Rob Ricci
@ricci.io
Research Professor in the Kahlert School of Computing at the University of Utah
Not planning to be here much, my main account is on the fediverse at https://discuss.systems/@ricci/ - you can follow it directly here as
@ricci.discuss.systems.ap.brid.gy
Not planning to be here much, my main account is on the fediverse at https://discuss.systems/@ricci/ - you can follow it directly here as
@ricci.discuss.systems.ap.brid.gy
Pinned
Launching their new social network, W, the EU posted a map of where other social networks are hosted. It showed nothing in Europe.
But their map is wrong.
Here's what Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere actually look like
arewedecentralizedyet.online/map/?source=at
But their map is wrong.
Here's what Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere actually look like
arewedecentralizedyet.online/map/?source=at
New type of data up on arewedecentralizedyet.online : Bluesky trusted verifiers! Are all those blue checks being given out by the same verifiers? (answer: mostly, but by no means all!)
Many thanks to @bskycheck.com for the data!
Many thanks to @bskycheck.com for the data!
January 24, 2026 at 6:36 AM
New type of data up on arewedecentralizedyet.online : Bluesky trusted verifiers! Are all those blue checks being given out by the same verifiers? (answer: mostly, but by no means all!)
Many thanks to @bskycheck.com for the data!
Many thanks to @bskycheck.com for the data!
Reposted by Rob Ricci
New from me: FR#150 – On ICE, Verification, and Presence As Harm
Bluesky's decision to verify ICE's account shows that it not set up well to deal with threats where the presence itself is the harm
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
Bluesky's decision to verify ICE's account shows that it not set up well to deal with threats where the presence itself is the harm
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
FR#150 – On ICE, Verification, and Presence As Harm
Bluesky built a verification system designed to distribute trust, and then didn't use it when it mattered.
connectedplaces.online
January 23, 2026 at 5:00 PM
New from me: FR#150 – On ICE, Verification, and Presence As Harm
Bluesky's decision to verify ICE's account shows that it not set up well to deal with threats where the presence itself is the harm
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
Bluesky's decision to verify ICE's account shows that it not set up well to deal with threats where the presence itself is the harm
connectedplaces.online/reports/fr15...
Launching their new social network, W, the EU posted a map of where other social networks are hosted. It showed nothing in Europe.
But their map is wrong.
Here's what Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere actually look like
arewedecentralizedyet.online/map/?source=at
But their map is wrong.
Here's what Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere actually look like
arewedecentralizedyet.online/map/?source=at
January 22, 2026 at 1:45 AM
Launching their new social network, W, the EU posted a map of where other social networks are hosted. It showed nothing in Europe.
But their map is wrong.
Here's what Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere actually look like
arewedecentralizedyet.online/map/?source=at
But their map is wrong.
Here's what Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere actually look like
arewedecentralizedyet.online/map/?source=at
Reposted by Rob Ricci
W Social completely erasing Mastodon and Eurosky on the map on its signup page may finally bring ATproto and AP together.
#ATProto #ActivityPub #Bluesky
#ATProto #ActivityPub #Bluesky
January 21, 2026 at 6:54 PM
W Social completely erasing Mastodon and Eurosky on the map on its signup page may finally bring ATproto and AP together.
#ATProto #ActivityPub #Bluesky
#ATProto #ActivityPub #Bluesky
I've moved arewedecentralizedyet.online to new datasources, including actual monthly-active-user counts for the #atproto world. Using actual MAUs, there are a full 1% of active accounts now that are not on Bluesky PBC PDSes.
January 14, 2026 at 6:01 AM
I've moved arewedecentralizedyet.online to new datasources, including actual monthly-active-user counts for the #atproto world. Using actual MAUs, there are a full 1% of active accounts now that are not on Bluesky PBC PDSes.
Reposted by Rob Ricci
OK fellow atproto nerds: I've been drinking the Bluesky and Blacksky firehoses for the past month+ and recording the DIDs that I see.
How different do you think the sets of dids and PDSes relayed are? Put in your guesses!
I'll post a reply with answers when this post is about 24h old.
How different do you think the sets of dids and PDSes relayed are? Put in your guesses!
I'll post a reply with answers when this post is about 24h old.
January 12, 2026 at 1:01 AM
OK fellow atproto nerds: I've been drinking the Bluesky and Blacksky firehoses for the past month+ and recording the DIDs that I see.
How different do you think the sets of dids and PDSes relayed are? Put in your guesses!
I'll post a reply with answers when this post is about 24h old.
How different do you think the sets of dids and PDSes relayed are? Put in your guesses!
I'll post a reply with answers when this post is about 24h old.
OK fellow atproto nerds: I've been drinking the Bluesky and Blacksky firehoses for the past month+ and recording the DIDs that I see.
How different do you think the sets of dids and PDSes relayed are? Put in your guesses!
I'll post a reply with answers when this post is about 24h old.
How different do you think the sets of dids and PDSes relayed are? Put in your guesses!
I'll post a reply with answers when this post is about 24h old.
January 12, 2026 at 1:01 AM
OK fellow atproto nerds: I've been drinking the Bluesky and Blacksky firehoses for the past month+ and recording the DIDs that I see.
How different do you think the sets of dids and PDSes relayed are? Put in your guesses!
I'll post a reply with answers when this post is about 24h old.
How different do you think the sets of dids and PDSes relayed are? Put in your guesses!
I'll post a reply with answers when this post is about 24h old.
Reposted by Rob Ricci
Remember the tape that my research group found recently? Well...
"Computer History Museum software curator Al Kossow has successfully retrieved the contents of the over-half-a-century old tape found at the University of Utah last month." [Actually, in July.]
www.theregister.com/2025/12/23/u...
"Computer History Museum software curator Al Kossow has successfully retrieved the contents of the over-half-a-century old tape found at the University of Utah last month." [Actually, in July.]
www.theregister.com/2025/12/23/u...
UNIX V4 tape successfully recovered
: Crucial early evolutionary step found, imaged, and ... amazingly ... works
www.theregister.com
December 23, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Remember the tape that my research group found recently? Well...
"Computer History Museum software curator Al Kossow has successfully retrieved the contents of the over-half-a-century old tape found at the University of Utah last month." [Actually, in July.]
www.theregister.com/2025/12/23/u...
"Computer History Museum software curator Al Kossow has successfully retrieved the contents of the over-half-a-century old tape found at the University of Utah last month." [Actually, in July.]
www.theregister.com/2025/12/23/u...
We found a tape containing UNIX V4 - long believed lost - in storage at the University of Utah. Yesterday, the Computer History Museum read it! There's a raw copy of the tape up at archive.org/details/utah... , a .tar at squoze.net/UNIX/v4/ , and much more at discuss.systems/@ricci/11550...
UNIX V4 tape from University of Utah (raw) : Computer History Museum : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
UNIX V4 tape from the University of Utah, received by Martin Newell in June 1974 around when he modeled the Utah Teapot.This is the raw analog waveform and the...
archive.org
December 20, 2025 at 5:24 PM
We found a tape containing UNIX V4 - long believed lost - in storage at the University of Utah. Yesterday, the Computer History Museum read it! There's a raw copy of the tape up at archive.org/details/utah... , a .tar at squoze.net/UNIX/v4/ , and much more at discuss.systems/@ricci/11550...
Reposted by Rob Ricci
Here's the document release you were waiting for today!
The UNIX V4 tape!
https://archive.org/details/utah_unix_v4_raw
#retrocomputing
The UNIX V4 tape!
https://archive.org/details/utah_unix_v4_raw
#retrocomputing
UNIX V4 tape from University of Utah (raw) : Computer History Museum : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
UNIX V4 tape from the University of Utah, received by Martin Newell circa June 1974 around when he modeled the Utah Teapot.This is the raw analog waveform and...
archive.org
December 19, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Here's the document release you were waiting for today!
The UNIX V4 tape!
https://archive.org/details/utah_unix_v4_raw
#retrocomputing
The UNIX V4 tape!
https://archive.org/details/utah_unix_v4_raw
#retrocomputing
Reposted by Rob Ricci
Are you being tracked when you visit your government's websites?
Probably!
We (@sachindhke, Faisal Mahmud, Sandra Siby, and I) have a new paper appearing at PETS (the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium) next July that looks at government websites from […]
[Original post on discuss.systems]
Probably!
We (@sachindhke, Faisal Mahmud, Sandra Siby, and I) have a new paper appearing at PETS (the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium) next July that looks at government websites from […]
[Original post on discuss.systems]
December 17, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Are you being tracked when you visit your government's websites?
Probably!
We (@sachindhke, Faisal Mahmud, Sandra Siby, and I) have a new paper appearing at PETS (the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium) next July that looks at government websites from […]
[Original post on discuss.systems]
Probably!
We (@sachindhke, Faisal Mahmud, Sandra Siby, and I) have a new paper appearing at PETS (the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium) next July that looks at government websites from […]
[Original post on discuss.systems]
Reposted by Rob Ricci
The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.
December 16, 2025 at 11:31 PM
The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.
Reposted by Rob Ricci
Incredible free vacation opportunity for cool guys.
From the Oklahoma U student paper: the school is now saying it will automatically suspend faculty (with pay) in response to student complaints
www.oudaily.com/news/ou-poli...
www.oudaily.com/news/ou-poli...
December 13, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Incredible free vacation opportunity for cool guys.
Reposted by Rob Ricci
I'm preparing new datasources for the social networks on https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/
For the fediverse, I'm switching to getting hosts from nodes.fediverse.party and fetching the nodeinfo myself - all of the different crawlers I've looked at fetch slightly different sets of hosts, and […]
For the fediverse, I'm switching to getting hosts from nodes.fediverse.party and fetching the nodeinfo myself - all of the different crawlers I've looked at fetch slightly different sets of hosts, and […]
Original post on discuss.systems
discuss.systems
December 11, 2025 at 5:53 AM
I'm preparing new datasources for the social networks on https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/
For the fediverse, I'm switching to getting hosts from nodes.fediverse.party and fetching the nodeinfo myself - all of the different crawlers I've looked at fetch slightly different sets of hosts, and […]
For the fediverse, I'm switching to getting hosts from nodes.fediverse.party and fetching the nodeinfo myself - all of the different crawlers I've looked at fetch slightly different sets of hosts, and […]
Reading the atproto feed this evening and it's not beating the rap that the atmosphere and the fediverse are just going to reinvent each other
December 10, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Reading the atproto feed this evening and it's not beating the rap that the atmosphere and the fediverse are just going to reinvent each other
Reposted by Rob Ricci
I did a study of now many users in the atproto world (Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere) have strong control over their identities via rotation keys or other methods
Rotation Key Census, December 2025
Census of rotation keys and other ways of asserting strong control over identity on the Atmosphere
rob.leaflet.pub
December 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I did a study of now many users in the atproto world (Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere) have strong control over their identities via rotation keys or other methods
I did a study of now many users in the atproto world (Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere) have strong control over their identities via rotation keys or other methods
Rotation Key Census, December 2025
Census of rotation keys and other ways of asserting strong control over identity on the Atmosphere
rob.leaflet.pub
December 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I did a study of now many users in the atproto world (Bluesky and the broader Atmosphere) have strong control over their identities via rotation keys or other methods
Hi, I just thought you might want to know that 'atproto' is an anagram for 'poo tart', in case you needed recipe ideas for your atproto-themed get-together
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Hi, I just thought you might want to know that 'atproto' is an anagram for 'poo tart', in case you needed recipe ideas for your atproto-themed get-together
Writing a thing about rotation keys for did:plc atproto identities. What are the best places to point people to in order to create their own rotation keys? I know PDS MOOver can do this - other good user-friendly tools to point people to?
December 6, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Writing a thing about rotation keys for did:plc atproto identities. What are the best places to point people to in order to create their own rotation keys? I know PDS MOOver can do this - other good user-friendly tools to point people to?
Reposted by Rob Ricci
KSL TV @ksl.com interviewed the members of my research group who recently discovered a rare piece of computing history: an old tape that might contain UNIX V4. ksltv.com/science-tech...
University of Utah team discovers rare computer relic
A research team at the University of Utah uncovered a rare piece of computing history.
ksltv.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:18 PM
KSL TV @ksl.com interviewed the members of my research group who recently discovered a rare piece of computing history: an old tape that might contain UNIX V4. ksltv.com/science-tech...
I've been using this site for several months, and I still don't know what this button does, but "viewing the full thread" definitely ain't it
December 2, 2025 at 4:11 PM
I've been using this site for several months, and I still don't know what this button does, but "viewing the full thread" definitely ain't it
I made a mirror of the git repo for arewedecentralizedyet.online on @tangled.org . Currently using my own PDS but their knot - I intend to try running my own knot soon. Very neat!
tangled.org/ricci.io/are...
tangled.org/ricci.io/are...
ricci.io/are-we-decentralized-yet
Code and data for arewedecentralizedyet.online and related projects
tangled.org
November 30, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I made a mirror of the git repo for arewedecentralizedyet.online on @tangled.org . Currently using my own PDS but their knot - I intend to try running my own knot soon. Very neat!
tangled.org/ricci.io/are...
tangled.org/ricci.io/are...
Do you want to know what your "Following" feed would look like without Bluesky-the-company? @mackuba.eu made a feed for this! Check out bsky.app/profile/did:... - you'll only see accounts you're following that are not on Bluesky-owned personal data servers (PDSes).
November 23, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Do you want to know what your "Following" feed would look like without Bluesky-the-company? @mackuba.eu made a feed for this! Check out bsky.app/profile/did:... - you'll only see accounts you're following that are not on Bluesky-owned personal data servers (PDSes).