I mean... I come from the forum scene and they were always called PMs, as in Private Message. What in the hell does DM stand for and when did things change from people calling them PMs to DMs.
"Public domain" is a copyright term which isn't really relevant here. The point the other user is trying to make is that, legally speaking, calling something "private" when it very well may be not private is at best disingenuous and at worst a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Yeah, I know, I was just trying to clarify and couldn't think of another term 🤷.
The truth is, if you share something online, whether it be in a PM or publicly, it can never ever be considered private. However, a PM's content is harder to get to than reading this comment for example, that was my point.
No you were clear. You are just incorrect. Your “private messages” can be accessed by anyone who works at the site, and are typically scanned for analysis and that data about what you discuss is sold to market researchers.
So they named them direct messages so they couldn’t be accused of false advertisement.
Just because they’re not “public” doesn’t mean they’re “private”.
That is clear... well, at least regarding corporate social media. Admins in the fediverse can read PMs, but why would they, they have no insentive to do that. Hell, I'm still an admin of a forum and I can read all PMs but I have no incentive to do so, I couldn't care less what people talk about in private.
Still, that doesn't mean that the content of the conversation is of any interest of the company. The monetization of the converstaion, yes, but the actual converstaion, no.
I think we'll need to distinguish between deep web and encrypted, deep web but unencrypted, and clearnet.
While deep but unencrypted is not apparent to the unobservant, it is in no way private, as everyone who deigns to look will see it.
Kinda like talking while walking on a busy street, most people will be busy or not pay attention, but nothing much is hindering others from listening in if they really want. Using that analogy, clearnet would be more like a forum or conference, or perhaps a party or meet'n'greet.
If you want to actually be private, you'll need to at least be encrypted (pure https won't do, unless it's between two peers only).
I agree kind of. You say something in private, it can still be blabbed about town. It's a violation of whatever relationship you had but is what it is. You dm someone same deal, but companies want to distance themselves from any avenue of attack, so dm is better. Also we 100% should count on instances to fold to legal pressure, they are people running it and probably don't have big bank rolls.
That's why I prefer pirate/NSFW instances. This account isn't on that kind of instance, but my other accounts are. Pirate instances are preffered, since not many defederate from them because they're not NSFW. They tend to pick their server's locations very carefully, usually in countries that just don't give AF about western law and policy (they call it "offshore hosting", but in reality, they're countries like Russia or China), so it's really really hard to actually pressure them and even harder to get to the data. And even if they succseed, it'll be after years, at which point, the trace will be cold and probably not worth persuing anyway.
This is one of the methods tycoons use to launder money, by doing bank transfers to banks in countries that don't care about western policies and laws. And by doing a few back and forths, you're essentially delaying the whole thing. Hell, some of these guys died waiting to be put on trial, lol 😂.