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Re: Ephemeral networks

Authors: Ben K. <benk@tilde.team>

Date: 2021-01-12

gemini://gemlog.blue/users/lapingvino/1610419565.gmi

This is an interesting note about data retention in our online lives. There's a big treand for data to stick around forever and not get discarded. This wasn't always the case with a lot of the things we did online, but I guess advancements in computing power and storage made it so massive amounts of data could be collected, and sure it enabled some interesting results.

That being said, I too feel that I don't want most of what I do sticking around forever. Rather than things being kept by default, I think I'd rather opt-in and occasionally choose those things I'd like to save. I get something like this with my e-mail in Thunderbird, where I can configure folder retention settings and it will automatically delete older messages unless I star them. The fact that I can star messages to keep them around pleases me for some reason.

Back in the day when I first got Gmail, I used to archive _everything_. ("Never delete an e-mail again!") I sure as heck don't do that anymore. 90% of my e-mails go straight into the trash now, unless I'm sure it's a keeper, and then I archive it.

For instant messaging, I tend to adopt the following approach:

When using Signal or Delta Chat, have message expiration turned on. Signal limits you to a 30 day minimum, and on Delta Chat I give it just seven days. (Also for some reason Delta Chat doesn't seem to remember to delete every message off of the server even when you tell it to, so I also have Thunderbird delete old messages in the DeltaChat folder.)
When using XMPP, I have my server delete MAM messages older than 30 days, and Conversations on my phone is configured the same. Any reasonable XMPP server won't keep messages very long, but it seems like Dino (the client) keeps them forever.
On Matrix it's a little trickier, since the protocol is grabby so to speak. You can be reasonably temporal if you engage with individuals or small groups in an encrypted private chat and then quit the chat to get rid of it. You need the other participants to quit as well, and I *assume* userless chats will then get purged from the server. (If they don't, at least they're encrypted.)

...and Gemini of course is nice because you have full control over what you're publishing. No need to wonder what or where your data is.