#AP, #AFP, #Reuters & #BBC joint statement Thursday says their #journalists in #Gaza face #starvation: "…these independent journalists have been the world's eyes & ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering…

The statement called on Israel to allow journalists in & out of Gaza & allow adequate food supplies into the territory." | CBC https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/news-organizations-journalists-gaza-face-starvation-1.7592779

See the joint statement: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/statements/joint-statement-on-gaza-from-afp-ap-bbc-news-reuters

#AP, #AFP, #Reuters & #BBC joint statement Thursday says their #journalists in #Gaza face #starvation: "…these independent journalists have been the world's eyes & ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering…

The statement called on Israel to allow journalists in & out of Gaza & allow adequate food supplies into the territory." | CBC https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/news-organizations-journalists-gaza-face-starvation-1.7592779

See the joint statement: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/statements/joint-statement-on-gaza-from-afp-ap-bbc-news-reuters

Bonfire
Bonfire boosted

Summer in the UK usually involves a visit to the pub 🍻

At the Newsmast Foundation, we're spending our summer at a different kind of pub - Activity Pub (but yeah, we'll probably be at the other kind once or twice too)!

The structure of the AP protocol means social is in its DNA, just like it is at your local! Our hope is that, just like your local, AP can provide a hub for your community too 🏡

#ActivtyPub#Fediverse#Mastodon#SocialMedia#Tech#AP#APProto#Tech

Concept for discussion: Replacing HTTP Signatures with Bearer Tokens for ActivityPub Federation

Curious what other people think about this idea. What if federation security was re-worked to use target-assigned bearer tokens to authenticate GET/POST requests? This would remove the need for complicated signing schemes and reduce system load under heavy traffic bursts (as no cryptography is required).

A basic implementation could look like this:

  1. When instance A (a.example.com) first attempts to federate with instance B (b.example.com), a POST request is made to a dedicated registration endpoint. (for discussion, we'll say it's https://b.example.com/activity-pub/register-instance). This request includes fields necessary for verification, including the source domain name, target domain name, and a securely-generated verification token. Other metadata could be included to allow instance B to selectively allow/prohibit federation based on other criteria, but this is optional.
  2. Instance B makes a POST request back to a dedicated verification endpoint on instance A (for discussion, we'll say it's https://a.example.com/activity-pub/verify-registration). This request must include the target domain name and verification token provided in step 2.
  3. Instance A checks the verification token (and verify that it matches the target domain name) and return a successful value. The verification code must be invalidated after this call!
  4. Instance B, after verifying instance A's request, returns a securely-generated federation key back to instance A. This federation key is a bearer token used to authenticate all requests from instance A to instance B. This key must be unique to instance A!
  5. Instance A completes the original request with the Authorization header set to Bearer {federation_key}.
  6. Instance B receives the request, detects the federation key, and checks it against the list of registered instances.
  7. If the key does not exist or A has been defederated, then a 403 Forbidden error is returned.
  8. If the key is expired or revoked, then 401 Unauthorized error is returned. Upon receiving a 401 error, instance A should start over from step 1 to re-authenticate and complete the request with a new token. This process should not be repeated for recursive failures!
  9. If the key is approved, then a 200 OK response or 202 Accepted response is returned, and A can consider the request as successful.

Advantages versus HTTP Signatures:

  • No cryptography requirements.
  • Simple logic, no edge cases around HTTP query parameters or header order.
  • Equally effective for all request types.
  • Keys can be easily revoked or rotated.
  • Supports authorized fetch and defederation use cases "by default".

Disadvantages versus HTTP Signatures:

  • Breaks the actor model - instances are required as a first-class concept. (but really, the actor model is basically dead already. you can't even federate reliably without a WebFinger server, at minimum.)
  • Requires multi-request "handshake" before communication. (but this is already required in practice, since a signature can't be validated without first requesting the signing actor.)
  • Out-of-band protocol - communication can't happen over ActivityPub / ActivityStreams because this is a prerequisite to authenticate any request. (but again, we already require WebFinger and some software requires NodeInfo for full support.)

So, what are your thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea? Did I miss something? Please let me know, I welcome replies here!

#ActivityPub #AP #Federation

Concept for discussion: Replacing HTTP Signatures with Bearer Tokens for ActivityPub Federation

Curious what other people think about this idea. What if federation security was re-worked to use target-assigned bearer tokens to authenticate GET/POST requests? This would remove the need for complicated signing schemes and reduce system load under heavy traffic bursts (as no cryptography is required).

A basic implementation could look like this:

  1. When instance A (a.example.com) first attempts to federate with instance B (b.example.com), a POST request is made to a dedicated registration endpoint. (for discussion, we'll say it's https://b.example.com/activity-pub/register-instance). This request includes fields necessary for verification, including the source domain name, target domain name, and a securely-generated verification token. Other metadata could be included to allow instance B to selectively allow/prohibit federation based on other criteria, but this is optional.
  2. Instance B makes a POST request back to a dedicated verification endpoint on instance A (for discussion, we'll say it's https://a.example.com/activity-pub/verify-registration). This request must include the target domain name and verification token provided in step 2.
  3. Instance A checks the verification token (and verify that it matches the target domain name) and return a successful value. The verification code must be invalidated after this call!
  4. Instance B, after verifying instance A's request, returns a securely-generated federation key back to instance A. This federation key is a bearer token used to authenticate all requests from instance A to instance B. This key must be unique to instance A!
  5. Instance A completes the original request with the Authorization header set to Bearer {federation_key}.
  6. Instance B receives the request, detects the federation key, and checks it against the list of registered instances.
  7. If the key does not exist or A has been defederated, then a 403 Forbidden error is returned.
  8. If the key is expired or revoked, then 401 Unauthorized error is returned. Upon receiving a 401 error, instance A should start over from step 1 to re-authenticate and complete the request with a new token. This process should not be repeated for recursive failures!
  9. If the key is approved, then a 200 OK response or 202 Accepted response is returned, and A can consider the request as successful.

Advantages versus HTTP Signatures:

  • No cryptography requirements.
  • Simple logic, no edge cases around HTTP query parameters or header order.
  • Equally effective for all request types.
  • Keys can be easily revoked or rotated.
  • Supports authorized fetch and defederation use cases "by default".

Disadvantages versus HTTP Signatures:

  • Breaks the actor model - instances are required as a first-class concept. (but really, the actor model is basically dead already. you can't even federate reliably without a WebFinger server, at minimum.)
  • Requires multi-request "handshake" before communication. (but this is already required in practice, since a signature can't be validated without first requesting the signing actor.)
  • Out-of-band protocol - communication can't happen over ActivityPub / ActivityStreams because this is a prerequisite to authenticate any request. (but again, we already require WebFinger and some software requires NodeInfo for full support.)

So, what are your thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea? Did I miss something? Please let me know, I welcome replies here!

#ActivityPub #AP #Federation

UK, France and 23 other countries say the war in Gaza ‘must end now’

[now let's see if they do something]

from #AssociatedPress#AP#APNews
By SYLVIA HUI and JILL LAWLESS
Updated 1:05 PM EDT, July 21, 2025

LONDON (AP) — Twenty-five countries including #Britain, #France and a host of #European nations issued a joint statement on Monday that puts more pressure on #Israel, saying the war in #Gaza “must end now” and Israel must comply with international law.

The foreign ministers of countries including #Australia, #Canada and #Japan said “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.” They condemned “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”

The statement described as “horrifying” the deaths of over 800 #Palestinians who were seeking aid...

https://apnews.com/article/europe-israel-hamas-war-gaza-e4062cffa9585790061105236a93d8e5/

#StopStarvingGaza
#Palestine#MiddleEast#WestAsia#EU
#news #press #politics @palestine

UK, France and 23 other countries say the war in Gaza ‘must end now’

[now let's see if they do something]

from #AssociatedPress#AP#APNews
By SYLVIA HUI and JILL LAWLESS
Updated 1:05 PM EDT, July 21, 2025

LONDON (AP) — Twenty-five countries including #Britain, #France and a host of #European nations issued a joint statement on Monday that puts more pressure on #Israel, saying the war in #Gaza “must end now” and Israel must comply with international law.

The foreign ministers of countries including #Australia, #Canada and #Japan said “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.” They condemned “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”

The statement described as “horrifying” the deaths of over 800 #Palestinians who were seeking aid...

https://apnews.com/article/europe-israel-hamas-war-gaza-e4062cffa9585790061105236a93d8e5/

#StopStarvingGaza
#Palestine#MiddleEast#WestAsia#EU
#news #press #politics @palestine

Summer in the UK usually involves a visit to the pub 🍻

At the Newsmast Foundation, we're spending our summer at a different kind of pub - Activity Pub (but yeah, we'll probably be at the other kind once or twice too)!

The structure of the AP protocol means social is in its DNA, just like it is at your local! Our hope is that, just like your local, AP can provide a hub for your community too 🏡

#ActivtyPub#Fediverse#Mastodon#SocialMedia#Tech#AP#APProto#Tech

@hamishcampbell @hipsterelectron

Relay nodes or "servers" are interchangeable and can be used in parallel - as long as a single relay node is reachable, including one on localhost, you have access to the p2p network.

They are proxies to do p2p on behalf of your browser

Here is the preview
trulynotafan.github.io/p2p-new

...not much to see yet - and while it might not seem like it, we are getting quite close to completion🙂

Of course - we'll "make it pretty" at some later point maybe, but yeah....

@serapath @hipsterelectron

A few questions:

This is very similar to what is the difference?

Without a user facing front end, it's just tech, and too complex tech at that.

What is the use case as media is public, how would this bridge to and etc?

How are external flows of news brought in (almost all news will be reported outside the native network?)

Can it run as a phone app?

Richard MacManus
just small circles 🕊
Richard MacManus and 1 other boosted

"But under the hood, the protocol doesn’t use full mentions at all. Instead, it uses actor IDs."

The actor ID for my main account is mastodon.social/users/crepels. In my case, there is a direct translation between the full mention and the actor ID, but that doesn’t have to be the case."

@crepels, 2023

seb.jambor.dev/posts/understan

Intriguing. So in theory, the Actor ID for a fediverse account could also be represented in an app as @username@email.service or @username@xmpp.service 🤔

"But under the hood, the protocol doesn’t use full mentions at all. Instead, it uses actor IDs."

The actor ID for my main account is mastodon.social/users/crepels. In my case, there is a direct translation between the full mention and the actor ID, but that doesn’t have to be the case."

@crepels, 2023

seb.jambor.dev/posts/understan

Intriguing. So in theory, the Actor ID for a fediverse account could also be represented in an app as @username@email.service or @username@xmpp.service 🤔

People keep pointing out the UX fail of expecting people to have multiple accounts to use all the different fedi services. But that wouldn't be true if every #AP app and server used a general purpose #C2S API, defined in the AP spec (whether the existing one or not).

Then we could, for example, use a Mastodon account to login to a PeerTube service to browse and post videos. Or use a PT account to login to a Mastodon service to browse and post Notes.

@tchambers@rakoo @benpate @jupiter_rowland

People keep pointing out the UX fail of expecting people to have multiple accounts to use all the different fedi services. But that wouldn't be true if every #AP app and server used a general purpose #C2S API, defined in the AP spec (whether the existing one or not).

Then we could, for example, use a Mastodon account to login to a PeerTube service to browse and post videos. Or use a PT account to login to a Mastodon service to browse and post Notes.

@tchambers@rakoo @benpate @jupiter_rowland

Hello World!

I just spoke with a #US #Senator office about the #fediverse . They're asking for more information to help spread around #Capital #Hill in small bite sized easy to understand pieces. I'm obviously going to give them @elena beautiful #movie on the #fedi (with some light editing which she's agreed to).

I'll of course show them https://fediverse.info/ and https://fedi.tips/ which are great websites. I figured I'd give them examples of amazing #AP projects such as #mastodon , #pixelfed , #peertube , #bandwagon , and #bonfire ; even things like @admin .

I'd love to know from folks any EASY to understand projects that best encompass the Fediverse and explanations of it.

What are some projects you'd hand to your friends and family that would explain and display to them what we are?

I'll say this isn't going to happen over night. There's lot of questions around regulations, trust & safety, etc. But I feel it's pertinent to at least get the conversation going, especially considering the current state of disdain for big social media and the impending legislation around these things.

I'll finally state if there's anyone in this list that does NOT want to be involved with this, that's totally fine and I understand and I can exclude you from the materials I give to them.

#boost #boostplease #government #laws #activityPub

@benpate @peertube @bonfire
@stefano @dansup @Mastodon

Hello World!

I just spoke with a #US #Senator office about the #fediverse . They're asking for more information to help spread around #Capital #Hill in small bite sized easy to understand pieces. I'm obviously going to give them @elena beautiful #movie on the #fedi (with some light editing which she's agreed to).

I'll of course show them https://fediverse.info/ and https://fedi.tips/ which are great websites. I figured I'd give them examples of amazing #AP projects such as #mastodon , #pixelfed , #peertube , #bandwagon , and #bonfire ; even things like @admin .

I'd love to know from folks any EASY to understand projects that best encompass the Fediverse and explanations of it.

What are some projects you'd hand to your friends and family that would explain and display to them what we are?

I'll say this isn't going to happen over night. There's lot of questions around regulations, trust & safety, etc. But I feel it's pertinent to at least get the conversation going, especially considering the current state of disdain for big social media and the impending legislation around these things.

I'll finally state if there's anyone in this list that does NOT want to be involved with this, that's totally fine and I understand and I can exclude you from the materials I give to them.

#boost #boostplease #government #laws #activityPub

@benpate @peertube @bonfire
@stefano @dansup @Mastodon

Maybe rather than talking about federating everything on the web, we need to talk about federating what, and how.

In an interview with Simon Vansintjan from Mirlo, he talks about anyone with an account on their platform can create a music blog. It would be great to be able to subscribe to one of those blogs via ActivityPub, and get a notification in nu fediverse account whenever they publish new post.

podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sho

(1/?)

Coda: The growth of BlueSky, and the novel features it launches with, point to a need for a 2.0 version of ActivityPub. One that fleshes out and updates the protocol based on dev experiences in the first decade of active use, and intentions going forward.

Ideally an AP 2.0 would include a formal mechanism for protocol extensions. One that learns from the experiences of the FEP process.

#ActivityPub#AP#AP2 #FEP#BlueSky