Jack Dorsey, Co-Founder and former CEO of Twitter has shared new updates on the decentralised ‘Bluesky’ social networking initiative that he is working on. The protocol, which is currently under development, is testing features like account portability, algorithmic choice, and interoperation.
This more developed phase has been named the ‘Authentic
Transfer Protocol’ or the AT Protocol. As per an official statement, the AT
Protocol of the Bluesky initiative integrates ideas from the latest
decentralised technologies into a simple, fast, and open network.
The AT Protocol will enable users to identify themselves by
compatible domain names like ‘@alice.com’, which would then map to
cryptographic URLs. This capability will essentially secure the account and
data for each user, a blog post by Bluesky explained.
Bluesky is building a social protocol. We released “ADX” (the X stood for Experiment) in May. Now that the design is starting to solidify, we’re renaming it to the “Authenticated Transport Protocol” — the “AT Protocol.” https://t.co/Q0XUF8OhVD
— bluesky (@bluesky) October 18, 2022
The features that are being added to the Bluesky protocol,
are intended to give people more control over various aspects of their data.
With ‘Account Portability’, users will be able to move their
accounts from one provider to another without risking loss of their data. With
this feature, Dorsey aims to strip big corporations of their control on
people’s online identities.
With ‘Algorithmic Choice’, the Bluesky will move away from
the present-day trend of algorithms dictating what we browse and reach on
social media and instead, present an open market of algorithms for people to choose
from. Users will also be able to choose ‘no algorithms’ for the content on
their feeds.
“We must have control over our algorithms if we’re going to
trust in our online spaces. The AT Protocol includes an open algorithms mode so
users have more control over their experience,” the blog explained.
The interoperability feature from Bluesky’s AT Protocol will
use a schema-based interoperation framework called ‘Lexicon’ to finetune
coordination in connected services.
Bluesky was first announced by Dorsey in 2019. Elaborate
details on the decentralised social networking protocol remain undisclosed for
now. The launch plans for Bluesky also remain unclear.
Currently, its allowing users to join a private waitlist for
beta testing, CoinTelegraph said in a report.
Recently, a bunch of leaked messages between Elon Musk and
Dorsey indicated that the duo had been dabbling in the idea of moving Twitter
to the blockchain, eliminating its dependency on government controlled,
centralised systems.
Discussing how ideal Twitter should be, Dorsey suggested an
‘open source model’ that is handled by a foundation, that contributes to the
protocol without having any owning rights on the platform.
At the time, Musk had validated Dorsey’s proposal calling it
a “super interesting idea”.
