**Bluesky Suggests New User Privacy Features**
Bluesky is focused on improving user privacy by empowering individuals with enhanced control over the utilization of their public content. The organization recently revealed a [proposal on GitHub](https://github.com/bluesky-social/proposals/tree/main/0008-user-intents) detailing possible adjustments to meet this aim.
The proposition indicates that Bluesky users might be able to state “intents”—preferences about the reuse of their public content. This mechanism would operate in a manner akin to robots.txt files, which websites utilize to guide web crawlers on which information can or cannot be accessed. Although these guidelines wouldn’t have legal binding power, they would hold ethical significance and be anticipated to be adhered to by conscientious users.
In simple terms, Bluesky intends to implement settings that enable users to dictate how bots and data scrapers can engage with their content. However, akin to robots.txt, these choices would serve as recommendations rather than mandatory regulations.
### **Bluesky and the AI Scraping Dilemma**
Currently, Bluesky functions as a public platform, allowing search engines, generative AI systems, and other data scrapers to easily access its content. This topic received attention following a brief mention by Bluesky CEO Jay Graber at South by Southwest (SXSW) and was further elaborated in a [post on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/jay.bsky.team/post/3lkens3n4w223). Some individuals raised initial concerns, but Graber later provided clarification.
“Gen AI companies are already gathering public data from all over the web, and everything on Bluesky is as public as any website,” Graber stated. “However, throughout the history of the open web, standards like robots.txt have evolved that most search engines came to honor. This is a proposal aimed at establishing a new, comparable standard.”
The use of publicly accessible data for AI model training has sparked significant debate, with numerous internet users looking for means to [stop AI from extracting knowledge from their content](https://mashable.com/article/copyright-trap-ai-scraping-tool). Several companies, including Meta, have been accused of unethical data collection, such as [utilizing pirated books for AI training](https://mashable.com/article/meta-pirated-books-llama-ai-lawsuit).
### **Graber’s Position on AI Scraping**
Graber has expressed her strong disapproval of exploitative AI data scraping. During SXSW, she made a statement by wearing a T-shirt that stated *Mundus sine Caesaribus* (“A world without Caesars” in Latin), a pointed reference to a similar shirt worn by Mark Zuckerberg that said *Aut Zuck aut nihil* (“Zuck or nothing”).
Bluesky subsequently offered Graber’s *Mundus* T-shirt on its site, and it [sold out in mere minutes](https://mashable.com/article/bluesky-ceo-shirt-sxsw-jay-graber-mark-zuckerberg).
As Bluesky progresses with the development of its privacy functionalities, the discussion surrounding AI scraping and the protection of user data continues to be a critical matter in the changing digital environment.