Diaspora: A First Step Toward Safer Social Networking

Let me begin by saying I’m not a parent – and this is probably a good thing. When I was a li’l tyke, things were different; the Internet was still an uncharted frontier that my parents were relatively content to let me explore. I would switch between BBS services, hop on IRC chat, and work with a DOS interface, so I felt that if I had the technical know-how to find what I wanted online, I’d earned it. If I were a father now, I’d be inclined to let my hypothetical ankle biter follow the same route. However, the bar for entry for online services is much lower, and the Internet is no longer traversed as anonymously as it was during my youth, so even the most precocious children need some guidance to navigate it sensibly.

[This is a guest post by Cyrus Nemati, web producer for the Center for Democracy & Technology.]

Kids of the modern Internet era don’t have to jump through hoops to initiate conversations with strangers or share loads of personal information about themselves to marketers. Today’s social networks are hungry for personal information, and they make it incredibly easy (and even fun) to share it. You’re a geek – you understand moderation in online sharing and tweaking privacy settings. But since you can’t expect the same of your children for a while, what should you do? Ban social networking and be the uncoolest of the uncool parents? Watch your children like a hawk, only to have them defy you utterly and enter a downward spiral into smut, drugs, and crime? Okay, maybe those aren’t the only choices, but wouldn’t it be great if there were an alternative? Enter Diaspora.

The Great Privacy Hope

Diaspora is the open-source answer to today’s information-gobbling social networks. Created in response to growing privacy concerns, Diaspora is designed to be a do-it-yourself social network that is as private as you want it to be, but with all the functionality of the current crop of major social networks.

At first glance, it looks rather similar to any other Web 2.0 social network. There are definitely some rough patches, as Diaspora is currently in a pre-alpha stage (you can read about it in my review on CDT’s website ). Here are the basics, though: Diaspora’s main draw is that you have complete control over all data going into it; if
you aren’t happy with something you uploaded, just remove it. Since your Diaspora account can run exclusively from your personal server, you’re removing your data from the entire Diaspora network, and no one will ever see it again. Another draw is that Diaspora separates friend groups into “aspects.” Aspects are a bit like the groups that Facebook allows users to separate their friends into, except Diaspora’s aspects exist as entirely separate entities. People listed in one of your aspects don’t even have to know that any other aspects exist. Your children can “friend” you without being embarrassed in front of their friends! For now, each separate aspect has its own “wall” and its own pictures area, and there is more to come as Diaspora continues to develop.