Apparently there is a new controversy about a certain website copying Mastodon accounts, duplicating all of their public content, and republishing it under a different handle (channel address). It is using a similar concept of RSS, where they take a public feed, and then republish that feed elsewhere, without adding any additional commentary or information. It's basically a duplicate of the original account. It is attributed to the original author, except with a new channel address.
Some people are noticeably upset over this since they have no control over the copy of their account on another server. Others claim this is the same as archive.org and RSS feeds, so there is nothing wrong with it. I, personally, find it an unethical use of the technology since no consent is asked for or given.
I think this brings up an interesting discussion, because it highlights what users should know but often don't. "What is posted publicly on the internet stays on the internet."
Once you post something publicly. a lot of people have a copy. Website administrators have copies and backups of your content. Individual people viewing your content can screenshot or download your content. Organizations like the Wayback Machine may archive your content. Governments may collect your content and build a file on you. Journalists and other websites may take some of your content and quote you. Search engines index your content. Machine Learning bots (AI) may take your content and use it in their algorithms. And, as discussed in this post, aggregator websites may take some of your content and make some of it available on their website.
A website taking someone's public account and duplicating it without consent is disturbing, but it really is just the tip of the privacy iceberg.
