Reducing dependence on Amazon AWS and guarding against AI slop.
Analog.Cafe stores and distributes a large number of PDFs, high-resolution sample images, and other downloadable content. Previously, it was stored on Amazon S3 for quick, easy access. However, as the company’s uptime stability has recently been brought into question and its business ethics have long been questioned, I’ve decided to replace some of its services.
Substituting the essential tools that are deeply intertwined in all internet activities is not easy. Some of the services Analog.Cafe provides still depend on companies that use Amazon in their own stacks. However, starting today, I am no longer directly relying on AWS to serve any part of this website’s content.
All hosted content is now stored on Digital Ocean, specifically on its servers in Toronto, Canada����. This includes the distributed computing cluster used to process and invert your film negatives via #film Q. All Analog.Cafe data, except for business logic, continues to be served from Toronto, as it has since the website’s inception in 2018.
As the readership and membership continue to grow, I will work to move the remaining parts of the infrastructure onto servers operated by companies with the most ethically sound practices possible, while maintaining and improving speed and reliability.
I can’t promise that this website will never use any services rendered by companies that aren’t perfect in every way. This is simply not possible. However, as a software engineer, I control more data and infrastructure than a typical blog or social media account, so I will aim for the greatest good possible.
As of last week, I’m also placing some of this responsibility onto artists and photographers who publish their work on Analog.Cafe. An updated rule on this page, analog.cafe/open-call, requires any machine-generated text to be disclosed. This update was in response to a recent submission that was essentially AI slop, offered by a reputable film lab, no less.
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Thank you so much for your support and understanding. I am hoping that explicitly defining the direction Analog.Cafe follows will help create a better product and experience for all readers and the community at large.
Dmitri
eric
Dmitri