Alternatives for creating blogs?

Fox

Good morning. I have been looking for a simple, free and privacy-friendly tool to create a blog, even if it was not self-hosted. Among the software that I have found I have decided to try WriteFreely and Plume, tools used in instances of the Fediverse.
What do you think about them? Any other software you can recommend (I don't have my own server and I can't set it up at the moment, so it would be great if you could avoid tools that need to be self-hosted).
Thank you, and best regards

begipok689

The Fediverse is great! But! What do you mean when you say privacy-friendly in this context? What are your criteria? From what I can tell, whoever runs the WriteFreely or Plume instances would probably also have access to your drafts, received messages etc, and unless you use Tor to connect, they'd also have access to your IP. These services probably require an email address to sign up. What aspects of privacy do you care about?

Fox

begipok689 The privacy aspects that I focus on in this case are the following:

Community or properly audited tool: I am interested in looking for audited or open source software to ensure that the system in which I move does not track me on the sly (These tools meet this requirement).
Privacy policy: As there are several instances in the fediverse, each one will have its privacy policy, so I will look for some instance that tries to guarantee a broad respect for my privacy (This one could serve as an example).
Legislation: The instances (in principle) must conform to the laws on privacy and data processing of the country in which they exist, so I will look for the instance to be located in a country where at a legal level my privacy is protected with effort, given the case that the one behind the instance skips its privacy policy, and also taking into account that the same country guarantees a broad respect by the state to the privacy of its citizens and cybernauts (For example, the Swiss legislation).
Use of non-critical and non-identifying information: I am aware that in almost all instances there will be a requirement to provide some personal and identifying information to create an account within the instance. For me, in this case, what interests me is that a minimum amount of information is required to create the account, and that in the process I am not asked to provide data through which I can be easily identified, or that I am not asked to make use of systems that compromise my privacy (For example, that I am not asked to verify my account via phone number. I refer to a previous link).
Permissiveness on prevention: For my part, I always try to make use of software and tools that guarantee and help me to protect my privacy, but there are websites and networks that prevent or limit de facto the use of their services if they detect that the cybernaut tries to shield his information, so I try to use services and tools that allow me to use them even if I protect myself without this being a limitation for the use of the service (These websites and tools allow it).

Finally, I try to protect myself through decentralization with respect to agencies and companies that may jeopardize my principles. For example, I would avoid using an application if it is funded or influenced by companies like Microsoft, Google or Facebook in terms of respect for privacy. (In this case we are talking about the Fediverse, a network of independent and decentralized sites and tools that, in principle, are not influenced or bought by large companies that may put my privacy at risk).

I think these would be, in essence and principle, the aspects I am focusing on to make compatible the fact of having a blog with the defense of my privacy.

begipok689

Fox Excellent reply! Thank you! Your proposed alternatives seem great! You probably know this, so this is for people new to the Fediverse: In my (limited) experience with the Fediverse, the instance admins seem to matter a lot. A lot of the people running instances are doing it as a hobby, and for many the legal aspects are probably not something they are passionate about, and occasionally I would guess that even server maintenance is not the main reason for someone to set up an instance. My guess is that identifying malicious or rule-breaking admins would be hard - this is obviously the case with traditional for-profit platforms as well, but admins are more obviously "human" since instances are much smaller and admins tend to be a part of the community. The threat modelling moves from "is this corporation mapping my entire digital life?" to "is this person within my community someone who will behave ethically towards me and others?". Different questions, with different risk and privacy implications.

Fox

begipok689 I agree with your approach.
I understand that identifying an individual and his intentions (in this case, the administrator of the instance) is more complex than identifying a company or corporation that openly exposes its aspirations, but in legal terms it will always be more effective to fight and prosecute against one than against a group. There is also the reflection on how far an individual can go in comparison to a company or state regarding the use of your information, and the impact that this could have on us. In essence the debate is about how much we can and are willing to demand from those in whom we will deposit our information and, by allusions, our property, our trust and above all, our freedom.

We live in a world in which, unfortunately, and without fear or grace, we can say that we have spies up to our asses, both from companies and states, so the only thing we can do, those willing to defend their freedom with their lives, is to give the ideological battle against the existing paradigm, discovering to the candids the value of privacy and showing them with facts, truths and ideas that the future of our world can be much brighter than we could ever imagine it today, and complicate the evildoers' lives and attempts to steal our information and jeopardize our privacy in the process.

Anyway, I'm winding up. I'm sorry if I went into detail, but freedom is the value I hold most dear and for which I fight ideologically every day in every moment of my life. I am a revolutionary anarchist hahahah!!!!

If you come up with new ideas or discover more software and tools regarding blogs (apart from the ones mentioned here and in privacytools.io) I will be happy to read and analyze your proposals. Best regards.