privacy, open source, efficiency, prism and P2P social networks

since the 'sudden discovery' that government/military computer systems are seeking to monitor and record every online activity, many have sought services that they hope can mitigate this intrusive approach to 'society'.
*the previous sentance was heavily censored for political correctness - a translated version is at the end of this message*.

this page provides many free/open source services which make privacy, anonymity, free-ness and transparency their focus and can be used to replace corporate services - https://prism-break.org/

i notice on that list that there are several social network options that i was not previously aware of and that some of them are P2P based and thus ensure that no heavy centralised server tech is needed to run the site. this is a dramaticly different approach to elgg and others designs, though i have yet to see the benefits in full detail. if anyone has any plan to convert elgg to a P2P format, i would like to know it!

translation of initial sentance follows:

since a small amount of individuals broke their mind control programming and started sharing with the greater population some of the truth that they hold back in fear of their own death at the hands of the criminal gangs identified as 'governments', the larger populous has sought to find ways to free themselves from the threat of tyrannical psychopaths presenting themselves as honest, caring & morally correct.

since the fuller truth of just what has been occurring behind closed doors has yet to filter into the controlled media and into the wider human perception field, many are not yet aware that the technology being used in deep bunkers is vastly more capable than that which has been palmed off to everyone else and thus are not only uncertain about what is the best approach to take, they also are often unaware if their approaches are actually successful. for this and other reasons, if we are to continue to use technology, we may benefit greatly from unification in place of fragmentation (as we always do) and use the models of equanimity and balance that have hither-to been denied and attacked (by the ones who wish dominion over the rest) - such as P2P.
;)

  • RvR, I had searched for a plugin before, but somehow, I missed your plugin. I just downloaded it and it is beautiful :). Thanks. 

    Ura soul & RvR, I also had tried the block user plugin but I stopped using it as I was worried it might slow my site (because of its bulkiness from the code and the framework). Ura soul, I had been to the Advanced Settings page before but I couldn't find the access level for the wire, blog, and file. You said "per entity" but the entities are not listed there. I had tried changing the default access and even selecting "Allow user default access" but there is no access level settings in the Settings page for the individual entities - blog, wire, and file.  

  • @Asmarino All thanks to Matt Beckett for Member Selfdelete

    but I couldn't find the access level for the wire, blog, and file

    Wire is correct. But Blog and Files have it

  • @Ermias:
    the page i was referring to is the settings page you can access via the topbar, not the admin pages..
    this setting can be chosen on a per user basis. there is a setting in the admin pages too that is the overall site default.. the 'per user' settings option over-rides the site default and then the 'per entity' settings over-ride the 'per user' settings when changed.

    all of this needs to be clarified in a user manual really.

  • @RvR, my bad. But all the same. You and Matt are two of the great people whose plugins I admire. 

    @ura soul, well explained. Seriously. 

    I am using http://community.elgg.org/plugins/851079/1.0/thewire-with-access-183 but no matter what access level I choose (whether Private or Friends) when I post a wire, the post is being displayed as public. What could be wrong? I tried changing the values of $access_id and even comparing the plugin with the File plugin (how the latter uses access) without success. 

  • @Asmarino:
    i have no experience with that wire privacy plugin, so i am unable to provide useful comments. possibly there were changes made to elgg core since the latest version of the plugin was released that have over-ridden the effects of the plugin.

    oh, and going back to the wider privacy topic - more on the surveillance issues here:
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data

  • and then there's the other side of the planet.. where we are whipped and tortured for asking questions:
    http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/07/30/saudi-arabia-600-lashes-7-years-activist

    so when the massive data logging of innocents is inherited by even more psychopathic psychopaths who can then look backwards and datamine what previous psychopaths collected about you.. suddenly the 'you've got nothing to hide' becomes 'you may need to go into hiding'. let's not be naive or create denials here.

  • a quick research into federated social network topologies revealed this helpful and detailed document:

    http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/7547/da.pdf