# I think I've finally got my "On this day" feed functioning after following Ben's advice.
It looks like there were some other issues which caused the feed to become invalid based on the way the post content was interpreted. These lead to the creation of "unrecognised elements" in the item descriptions, thus breaking the feed, but only happened on certain posts. These should now be resolved so, fingers crossed, it'll be working properly.
I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out for sure.
# Liked: The Indieweb privacy challenge (Webmentions, silo backfeeds, and the GDPR) // Sebastian Greger...
"it is with a mix of curiousness and concern that I try to wrap my head around some of the challenges of creating social interactions in a decentralised manner, while respecting the privacy of people and keeping them in control over their own data"
Sebastian has written an excellent essay on the challenges faced by #indieweb sites in light of the upcoming deadline for GDPR compliance. On the face of it, it might seem that the GDPR prevents an indieweb environment from existing but there are layers and many considerations to take into account.
He casts doubt upon the blogs of "generation 1" indieweb developers being considered "purely personal" if they are web developers by profession and use their sites to discuss this or act as a showcase for their work.
Fortunately for me, this blog is a completely personal undertaking, generating no income and is completely unconnected from my work. However, that hasn't stopped me from at least considering a couple of updates - even if seemingly insignificant:
- I have updated my micro.blog profile to state that replies to my (original) posts there will show as comments on the blog thanks to webmentions.
- I have reiterated this point on my /colophon page with a promise to delete any comment on the request of the author.
Admittedly minor things but worthwhile inclusions.
I highly recommend reading Sebastian's full post as he has spent a lot of time thinking about this and its implications.
Read Liked: The Indieweb privacy challenge (Webmentions, silo backfeeds, and the GDPR) // Sebastian Greger... by Colin Walker (colinwalker.blog)
Would need to read the article by Sebatian mentioned in this post.
Following on from the GDPR discussion yesterday, and as Sebastian notes, in addition to the legality of processing personal data there is also an ethical consideration. Should you do it? Is it justified? Is it right? The goal of the indieweb is to enable cross-site communication, primarily via webmentions, and the explicit sending of a mention from one site to another implies consent to display its contents on the target site. Sebastian's primary focus, however, was on "backfeeding" replies from social networks and the problems you have notifying those replying that their data will be used and displayed elsewhere. You realistically can't unless the networks have indieweb considerations built in. They won't. While they might have a clause in their terms and conditions that says your data might be used by third parties is this enough? Would aggregating replies by means other than the official API, where you couldn't match all of the processing requirements, even be caught by such a clause? Probably not. Perhaps the best course is to play it safe and not backfeed. It becomes trickier, however, when a service like micro.blog sends webmentions automatically on behalf of its users. There is a definite crossover between indieweb proponents and micro.blog users and many will be fully aware of the underpinnings of the service. But with the backlash against the major social networks in some quarters more people are looking for an alternative and have been joining micro.blog without necessarily realising how it operates. Are the underpinnings made apparent to users? Does there need to be an option to exclude your account from sending webmentions, especially to external blogs? Are comments made in the seemingly limited environment of the micro.blog timeline fair game out on the open web and does their "public" nature (thanks to effectively being blog comments) make them so? Further, should we as bloggers automatically publish these responses? Micro.blog occupies a unique position which creates a problem of perception. Its primary service might be blog hosting but the primary interaction is via a social network style timeline. This will quite obviously colour the expectations of both the service and the data placed within it for those unaware of its design. I've tried various comment aggregation tools over the years but traffic was only one way. Manton has created something wonderful in micro.blog, something that, when combined with the indieweb, I realise I've been after for a long time without necessarily knowing exactly what it was. Sebastian's essay, however, gave me pause for thought, should give us all pause for thought. As does the GDPR and the ongoing conversation. It's very much a case of "just because we can it doesn't mean we should" - an approach that ought to be adopted by much of the tech industry.