Have you heard of the Fediverse? Not to be confused with the Metaverse, the Fediverse is a network of federated – interconnected – online resources using common communication protocols which allow their users to exchange information across different platforms.
Federated resources (messaging, IOT, Games, VOIP, etc.) are mostly developed in open source and based on open standard communication protocols such as XMPP or Matrix. Multiple software applications for web publishing and file hosting have been developed in these universes such as blog creation applications (WriteFreely), link aggregation platforms (Lemmy), or social networks (Mastodon). They generally offer services free of all advertising, profiling and cookies. The privacy oriented open source network environment has caught the attention of the European Institutions. The EDPS is presently in assessment mode following the pilot launch of two EU institutional social networks based on Fediverse resources.
For additional information and source references on the Fediverse see the article published by CEDPO member ASSO DPO.
