Parlance was a client library for Parler – a "free speech" social network that accepts real money to buy "influence" points to boost organic non-advertising content. The authors refrained from commenting on this business model.
As predicted, the design of Parler's API proved insecure and inadequate given the platform's scalability and performance goals. Parler recently proved this by discarding and deprecating their API server in full, opting to return to HTML 5 markup delivered directly from a PHP-based backend.
As a result, the software herein is no longer functional. This outcome was expected. Additional user-friendly options for researching the Parler and Gab platforms are currently under consideration.
The Parlance team apologizes for the inconvenience. The Parlance team additionally thanks Parler for taking a comically insecure API offline permenantly.
You'll need at least Node.js v8.17.0 (Carbon LTS) to run Parlance – although we recommend using the latest available stable version (currently v15.3.0).
First, run npm install -g @castlelemongrab/parlance to fetch the software
and all required dependencies. After installation completes, run parlance
to see usage information.
Then, log in to Parler using an ordinary web browser. Use your browser's
development tools and/or cookie storage interface to find Parler's MST
(Master Session Token) and JST (a short-lived session token). Use the
init subcommand to create an authorization file using the MST and JST values
from your browser. If your browser supplies you with URI-encoded versions of
these values, you should decode them prior to use to avoid duplicate HTTPS
requests and/or warning messages from the tool. Any automation of the above
login process is unlikely to be accepted.
Results for all subcommands are printed to standard output as a JSON-encoded array of objects.
parlance <command>
Commands:
parlance init Create an authorization file
parlance feed Fetch your own feed of posts
parlance profile Fetch a user profile
parlance post Fetch a single post by identifier
parlance posts Fetch all posts for a user
parlance following Fetch all users followed by a user
parlance followers Fetch all followers of a user
parlance comments Fetch all comments for a user, post, or comment
parlance tags Fetch all posts mentioning a hashtag
parlance votes Fetch all votes made by a user
parlance write Post a new message to your account
parlance delete Delete an existing message from your account
parlance follow Follow a user
parlance unfollow Unfollow an already-followed user
parlance mute Mute a user
parlance news Fetch your own affiliate news feed
parlance moderation Fetch your list of comments for moderation
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
--show-hidden Show hidden options [boolean]
--format-options Provide format/type-specific options [string]
-c, --credentials MST/JST tokens [string] [default: "config/auth.json"]
-o, --credentials-out Output file for client credentials [string]
-S, --start-key Specify a time-series start/resume key [string]
-E, --end-key Specify a time-series end/halt key [string]
-l, --ignore-last Rely solely upon time comparisons [boolean]
-n, --no-delay Disable the failsafe rate-limiter [boolean]
-p, --page-size Request a specific page size [number]
-d, --debug Print all debug information to stderr [boolean]
-v, --verbose Print verbose information to stderr [boolean]
-q, --quiet Print less information to stderr [boolean]
-s, --silent Print absolutely no information to stderr [boolean]
-e, --expand Expand specific UUID types [array] [default: "all"]
-f, --format Select output format/type [string] [default: "json"]
parlance init
Create an authorization file
Options:
-o, --credentials-out Output file for client credentials [string]
--mst The MST master session token [string] [required]
--jst The shorter-lived JST session token [string] [required]
parlance posts
Fetch all posts for a user
Options:
-u, --username The name of the user [string]
parlance comments
Fetch all comments for a user, post, or comment
Options:
-u, --username The name of the user [string]
-i, --identifier The unique identifier of the post [string]
-r, --replies The unique identifier of the comment [string]
parlance tag
Fetch all posts mentioning a hashtag
Options:
-t, --tag The hashtag, without the hash sign [string] [required]
parlance write
Post a new message to your account
Options:
-t, --text The textual content to post [string] [required]
parlance delete
Delete an existing message from your account
Options:
-i, --identifier The unique identifier of the post [string] [required]
Currently, Parlance supports both a JSON array-of-objects output target, as
well as a JSONL target (one JSON object per line). These targets will be
expanded in the future. To use JSONL now, specify the -f jsonl option when you
run Parlance. By default, a JSON array suitable for use with tools like jq
will be emitted.
This repository seeks to document the design of Parler as accurately and concisely as possible. Parler is of interest to researchers, political campaigns, civic engagement groups, law enforcement, anti-discrimination groups, and the public at large. The free speech conveyed in this repository is of timely and widespread public interest.
If you choose to use this speech as part of an activity, please ensure your activity is ethical and legal within your jurisdiction. The author of this work of speech cannot, will not, and has no responsibility to control the behavior of others – in any jurisdiction, on any of Jupiter's mighty moons, or anywhere within the known universe – past, present, or future.
Due to the specific nature and quality of Parler's engineering design, the speech contained within this repository is the sole product of unrelated industry experience and third-party documentation. No act of disassembly, decompilation, reverse engineering, trade secret violation – nor any other prohibited act – was necessary to create the work contained herein.
"Communication does not lose constitutional protection as 'speech' simply because it is expressed in the language of computer code. Mathematical formulae and musical scores are written in 'code,' i.e. symbolic notations not comprehensible to the uninitiated, and yet both are covered by the First Amendment. If someone chose to write a novel entirely in computer object code by using strings of 1’s and 0’s for each letter of each word, the resulting work would be no different for constitutional purposes than if it had been written in English." – DMCA, Universal City Studios v. Corley, FN191: 273 F.3d 429, 60 USPQ2d 1953 (2nd Cir. 2001)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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An MIT-licensed client library and open-source intelligence tool for Parler
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