Social networking site Diaspora, which aims to be the Facebook of the open source world, has opened its doors to a limited number of users in an attempt to iron out the final bugs before a full launch.
The service, which has been in development for quite some time, began as a response to perceived privacy issues with Facebook - in particular, the company's terms and conditions that give it complete rights over all your personal data and the inability to remove your user account completely from the site.
Diaspora, by contrast, is based around the premise of giving its users full control over their personal data at all times. In the words of the site's founders, 'you own your pictures, and you shouldn’t have to give that up just to share them. You maintain ownership of everything you share on Diaspora, giving you full control over how it's distributed.'
