Some thoughts on Bsky, age verification and mississippi law (via anisota)

This is a Connected Places blog post, published using leaflet and viewed via the Anisota Bluesky client, which is remarkable (see Dame's post).

The blog uses the Mississippi ban to explain how clients (like anisota) are viewed "as the point where regulation happens. See also their new ToS, which also makes it clear that this is only for their client... "This decision applies only to the Bluesky app, which is one service built on the AT Protocol. Other apps and services may choose to respond differently. We believe this flexibility is one of the strengths of decentralized systems—different providers can make decisions that align with their values and capabilities, especially during periods of regulatory uncertainty. We remain committed to building a protocol that enables openness and choice."

He also observes "The fediverse keeps willfully misunderstanding how atproto works, nor does it show any curiosity or interest in learning about it. Mastodon is particularly vulnerable, with a ceo who is not interested in complying with regulation... he is actually vulnerable on two points:

• he operates a subsidiary organisation within the US (for fundraising), making his org within easy reach of us law enforcement
• he maintains the most popular apps for the entire fediverse ... distributed on ios and android. The app stores ... applying laws to the entire country.