admin :heart_cyber: / is on Nostr

lowly sysadmin ...loading the floppies 💾 to make this and 📼 https://kolektiva.media run on the information super highway :win3_terminal:

Please use #kolektivamod for moderation requests.

Last Notes

2024-10-09 01:19:14

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@npub17l5…za2f kolektiva currently doesn't enable expanded searching functionalities since a lot of people here didn't want their posts to be more searchable then what they currently are, and want their stuff to stay in their network / community on the server.
That being said, even if we do want to enable that, there would be some discussions to have collectively and also some work to do on our infra before getting there.

2024-10-09 01:15:58

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@npub1t56…ynqw Yup, and the new UI seems to be pretty damn cool !

2024-10-09 00:32:33

📣 MASTODON UPDATE 📣
We're going to do the migration to mastodon 4.3.0.
Normally, there should not be any issue, let's hope that contrary to the last time there won't be any issue.

2024-08-28 20:55:34

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@npub1h6h…ha4k Thanks. We're aware the donate link is broken. We're working on a new solution, but it's proving a bit more complicated than we'd originally hoped. We'll be sure and let people know once it's back up. :)

2024-08-28 20:51:14

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Apologies for the longer-than-expected downtime today. We ran into some issues with the upgrade that required us to do a physical reboot of our servers. Thankfully, the problem has now been resolved and the update is complete.

2023-12-30 14:41:52

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@npub1aum…7l87 @npub14vr…0e7d There's a couple of reasons for that:
1) when kolektiva first start, the goal was to have an alternative platform for anarchist media collectives that were slowly but surely getting banned and shadow banned from the corporate social media platforms, not necessarily an open platform;
2) when the mastodon instance was launched, people didn't see the need to open kolektiva.media (peertube) registration since you're able to subscribe to an account or channels from mastodon and see the new videos in your timeline;
3) we're pretty tight in terms of storage on the server right now, so even if you don't plan to upload anything, if we open registration and people start to post videos a lot, we're gonna end up with serious issues that won't be easy to manage.
I'd probably be cool to have a more open peertube instance, but we would've to do some radical change on our instance to make it possible. It's not impossible, but it'd need some planning, time, and money.

2023-12-27 17:17:11

🖤 Kolektiva Loves PeerTube 🖤
PeerTube is one of Kolektiva's core services, running at kolektiva.media. It is a free and open source alternative to YouTube, developed by the non-profit organization @npub14vr…0e7d During the end of the year, Framasoft is raising money to finance the future development of Peertube. You can check out the roadmap here: https://joinpeertube.org/news/peertube-future-2024.
PeerTube allows Kolektiva to autonomously distribute video content with the kind of smooth and accessible interface that users expect. If you have some money left this year, you should consider making a donation to fund the future of this important platform: https://framasoft.org/en/#support. If you don't have money to give, we completely understand and we ask instead that you share this post and also visit Framasoft's website (https://framasoft.org/en/) to discover all their free services. We also encourage you to talk about them with your friends and comrades, so more people use these privacy-focused alternatives to the corporate services that only want to make money out of your data.
- Kolektiva's tech collective
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/653/506/998/330/082/original/1ac1a9f222dd957c.png

2023-12-19 05:09:03

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All the upgrades are done! 🎉
Kolektiva.media is now running on the latest PeerTube version 6.0.2 :black_sparkling_heart:

2023-12-19 00:22:54

📣 kolektiva.media maintenance 🎥
The tech team is going to do some upgrade works on the kolektiva.media (peertube) server.
We may have to reboot the server, but it shouldn't be super long downtime(s).
The maintenance time is planned from 19h30 EST to 22h30 EST. if it extends over this period, we'll update the ETA under this post.

2023-09-20 15:58:57

The Mastodon version 4.1.8 security patch from yesterday introduced a bug that caused translations to fail with a 500 errors. More details available here: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/26983
This morning, version 4.1.9 was released to fix this bug. We have just updated to this new version, and translations seem to be working again! 🏴

2023-09-08 22:28:20

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@npub17l5…za2f
Thanks for your continued offers of support. We hope to have an update on this front soon. :anarchoheart3:

2023-09-08 01:57:20

We realized this afternoon that there was a major performance issue with the storage on the server hosting our instance. We have been working on the problem since then. Tonight we're pretty sure we have narrowed down the specific cause and are in the process of trying to fix it. The same people who would usually post here have been busy working on the problem and just realized we should post this update.
We will share another update here when there is more specific info available.

2023-07-22 18:16:23

An hour ago we updated to Mastodon v4.1.5 which was released yesterday morning and included a minor security fix. We had previously been on v4.1.3, so the upgrade today also included the bug fixes in v4.1.4.

2023-07-03 19:03:17

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Update: the RSA signing keys for every account on kolektiva.social have now been rotated.

2023-07-01 12:40:13

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Some users have asked or pointed out, and yes it is the case that the database copy would also include cached copies of posts from users on other instances in the Fediverse, and this includes direct posts or "DMs" which were sent to or included a Kolektiva.social user.
We welcome suggestions on how to most effectively notify (a lot) of Fediverse users in general of this, but we also ask for other instance admins to help by communicating this to their own users if it seems appropriate 🙏

2023-07-01 12:35:54

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Two additional points:
If you are a kolektiva.social user and have already enabled Two-factor Authentication on your account you should also reset that, just like your password. (Also consider that it's a good idea in general to set up Two-factor authentication, if you are able, to secure access to your account!)

2023-07-01 04:52:43

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Please see our previous post for full context 👆
Why did we delay in notifying our users? After extensive internal discussions and advice from multiple movement lawyers, we made the difficult decision to delay informing our users, since an earlier public statement could have made the situation worse in a number of ways.
To be clear, the physical Kolektiva servers were not targeted or affected by the FBI raid. Our actual, live servers are encrypted, in that the hard drives are encrypted at rest. We have no reason to believe that any Kolektiva.social data has been compromised, outside of the database back-up that was seized. Our admin's various electronic devices and other drives were encrypted, and we swiftly rotated all passwords and keys as appropriate for any potential breach like this. In other words, we have no reason to believe this is an evolving threat to our server integrity, or our users' data security.
So then, why are we asking users to reset their passwords? The seized database did not contain user passwords, it contained hashed user passwords. To better understand why we recommend users change their password, here is a good explainer: https://www.troyhunt.com/we-didnt-encrypt-your-password-we-hashed-it-heres-what-that-means/
Without offering any excuses, we also think it warrants mentioning that the seized data would be similar to data obtained in any raid or other unauthorized access of any typical Mastodon server. It is the same data any cooperating instance admin can hand over willingly when requested. Unfortunately, there are serious limits to what admins of Mastodon instances can do to protect the data of their users. Users should always take precautions to protect the privacy of information, especially any sensitive information, they share on the Fediverse or anywhere else on the Internet. We hope that if nothing else, this situation serves as a learning experience for our users, and others on the Fediverse. It certainly has for us. For an intro to operational security on Mastodon, we strongly recommend checking out this guide: https://distro.f-91w.club/masto-opsec/
Going forward, we will continue to explore our legal options. Ideally, we would be presenting a comprehensive list of internal changes, policies and best practices that we plan to implement to avoid outcomes like this in the future. These are definitely conversations we have started having, and intend to continue, but we also want people to be aware that we're a small volunteer collective, and we are dramatically affected by these events. Things may be slow to develop. We also have to keep Kolektiva.social running and pick up the slack now that we are missing a crucial team member 💔 .
Our admin's legal situation is shitty, but they currently have the support and legal representation they need. We will post any information or calls for support if that becomes appropriate or needed.
As many understand, our political movements are currently facing high levels of state repression, which has resulted in an increase in digital and other forms of surveillance, raids and arrests, false and overblown criminal charges, increased use of pre-trial detention and lengthy prison sentences. At times like these, political movements are tested and solidarity and security culture become important touchstones for our work to make the world a better place for all.
Thank you again for your understanding, solidarity, and time taken to read all this.

2023-07-01 04:52:07

🚨 Kolektiva.social SECURITY ALERT 🚨
This is an alert for Kolektiva.social users. Please read this post in its entirety!
In mid-May 2023, the home of one of Kolektiva.social's admins was raided, and all their electronics were seized by the FBI. The raid was part of an investigation into a local protest. Kolektiva was neither a subject nor target of this investigation. Today, that admin was charged in relation to their alleged participation in this protest.
Unfortunately, at the time of the raid, our admin was troubleshooting an issue and working with a backup copy of the Kolektiva.social database. This backup, dated from the first week of May 2023, was in an *unencrypted* state when the raid occurred and it was seized, along with everything else.
The database is the heart of a Mastodon server. A database copy such as the one seized may include any of the following user data, in this case up to date as of early May 2023:
- User account information like the e-mail address associated with your account, your followers and follows, etc.
- All your posts: public, unlisted, followers-only, *and direct ("DMs")*.
- Possibly IP addresses associated with your account - IP addresses on Kolektiva.social are logged for 3 days and then deleted, so IP addresses from any logins in the 3 days prior to the database backup date would be included.
- A hashed ("encrypted") version of your password.
🚨 👉 As a precaution we highly recommend that all users on Kolektiva.social *change their password immediately* to a new, unique, and strong password.
We sincerely apologize to all our users and regret this breach. In hindsight, it was obviously a mistake to leave a copy of the database in an unencrypted state. Unfortunately, what would otherwise have been a small mistake happened to coincide with a raid, due to bad luck and spectacularly bad timing.
We understand that our users and other people on the Fediverse will have a lot of questions. We will try to answer them as best we can, but please be patient and bear in mind that we may be overwhelmed with messages, and may be delayed in responding or unable to provide answers to certain questions for legal or technical reasons. As a security culture reminder, it can be extremely harmful to the individuals charged and to our community to openly speculate on the Internet about alleged criminal activity or about what law enforcement may be able to do with seized data. Our present awareness is that the seized Kolektiva data is unrelated to the federal investigation and prosecution and we are exploring legal avenues to have the seized data returned and copies destroyed.
Thank you for your understanding and solidarity :black_sparkling_heart:
👇 Please see our replies to this post for additional information (1/?) 👇