure tokens are almost unbreakable

And still useless unless they also steal your phone. You are still safe from the hackers on the other side of the planet

My point is that I’m not worried about the relatively few people who could steal my fingerprint. I’m worried about the millions of people around the world who will try to steal my passwords and access my online accounts.

If everyone secured their accounts with a biometrically secured security key, they would be far more secure than if they continue to just use a password.

Tgose who go around spreading misinformed FUD over biometrics ensure people who don’t know better continue to use weak passwords.

Even if someone gets your fingerprints from the OPM breach still can’t use them because they also need your phone. You are still protected from all of the hackers around the world.

If someone has physical access to you and your device, they are getting in

https://xkcd.com/538/

Using biometrics to protect your online accounts is far more secure than a password

Biometrics are two factor, because you need the fingerprint and the device they unlock.

You can’t use the device without the fingerprint and you can’t take someone’s fingerprint then use them from a different device.