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An alternative decentralized internet for sharing text and media: The Gemini Protocol (geminiprotocol.net)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org to c/buyfromeu@feddit.org

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It is similar to the old gopher: text files, links, and images form a hypertext optimized for reading. Text is formatted like Markdown - but even simpler.

Clients display text, like an eBook, or images / media.

Since it does not use "addictive by design" UI elements, like feeds, timelines, likes and upvotes, colorful and distracting elements, endless scrolling, as well as comments that invite trolling, it feels a lot calmer.

Servers can run on a PC or Raspberry Pi which needs half a Watt of power. No FAANG companies needed. No expert knowledge needed - not more difficult than running a file sharing client.

I think it is the right thing for defense of democracy and sharing your voice in the digital realm.

Edit: If you see comments here which kinda miss the point, appeal to emotions, have faulty logic, or depart from entirely incorrect assumptions: Please keep in mind that big US tech companies can't say "that's bad, how will we shovel money with this?". Please use your critical thinking skills - they are much needed here!

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[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

there is nothing stopping any server from tracking requests on the backend. there is also nothing that stops a server from transmitting that request info to a third party. in this way it's identical to http. it's also identical in that there is nothing that stops you from setting up a http server with no tracking.

[–] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

And the thing is that the modern Internet is not built any more for this. It is a pure perversion of what Tim Berners-Lee wanted and created at CERN.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

but gemini doesn't solve that. the protocol is not the problem.

[–] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 0 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

You keep repeating that.

But tracking and advertising have certain technical requirements to techniques which the gemini protocol does not offer. For example linking to Facebook like buttons or Google Analytics or client-side Javascript.

Gemini does not offer that.

And if you think different, show me a single gemini website with ads.

You can start here, in a HTTP gateway:

https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/mozz.us/

https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/taz.de/?

https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/geminiprotocol.net

[–] lime@feddit.nu 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

it doesn't solve it because the problem is not a technical one but a social one. a malicious actor can still track and advertise to people. that doesn't mean it's happening right now.

the onus is on the protocol to prove itself.

[–] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Of course, Gemini is also a social endeavour. Such projects are created, nourished and grown by communities.

But technical decisions and design choices also embody values and political goals. You do not build nuclear weapons to combat world hunger and things like Facebook and Grok do not exist to promote democracy.

[–] lime@feddit.nu -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

yes, and the values that gemini embodies are isolationism and conservatism by breaking away from the larger community, limiting contributors to the people who have the technical skills, and standardising on an intentionally incompatible version of a 30 year old protocol.

[–] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

You seem to assume that intelligent humans are only capable of posting stuff on Xitter and Facebook.

Writing text in Gemini format is simpler than Markdown, which is what people are using here.

Reading Gemini context only requires a client, for example an Android app like Rosy Crow, or using a Web gateway, like https://gemini.tildeverse.org/ , or https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/mozz.us/ .

Publishing a Gemini blog requires at the minimum only to get an account at a pubnix server (such as the tildeverse servers above).

If one wants to self-host it, one needs only to set up a Rasberry Pi running the server program. The complexity is about the same as running a file sharing client.

Yet some people want to frame it as if the only way to participate in the Internet is to use Facebook and Twitter.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 3 days ago

no, that's your reading of what i said.