We’re happy to share that Mastodon has been awarded a service agreement from the Sovereign Tech Fund @sovtechfund 🎉

[suddigare@mastodon.nu]

@Mastodon @sovtechfund

Great news on most levels!

But it could also be a curse to get "free money" like this. So be careful not to become dependent on this cash flow to continue and do not accept any strings attached. Stay independent!

[penguinrebellion@tldr.nettime.org]

@Mastodon

A "Fediverse Auxiliary Service Provider" is nothing but an external ingestion server that gets notified about every new post. That's what the API is made for.

Trying to introduce a "Automated content detection" based on this is nothing but trying to normalize pinging external server infrastructures outside the Fediverse, filling their post ingestion queues.

And you dare to dub this exploitation "Fediverse Auxiliary Service Provider".

The Mastodon instance is the provider here.

It is turned into a Fediverse Post Extradition Provider.

@sovtechfund

[crazyeddie@mastodon.social]

@Mastodon @sovtechfund Congrats!

[nitrml@tyrol.social]

@stragu @SecoasecasMouse afaik @Mastodon is currently still under German jurisdiction anyway, if the German government wanted them to censor certain content (on Mastodon.social or a gmbh-operated FASP server) they could probably already tell them so. The funding doesnt change much in that regard.. and I do not think Mastodon would agree to such demands.

[grb090423@mastodon.social]

@Mastodon @sovtechfund

Well done whoever worked to get this funding!

[vervain@mastodon.vervainglobal.com]

@Mastodon @sovtechfund Congratulations! I'm really looking forward to seeing Mastodon and other federated services grow over the coming years

[maruey@pouet.chapril.org]

@Mastodon @sovtechfund Beautiful ! Congratulations !

[paul@whisper.tf]

@VogueLaGalere @Mastodon @sovtechfund why not simply go to the website and check? https://www.sovereign.tech/faq

[voguelagalere@mastodon.online]

@paul @Mastodon @sovtechfund Because I am completely unfamiliar with what the institution is, hence my question. I do know of a Saudi Arabian fund that is referred to as "sovereign" and that concerned me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Investment_Fund So your response assumes I have knowledge of which fund, which I did not.

[paul@whisper.tf]

@VogueLaGalere @Mastodon @sovtechfund „The Sovereign Tech Agency is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation and is a subsidiary of SPRIND, the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation.“ first paragraph of the link I send which can be found on the account Mastodon mentions.

It’s funded my German tax payers like me.

[paul@whisper.tf]

@VogueLaGalere @Mastodon @sovtechfund more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Tech_Agency

[mildpeach@mstdn.social]

@Mastodon Honestly, this makes me queasy. No matter how noble, it is still gov and capable of turning on an election outcome. I’ve supported M because of user funding. I’m guessing it makes others queasy too.

[lagset@mstdn.social]

Congrats!

[edwiebe@scribili.masto.host]

@ophiocephalic "This will allow server owners to opt-in to use external tools to scan content for spam, illegal materials, etc in order to help them fight bad actors"

Not actually evil.

@Mastodon @sovtechfund

[cassidy@mastodon.blaede.family]

@mildpeach @Mastodon STA is a pretty awesome program; they fund specific work that is open source. It's designed to help direct funding to critical open source infrastructure, making it more resilient and enabling the German government (and everyone else!) to be less reliant on big tech.

[gharbeia@mastodon.social]

@VogueLaGalere @paul @Mastodon @sovtechfund
In the case you refer to, an investment fund is owned by the sovereign (basically the state). It's a class of which there are many instances.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_wealth_fund

In the other case, "sovereign" is an adjective to "tech[nology]".

This is an ambiguity of the English language due to the endings of words being non-marked.

[8@ani.work]

@Mastodon @sovtechfund

[no_blockers@mastodon.social]

@Mastodon @sovtechfund
The Fediverse keeps winning.