Big Tech 0, Ricochet 1

 

We’ve all read the news: Twitter has banned the President of the United States and many of his supporters from their service. Hosting enterprises like Amazon Web Services have tossed conservative-leaning sites from their servers. Apple and Google have removed apps like Parler from their app stores.

So, is Ricochet vulnerable?

No. This community is hosted by Astroluxe, a hosting enterprise founded by like-minded businesspeople. One of them is an old friend of Ricochet’s, Charles Cooke, the original Conservatarian. The other is John Ekdahl, who in addition to being a web developer extraordinaire, is also a fierce 1st Amendment advocate. We’re proud to be in business with them.

Charlie had this to say about hosting Ricochet in this perilous moment: “The Internet was designed to be a distributed, open platform on which people could speak without permission and argue as they saw fit. Astroluxe is committed to that idea, even as others rush to abandon it. We’re proud to host Ricochet, and a host of other websites, on which a broad range of opinions are shared.”

All of which is to say this: Ricochet is here to stay. We’re not worried about being “deplatformed” or tossed off a hosting site. Our hosting partners and our members have the same unwavering bedrock commitment to liberty, freedom of speech, and spirited civil conversation.

To our fellow members, our deepest thanks. To those who have yet to join, we’re eager to have you. To the entire community, we are here to stay.

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  1. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    That’s good news, Rob. Our survival has been on my mind a lot lately. Thanks.

    • #1
  2. Mike Rapkoch Member
    Mike Rapkoch
    @MikeRapkoch

    Good to know fellas. That makes us immune from being taken away:

     

    • #2
  3. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    Thanks for the info.   How confident are you that Astroluxe itself isn’t vulnerable to political cutoff by their upstream Internet provider(s)?…and that these IPs themselves are not vulnerable political cutoff by the even-further-upstream providers of interconnection and caching services?

    I know this question sounds paranoid, but I was recently told of an analysis by someone who is a specialist in telecom T&Cs that such things are actual possibilities.

     

    • #3
  4. David March Coolidge
    David March
    @ToryWarWriter

    I wasnt that worried, I didnt think we were super at risk, because Ricochet was around before the big tech monopoly.  Parler ended up foolishly setting up there site on Amazon, when it became apparent years ago, that the Big 3 would not be friendly to a site like it.

     

    • #4
  5. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    • #5
  6. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    David Foster (View Comment):

    Thanks for the info. How confident are you that Astroluxe itself isn’t vulnerable to political cutoff by their upstream Internet provider(s)?…and that these IPs themselves are not vulnerable political cutoff by the even-further-upstream providers of interconnection and caching services?

    I know this question sounds paranoid, but I was recently told of an analysis by someone who is a specialist in telecom T&Cs that such things are actual possibilities.

     

    From Charlie: 

    Internet providers can’t do that because they are common carriers. The data center could (it would be unprecedented but its technically possible), but I don’t worry about that that given our relationship with them. And if they did, we’d just move to a different one.

    • #6
  7. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    The Founders: Rob Long and Pet…:

    We’ve all read the news: Twitter has banned the President of the United States and many of his supporters from their service. Hosting enterprises like Amazon Web Services have tossed conservative-leaning sites from their servers. Apple and Google have removed apps like Parler from their app stores.

    So, is Ricochet vulnerable?

    No. This community is hosted by Astroluxe, a hosting enterprise founded by like-minded businesspeople. One of them is an old friend of Ricochet’s, Charles Cooke, the original Conservatarian. The other is Jon Ekdahl, who in addition to being a web developer extraordinaire, is also a fierce 1st Amendment advocate. We’re proud to be in business with them.

    Charlie had this to say about hosting Ricochet in this perilous moment: “The Internet was designed to be a distributed, open platform on which people could speak without permission and argue as they saw fit. Astroluxe is committed to that idea, even as others rush to abandon it. We’re proud to host Ricochet, and a host of other websites, on which a broad range of opinions are shared.”

    All of which is to say this: Ricochet is here to stay. We’re not worried about being “deplatformed” or tossed off a hosting site. Our hosting partners and our members have the same unwavering bedrock commitment to liberty, freedom of speech, and spirited civil conversation.

    To our fellow members, our deepest thanks. To those who have yet to join, we’re eager to have you. To the entire community, we are here to stay.

    You are not at all safe, despite the recent frantic signaling by the editors and Rob that Ricochet is the safe, politically correct kind of conservative site. Ricochet is entirely vulnerable to being cut off by credit card processors and PayPal. 

    • #7
  8. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    The Founders: Rob Long and Pet…:

    We’ve all read the news: Twitter has banned the President of the United States and many of his supporters from their service. Hosting enterprises like Amazon Web Services have tossed conservative-leaning sites from their servers. Apple and Google have removed apps like Parler from their app stores.

    So, is Ricochet vulnerable?

    No. This community is hosted by Astroluxe, a hosting enterprise founded by like-minded businesspeople. One of them is an old friend of Ricochet’s, Charles Cooke, the original Conservatarian. The other is Jon Ekdahl, who in addition to being a web developer extraordinaire, is also a fierce 1st Amendment advocate. We’re proud to be in business with them.

    Charlie had this to say about hosting Ricochet in this perilous moment: “The Internet was designed to be a distributed, open platform on which people could speak without permission and argue as they saw fit. Astroluxe is committed to that idea, even as others rush to abandon it. We’re proud to host Ricochet, and a host of other websites, on which a broad range of opinions are shared.”

    All of which is to say this: Ricochet is here to stay. We’re not worried about being “deplatformed” or tossed off a hosting site. Our hosting partners and our members have the same unwavering bedrock commitment to liberty, freedom of speech, and spirited civil conversation.

    To our fellow members, our deepest thanks. To those who have yet to join, we’re eager to have you. To the entire community, we are here to stay.

    You are not at all safe, despite the recent frantic signaling by the editors and Rob that Ricochet is the safe, politically correct kind of conservative site. Ricochet is entirely vulnerable to being cut off by credit card processors and PayPal.

    Yeah, cuz checkbooks are too complicated to operate and Bitcoin hasn’t been invented yet.

    • #8
  9. davenr321 Coolidge
    davenr321
    @davenr321

    Latifundium. 

    • #9
  10. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    I just sort of figured we were too squishy to bother banning.

    • #10
  11. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):

    David Foster (View Comment):

    Thanks for the info. How confident are you that Astroluxe itself isn’t vulnerable to political cutoff by their upstream Internet provider(s)?…and that these IPs themselves are not vulnerable political cutoff by the even-further-upstream providers of interconnection and caching services?

    I know this question sounds paranoid, but I was recently told of an analysis by someone who is a specialist in telecom T&Cs that such things are actual possibilities.

     

    From Charlie:

    Internet providers can’t do that because they are common carriers. The data center could (it would be unprecedented but its technically possible), but I don’t worry about that that given our relationship with them. And if they did, we’d just move to a different one.

    Or build our own.

    • #11
  12. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):
    Internet providers can’t do that because they are common carriers

    Indeed they are…but so are airlines, some of which have apparently been using the reason ‘safety’ for denying passage to at least some attendees of the Trump rally.  I don’t know that I’d count on the likely appointees of a Biden administration to enforce a pure understanding of common carrier law too closely.

    Note also that ISPs *have* terminated customers for spamming, apparently without running afoul of common carrier laws.

     

    • #12
  13. DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone Member
    DrewInEastHillQuarantineZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Vance Richards (View Comment):

    I just sort of figured we were too squishy to bother banning.

    Absolutely. The “We hate Trump!” signaling of the last few weeks is off the charts. Not a chance Ricochet is in danger. They toe the (uni)party line.

    • #13
  14. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    decentralized internet that runs on ETH blockchain is the future

    George Gilder said something similar in 2018

    https://www.hoover.org/research/george-gilder-forget-cloud-computing-blockchain-future

     

    • #14
  15. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    I just want to say I’m totally in favor of the retro-avatar accompanying this post. Still my personal favorite. Bold and not at all guitar picky.

    • #15
  16. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    WHEW

    • #16
  17. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Are they up for hosting Parler? That would show how dedicated they are.

    • #17
  18. DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) Coolidge
    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!)
    @DonG

    Let me know when I need to start paying with crypto currency.

    • #18
  19. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    Let me know when I need to start paying with crypto currency.

    Microstrategy, a public company, has half of its cash reserves in BTC.

    The CEO and founder, Michael Saylor, believes BTC is a tax efficient hedge against inflation.

    https://www.coindesk.com/microstrategy-ceo-michael-saylor-bitcoin

    https://bitcointreasuries.org/

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerhuang/2021/01/12/what-publicly-traded-companies-have-bitcoin-on-their-balance-sheet—and-why/

    https://dailyhodl.com/2021/01/01/michael-saylor-says-hes-bought-2500000000-in-bitcoin-through-microstrategy-and-other-entities/

     

     

     

    • #19
  20. David March Coolidge
    David March
    @ToryWarWriter

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Are they up for hosting Parler? That would show how dedicated they are.

    Parlers problem, is they used Amazon for a lot more than just hosting them.

    • #20
  21. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    David March (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Are they up for hosting Parler? That would show how dedicated they are.

    Parlers problem, is they used Amazon for a lot more than just hosting them.

    Amazon may have violated the Sherman Anti-trust Act in cancelling Parler

     

    • #21
  22. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Minds.com runs on ETH blockchain

     

    • #22
  23. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    https://gab.com/codemonkey/posts/105545794765649914

    Be careful with CloudFlare…

     

    • #23
  24. Theodoric of Freiberg Inactive
    Theodoric of Freiberg
    @TheodoricofFreiberg

    Don’t delude yourself. ISPs have the ability to block sites like Ricochet.

    • #24
  25. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    Note that workplaces and libraries often implement filters, and the list of sites to be filtered out generally comes from a commercial provider of such things…who in turn may get many of the entries from ‘nonprofits’ of the advocacy type.

    • #25
  26. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    https://builtwith.com/ricochet.com

     

    • #26
  27. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    David Foster (View Comment):

    Thanks for the info. How confident are you that Astroluxe itself isn’t vulnerable to political cutoff by their upstream Internet provider(s)?…and that these IPs themselves are not vulnerable political cutoff by the even-further-upstream providers of interconnection and caching services?

    I know this question sounds paranoid, but I was recently told of an analysis by someone who is a specialist in telecom T&Cs that such things are actual possibilities.

    That would have been my first question.  What happens if Comcast gets into the deplatforming business?

    • #27
  28. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    David Foster (View Comment):

    Thanks for the info. How confident are you that Astroluxe itself isn’t vulnerable to political cutoff by their upstream Internet provider(s)?…and that these IPs themselves are not vulnerable political cutoff by the even-further-upstream providers of interconnection and caching services?

    I know this question sounds paranoid, but I was recently told of an analysis by someone who is a specialist in telecom T&Cs that such things are actual possibilities.

    That would have been my first question. What happens if Comcast gets into the deplatforming business?

    FCC challenges?

     

    • #28
  29. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    David Foster (View Comment):

    Thanks for the info. How confident are you that Astroluxe itself isn’t vulnerable to political cutoff by their upstream Internet provider(s)?…and that these IPs themselves are not vulnerable political cutoff by the even-further-upstream providers of interconnection and caching services?

    I know this question sounds paranoid, but I was recently told of an analysis by someone who is a specialist in telecom T&Cs that such things are actual possibilities.

    That would have been my first question. What happens if Comcast gets into the deplatforming business?

    FCC challenges?

     

    Has it already been declared a common carrier?

    • #29
  30. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    We’ll see how standing laws and statutes are protected and safe after the Supreme Court gets packed. One should never assume the law will prevail in a tyrannical state. Are we headed for a tyrannical state? Have there been any signs that this is the direction the country is headed?

    Any website could also be deemed a threat to national security on the flimsiest of evidence – even a harmless discussion about riots, insurrection, civil disobedience, or dissent…especially after President Harris takes the Oath of Office.

    Trump and other conservative voices have been eliminated on Twitter and Facebook…for what? For purportedly being a threat to national security. It’s not farfetched then that this same policy, or something even more severe, might at some point be applied by the federal government – the DHS or the DOJ/FBI – to any website or collection of individuals on a website – including founders and owners who have the audacity to challenge a Biden/Harris or Harris/xxxxxxx administration on any controversial issue; or make a flippant remark about burning a prominent personage alive. The next administration may not laugh off such a remark.

    • #30
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