Re: <nettime> Seeking alternatives: Artistic portfolio infrastructure against AI scraping and platform enclosure

[Seth Indigo Carnes via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

Out of lurker status again here. There are a few projects worth sharing on this topic from the NYC area, related to data, privacy, decentralization, and  artist rights:

TRANSFER DATA TRUST

Kelani Nicole is the main driver of this project, part of her experience running Transfer Gallery for years, where she and collaborators are implementing a decentralized artist-owned archive and cooperative value exchange network. I believe the code, metadata model, etc, will eventually be released for anyone to use, but the first instance and experimentation with artists and digital conservators is closed, I think.

https://transfergallery.com/data-trust/

ARTIST’S CONTRACT FOR DECENTRALIZED ART (ACDA)

This project is out of the TXT collective. Please note, I’m a member and participant on this project. 

The ACDA is less about hiding from scrapers and AI than an intervention in power structures that control the story and economics of an artwork after it leaves the artist's studio and enters the market. 

It’s also centered in decentralization, whether blockchain certified records, provenance, or decentralized storage for digital artworks. In this sense, it’s more about a redistribution of power than keeping data hidden. 

We are in prototype phase now while continuing discussion with artists and others in art world. We hope to start testing soon; it's all DIY so far. The legal contract, also the smart contract we’re building will be open source.

More info:
https://txt.studio/projects/acda/

Recent publication:
https://www.printedmatter.org/catalog/70198/

DFOS (Dark Forest Operating System)

This is recently released after the beta test. I’m curious to hear thoughts about the tech specs and data policies. There are promises like WE WIL NEVER Sell Your Data, Train AI, etc and YOU  WILL ALWAYS Own Your Data, etc. It is built by the same founders as Metalabel, one of whom is a co-founder of Kickstarter. The writing and discussion on metaphor of dark forest of the internet seems to echo aspects of the Small Web.

Overall:
https://www.dfos.com/

Specs
https://protocol.dfos.com/overview/

Matrix / Element that GH mentioned earlier is nice and we both use it, but onboarding is bit clunky and less tech savvy folks losing their keys is an issue. 

Hope some of this is useful…

Warmly,
Seth

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[sic]
https://www.sic.studio

> On Jul 6, 2026, at 05:59, Guido D'Apuzzo via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org> wrote:
> 
> Thank you for opening this discussion. I believe it raises an increasingly
> important question.
> 
> I wonder whether one possible direction is not only to develop better tools
> against scraping and AI training, but also to rethink the infrastructures
> in which artistic research takes place. I am thinking, for example, of
> small, low-cost personal servers managed directly by artists, existing at
> the margins of the commercial web. Not as a definitive solution, but as an
> attempt to recover a different relationship with digital space.
> 
> What concerns me is not simply the protection of finished artworks. What
> concerns me even more is preserving the conditions that make artistic
> research possible.
> 
> A large part of artistic practice consists of notes, sketches, prototypes,
> mistakes, attempts, and ongoing experiments. These materials belong to a
> process and should not necessarily be treated as finished works or as data
> available for unrestricted reuse.
> 
> My concern is therefore not only that these materials may be automatically
> scraped and repurposed for contexts entirely different from those in which
> they were emerge. I also wonder whether we should defend the right of
> research to remain unfinished, fragile, and situated.
> 
> Not everything that becomes accessible should immediately become raw
> material for other systems. Perhaps we should preserve the possibility for
> an idea to remain, at least for a while, a hypothesis, a doubt, or an
> experiment, before being absorbed into infrastructures that tend to
> transform every trace into data.
> 
> For this reason, I find the Small Web particularly compelling. I would be
> very interested to hear about other decentralized networks, alternative
> protocols, or low-tech infrastructures that could offer not only greater
> technical autonomy, but also help preserve the conditions under which
> artistic research can evolve at its own pace.
> 
> Thank you again for opening this discussion. I look forward to learning
> from the perspectives and experiences shared by this community.
> :) GD
> 
> 
> Il lun 6 lug 2026, 09:57 tatiweb via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>
> ha scritto:
> 
>> I facilitate a pixelfed server for professional artists in the
>> Netherlands echobeach.nl . At the moment people are duplicating their
>> instagram profiles, but the sever is growing and getting feeds from
>> other servers. My next step is to figure out how to add a AI defense on
>> the server, to work when people upload their files to the server.
>> 
>> On 7/2/26 23:20, Stella Aster via nettime-l wrote:
>>> I would love a way to scrape Instagram profiles into a Pixelfed
>>> instance, that would give me enough motivation to actually set up a
>>> local art Pixelfed I think. But then again, maybe that is the young
>>> technologist in me, always eager to solve problems with my keyboard,
>>> when perhaps I should just start with some conversations, and be
>>> relational about it.
>> --
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>> 
> -- 
> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
> # more info: https://www.nettime.org
> # contact: nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org

-- 
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: https://www.nettime.org
# contact: nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org