@Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jun 30, 2026

Replying to @davidculley@hachyderm.io

@davidculley@hachyderm.io Doesn’t GDPR supersede the ‘95 Data Protection Directive (if that’s the one you’re referring to)? If US companies are handling data according to GDPR standards (e.g. with informed and withdrawable consent), why does it matter under EU law what the FTC is doing? (To be clear, I’m not arguing here. I’m trying to work out what I’m not understanding)

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jun 30, 2026

Replying to @davidculley@hachyderm.io

@davidculley@hachyderm.io “ Europeans aren't allowed to send any personal data from the EU to the USA.” can you please explain this further? Why won’t it be legal? From which side will it be illegal, US or EU law? What law will have changed that makes it illegal?

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · May 09, 2026

Replying to @rauschma@fosstodon.org

@rauschma@fosstodon.org @hdv@front-end.social Tbf that’s the native mastodon app being crap. When I view the post in Mona it looks like a quote post, and tapping on it keeps me in the app. Whereas tapping on the post in the Mastodon app takes me to my browser. Which is frickin stupid.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · May 08, 2026

Replying to @davidgerard@circumstances.run

@davidgerard@circumstances.run I met someone recent with a Galaxy Z Fold7. Looked pretty damn cool, I have to say. I'd never get it because, y'know, Android, but it'll be cool when the tech is a bit more mature (i.e. less fragile) and the price comes down somewhat. And when Apple releases one.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · May 03, 2026

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

“We must remember that we created capitalism; it did not create us. The ingenuity, creativity, and resilience of humanity are far more powerful than any economic system we’ve built. If we can trust in these qualities, we can trust in our capacity to craft a new paradigm — one that prioritizes well-being, equity, and sustainability over relentless growth and profit.”

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · May 03, 2026

“Throughout history, societies have repeatedly faced the collapse of systems without a clear successor in sight. The fall of feudalism didn’t come with a detailed blueprint for industrial capitalism. It simply came with the undeniable realization that the old way was no longer viable.
Our collective obsession with control keeps us shackled to systems that harm us.”

https://medium.com/postgrowth/heres-what-s-coming-after-capitalism-54ff7c7fccc5

#degrowth #PostGrowth #capitalism

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Apr 08, 2026

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

“We are award-winning reporters, editors, columnists, and critics who are sick and tired of the conversation around food being reduced to AI-generated pablum, “best of” lists, and influencer-driven trends. With Ravenous, we’re building a place where we can cover the world of restaurants, food, culture and labor with the sort of depth, edge, curiosity, and care that are increasingly disappearing from food media.”

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Apr 08, 2026

New worker-owned foodie news site coming out: https://www.weareravenous.com/coming-soon/

This is the future of journalism. As Ravenous write in their intro there;

“We believe the best way forward for media and journalism is without generative AI, without VC money and investors to pay back, and without corporate overlords more concerned about posting endless profits than the actual writing that is supposedly their “product.””

Agreed, and love to see it! Best of luck to them.

#coops #food #journalism

Ravenous

Welcome to Ravenous

We're a new, worker-owned food culture site. Let us tell you what we're all about.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Apr 01, 2026

Replying to @imanijoy@mastodon.social

@imanijoy I almost never set notifications on for profiles. I have it on for I think 3 accounts out of the 800ish I follow, and it’s a once-off action to turn it on. So definitely not a primary action. Starting a post while viewing a profile (i.e. mentioning) I do slightly more. But mentioning doesn’t need to a unique action, right? If you’re viewing a profile and you hit the create post button, then the person should be automatically mentioned. Follow/unfollow is still primary, imho.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 31, 2026

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

Oh, and the sanctions should also apply to #Israel. I focussed this thread on the US because of their massive power and the mutual dependency countries have with them that would cause such pain if sanctions were put in place. Sanctioning Israel would be easy in comparison.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 31, 2026

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

Also, let me take this moment to point out that the current situation in Iran is not the only example of US crimes. Even ignoring past crimes, the current embargo on Cuba should be reason enough to act, though it has received far less coverage than the actions in Iran. https://bsky.app/profile/jasonhickel.bsky.social/post/3mhelj3ysxs2n

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 31, 2026

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

If countries wish to have an international rules-based order, then the same standards must be applied to all countries. Even to countries we once thought of as our friends and allies. This is in no way an indictment of all US citizens, many of whom are wonderful people.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 31, 2026

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

The US will retaliate. It will hurt, both in pure economic terms and in quality of life for all people. But if we wish to be principled, I don't see how we can wait until we are no longer dependent on the US in all sectors. The US is acting now, so surely we must react appropriately now, also?

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 31, 2026

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

It's a horrible situation to be in. Many nations are highly dependent on US trade, tech, energy, finance/investment, and defense. The US also holds great power in international governance systems. At what point do we choose to do what's right, instead of what's practical and easy?

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 31, 2026

The US president is literally threatening war crimes ("possibly [destroy] all desalinization plants!").

Is this not the point at which all countries interested in maintaining international rule of law should take action? If we're sanctioning Russia, why aren't we also sanctioning the US?

#politics #iran #eu

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 27, 2026

Replying to @kayrah87@tech.lgbt

@kayrah87 surely Mastodon is not and will never be a replacement for FB? Unless you're setting up a private server and all posts are private to that server. Or you post public on Facebook?

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 25, 2026

This is excellent. https://406.fail/

“A machine wrote your submission. A machine is currently rejecting your submission. You are the entirely unnecessary meat-based middleman in this exchange.”

#ai #development #opensource

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 15, 2026

Replying to @urlyman@mastodon.social

@urlyman@mastodon.social I reckon if she made the same analysis now, she’d get very different results on Bluesky. Plenty of trolls on there now, some of them I suspect are bots.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Aug 25, 2023

Replying to @erlend@writing.exchange

@erlend@writing.exchange thanks for the explanation. Yeah I'm sad to say I don't follow a single dev or project anywhere but Github. Wouldn't mind having them all on a list here, instead.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Aug 25, 2023

Replying to @erlend@writing.exchange

@erlend@writing.exchange @smallcircles@social.coop @fediversenews Can you explain that end goal a bit more for the only partly technical like myself? Does that mean if a project is open to PR/MRs that anyone on AP anywhere can remotely send them an MR without having to log in to Gitlab and make the MR there?

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Aug 24, 2023

Replying to @renchap@oisaur.com

@renchap@oisaur.com a change like this is definitely worthy of a banner of some sort 👍 If you're worrying people might be annoyed by it, I wouldn't be. Better for people to be annoyed by one banner they have to dismiss than to be annoyed at never having been informed of such a big change.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Aug 21, 2023

Replying to @aral@mastodon.ar.al

@aral@mastodon.ar.al speaking of appeasers vs resisters, this is a topical read: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/views/columns/62594/appeasement-climate-change-george-orwell

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 19, 2023

Replying to @ZeirosLion@lgbt.io

@ZeirosLion@lgbt.io @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social can you paint 1’s and 0’s? Congrats, you are now computer scientist. Nerd.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 08, 2023

Replying to @kfet@fosstodon.org

@kfet yeah, I probably could’ve written that better. Not saying they won’t *ever* launch in the EU, but not anytime soon given the structural changes they need to make to the app and its data sharing with Instagram.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 06, 2023

Replying to @pascaline@mastodon.nl

@pascaline brb, gonna go down to the Diakonessenhuis and tell anyone who'll listen about Peertube 🤓 @Quantillion

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 06, 2023

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

@pascaline @Quantillion And I definitely know what you mean with hospitals using Google services here in NL. Even the Google cookies I can't stand. Nee, ik wil aub geen Youtube cookies!

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 06, 2023

Replying to @pascaline@mastodon.nl

@pascaline @Quantillion I mean the patient data itself is private – Whatsapp aren't reading your messages – but they do know that you're talking to a doctor, and when. In any case I completely agree, public services shouldn't be using proprietary, closed systems. I was just reading this, it's for universities but many of the points apply to the public sector also https://netzpolitik.org/2023/a-call-to-action-universities-of-the-world-into-the-fediverse/ Good read.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 06, 2023

Replying to @b3n@g0v.social

@b3n per my second post in the thread, that's unknown. Neither Meta nor the Irish DPC have said the exact reason why Threads isn't launching in the EU (as far as I know).

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 05, 2023

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

I'm seeing articles like this one claim the reason for the non-EU launch is the EU's Digital Markets Act, not GDPR, but I'm not sure the source on that. As far as I can tell, Meta haven't stated their reasons, and the Irish Data Protection Commission haven't blocked anything yet (Ireland because that's where Meta's European office is). The DMA is the act stopping Meta combining data from different platforms. Please update me if you see any clarifications on the matter! https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jul/05/meta-delays-eu-launch-of-twitter-rival-threads-amid-uncertainty-over-personal-data-use

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 05, 2023

Replying to @Quantillion@mstdn.io

@Quantillion Indeed. However as Sebastian noted, this decision opens up ways to deal with that https://mstdn.social/@sebaskr/110658023316584690

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 04, 2023

Replying to @jackoneill@mastodon.online

@jackoneill ah, the false god of money, Mu'lah.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 04, 2023

Replying to @jackoneill@mastodon.online

@jackoneill Colonel it's an honour but I'd prefer you kept your focus on the Goa'uld.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jul 04, 2023

Not only will #Threads not be launching in the EU (presumably because it'll be sucking up so much personal data that they can't make it GDPR compliant), but now the The European Court of Justice has agreed with Germany’s anti-cartel watchdog that Meta can't share harvested personal data between Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. That ruling will also apply to Threads.

A great day for consumer protections.

https://www.thelocal.com/20230704/eu-court-deals-blow-to-meta-in-german-data-case/ #Meta

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Jun 19, 2023

Replying to @aral@mastodon.ar.al

@aral@mastodon.ar.al I don’t mind them meeting with Meta to hear what they have to say, per se. I do mind them doing it under NDA. Goes against the whole open/community-run part of the fediverse.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 06, 2023

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

Please note there are errors in my above post - see Open Collective's own corrections in the comments! I don't have the character count to fit the correction in the above post. https://mastodon.opencollective.com/@opencollective/109902820438422056 My main point about Open Collective being a better fit for the fediverse still stands. Comradery.co is a co-op and looks to be another great Patreon alternative. liberapay.com/ doesn't have content management like Open Collective and Comradery but it's an open source donations platform.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Mar 05, 2023

Replying to @ZaneSelvans@social.coop

@ZaneSelvans indeed, they corrected me themselves in the comments

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 21, 2023

Replying to @opencollective@mastodon.opencollective.com

@opencollective thanks for the clarifications. I realised I wasn’t entirely correct in my original post - hopefully I didn’t misrepresent you. Let me know if you’d like me to change anything.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 21, 2023

Replying to @opencollective@mastodon.opencollective.com

@opencollective well hello there, I wasn’t aware you were here on the fediverse!

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 20, 2023

Replying to @schizanon@mas.to

@schizanon Sorry, I prefer to receive payment in functional currency, not speculative assets. I would never accept payment in something that's fluctuated in value by over 400% in the last year and a bit alone.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 20, 2023

Replying to @schizanon@mas.to

@schizanon which particular digital currency would you suggest people take payments in and rely on for their livelihood?

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 20, 2023

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

A note on Patreon’s cut: I’m not 100% sure that 7% number is correct, I had seen that quoted elsewhere so I copied it. I can’t work out the exact cut they’re taking from reading their docs. Whatever the exact number is, my main point stands: using open, cooperative services & software aligns better with fediverse principles.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 19, 2023

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

https://liberapay.com/ looks to be another good option for taking payments on the fediverse. It's open source and run by a non-profit.

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 19, 2023

Replying to @derickr@phpc.social

@derickr That's great! First I've heard of a fediverse intance using it (though I'm sure there must be others).

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 19, 2023

Replying to @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org

Oh hey, it’s even open source, according to https://opencollective.com/how-it-works Love to see it! And the pricing is flexible, it seems: https://opencollective.com/pricing For the record, I have no association with Open Collective, I just like to see co-op services forming to replace capitalist services. #Foss #openSource

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Feb 19, 2023

I’ve noticed a lot of instances are using #patreon to collect instance fees and donations. Patreon is shareholder owned. When you make payments through Patreon, 7% of your payment goes to Patreon, which ultimately goes to Patreon shareholders.

That’s not a model that suits the #fediverse. Here’s an alternative: use https://opencollective.com/. It’s a co-op, and it only charges 2%, which ultimately gets used to fund new #coops. Now, that’s a more #decentralised, fediverse-style model, isn’t it!

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Brendan Jones @Brendanjones@fosstodon.org · Nov 28, 2022

Replying to @superglaze@mastodon.social

@superglaze@mastodon.social @Gargron@mastodon.social @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social I think this is a really interesting cultural process to watch. How do brands act online when they can't just rely on paying for engagement? Is Mastodon the petri dish for anti-capitalist business practices? Of course companies will still aim for maximum engagement, but what new ways will they come up with that work both with Mastodon's feature set and cultural norms, in order to engage without getting defederated?

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Brendan Jones

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