You might remember Diaspora, that plucky Facebook rival, conceived by four NYU students, that actual prioritizes your privacy. As promised, they've released the project code, along with a tantalizing preview of how the site's going to look: familiar, but not.
Some quick context: the core idea behind Diaspora is that each user will have their own encrypted, customizable "node" on the Diaspora network. Your personal data live on your computer instead of a centralized hub. Ergo, privacy!
Here's what's up and running at the moment:
• Share status messages and photos privately and in near real time with your friends through "aspects".
• Friend people across the Internet no matter where Diaspora seed is located.
• Manage friends using "aspects"
• Upload of photos and albums
• All traffic is signed and encrypted (except photos, for now).
With goodies like like Facebook integration and internationalization coming next month for the Alpha release. And here's an extended tour:
It's sparse, sure, but that's also the point; ideally it'll be hosted all over the place, with different looks and configurations.
Most of all, it's encouraging to see just how on track the Diaspora project is. Will it ever reach 500 million users like the big game it's hunting? Probably not, no. But it does give those 500 million users an alternative where they feel secure. That's worth rooting for. [Diaspora via TechCrunch]