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@Some_Emo_Chick A screenshot of a social media post on X containing text and an image. The post, reposted by Rick Wilson from user dart ([@]poordart), reads, "Every tech bro rn". The image depicts a smiling person wearing a blue baseball cap and a blue hoodie over a grey t-shirt that says "MUSIC BAND" with a lightning bolt icon. This person holds a colorful skateboard on their shoulder in a hallway with lockers and another person in the background. Subtitles at the bottom of the image read, "HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW DEMOCRATS?".
OK, my nerdlings, I have questions about your tech and privacy/security philosophies. This isn't an attempt to sell anything or intended to represent politics or preferences beyond your own personal philosophies on access, privacy, or safety:
1) Does e-privacy actually matter to you? I honestly question my sanity when I get an email about tech-bros/regulatory capture/4&5 amendment rights/whatever, and it comes from a "gmail" account where we can both be quite sure it's been read, stored permanently, analyzed, and appropriate authorities or fixers called about it.
2) Do you see privacy and security concerns as separate issues, or as stops on the same spectrum of data hygiene?
3) Would you support some kind of "guaranteed no matter what" system, maybe from the government, maybe not, to ensure that no one can be entirely removed from online life by a government or organization for any reason, at all, no matter the reason? For example, an online identity that must be accepted by any government agency or communications/social service that can't be turned off at a base level, so folks you know can always find/communicate with you, even if you get on the wrong end of a block. I guess I'm asking if even someone who (for some examples) offended a service owner, said "bad" things in public and became cancelled/blocked, got accused of being a bot, etc. should still be allowed to participate at least at a survival level in the 21st century, so long as they haven't done or said anything that caused them to be imprisoned?
4) Assuming you were too busy/confused to build your own carefully constructed personal data protection regime, would you consider paying an organization to do the heavy lifting about keeping your digital life safe? If so, what might that service look like, and how much might it be worth to you? Do you know of any existing services that for you match these functions in whole or part?
1) Does e-privacy actually matter to you? I honestly question my sanity when I get an email about tech-bros/regulatory capture/4&5 amendment rights/whatever, and it comes from a "gmail" account where we can both be quite sure it's been read, stored permanently, analyzed, and appropriate authorities or fixers called about it.
In the areas that e-privacy matter to me I am quite able to handle that. As far as someone going through my junk mail in and giving me services that are useful for me in exchange for that, I am all for that. Hey, I am still trying to get the electric, water and grocery store to extend their services to me in exchange for reading my junk mail. Hell I I'll even through in my snail mail junk mail! I have my own email servers for business. Most of my personal emails I could care less about.
Blaise wrote:
2) Do you see privacy and security concerns as separate issues, or as stops on the same spectrum of data hygiene?
Yes, very much so. I can easily use Tor Browser on Tails and private email servers for privacy related topics. Security is a whole different topic. I am not a very private person. There is not a lot I care whether Walmart.com, Amazon.com or Google know or share about me. It just simply is a non issue to me.
Blaise wrote:
3) Would you support some kind of "guaranteed no matter what" system, maybe from the government, maybe not, to ensure that no one can be entirely removed from online life by a government or organization for any reason, at all, no matter the reason? For example, an online identity that must be accepted by any government agency or communications/social service that can't be turned off at a base level, so folks you know can always find/communicate with you, even if you get on the wrong end of a block. I guess I'm asking if even someone who (for some examples) offended a service owner, said "bad" things in public and became cancelled/blocked, got accused of being a bot, etc. should still be allowed to participate at least at a survival level in the 21st century, so long as they haven't done or said anything that caused them to be imprisoned?
I really do not know how to respond to this as I am not sure where you are going with this statement. Could you elaborate.
Blaise wrote:
4) Assuming you were too busy/confused to build your own carefully constructed personal data protection regime, would you consider paying an organization to do the heavy lifting about keeping your digital life safe? If so, what might that service look like, and how much might it be worth to you? Do you know of any existing services that for you match these functions in whole or part?
I will let you look through my junk mail, that is all I pay now and that is as much as I am willing to pay.
You know what really makes me laugh. Is when people use MS/Windows that periodically screenshots everything they do and sends it back to MicroSoft and then worry about their email . The idea of Google going through my junk mail does not bother me. The idea of a corporation screenshotting everything I do, now that is a real privacy concern. Why are so-called privacy advocates not up in arms about that? Every day I hear nonsense about de-googling from people using MS/Windows??? Why? If you are going to use an OS, that in my opinion, is spyware then why are you concerned with your email? If you have business to do online that requires privacy. I suggest taking a few minutes to set up an email server. If not and you are really sensitive about your junk mail accounts then I suppose you could use protonmail .
If you cannot tell, this really is not a major issue to me that I lose sleep over. I know how to keep my private business private and I do not care about the privacy of my junk mail. And let's not even get me started on the gimmick they sell as a VPN which is nearly completely useless in the way they deploy it.
@Unus Nemo "I really do not know how to respond to this as I am not sure where you are going with this statement. Could you elaborate."
I may have a unique perspective due to my own situation, but as someone who two years ago was cut off from communications with perhaps 80% of my friends and family online because I was stupid and relied on Facebook without realizing it, and subsequently discovered that half of my health providers and a number of government sites now require Google authentication and third-party software known to suffer regular and continuous hack-leaks to check in, it has occurred to me that AI failures, corporate bullshit, and even "cancelling" can all deny you access to the internet in vast, sweeping ways. If Google did to me what Meta did to me, I couldn't pay my property taxes or even see how much I owe. I wouldn't be able to make medical appointments without walking through an office door. I could literally be cut out of most of the practical functionality of the 21st century by a single bad AI decision or stupid policy!
So, it occurs to me to wonder whether there is a way to guarantee that access, rather than living at the precarious whim of a network of monstrous monopolies. Maybe a guaranteed government id that can't legally be excluded from any organization that serves the public? Maybe just using the force of law to ensure something like OpenID is guaranteed access? Not entirely sure...
I may have a unique perspective due to my own situation, but as someone who two years ago was cut off from communications with perhaps 80% of my friends and family online because I was stupid and relied on Facebook without realizing it
I understand this feeling. The same happened to me two years ago and that is the reason I started Rogue Project's Friendica in the first place. I know the ride has been bumpy at times while I learned the ins and outs of maintaining a Friendica Instance. Thanks for hanging out just the same. I hope your experience is far better recently.
Blaise wrote:
, and subsequently discovered that half of my health providers and a number of government sites now require Google authentication and third-party software known to suffer regular and continuous hack-leaks to check in, it has occurred to me that AI failures, corporate bullshit, and even "cancelling" can all deny you access to the internet in vast, sweeping ways.
Fortunately this is not my case. I do not have to use Google to log into anything, besides my Google account of course. This is a real concern not just what I would consider privacy-at-a-paranoid-level .
Blaise wrote:
If Google did to me what Meta did to me, I couldn't pay my property taxes or even see how much I owe. I wouldn't be able to make medical appointments without walking through an office door. I could literally be cut out of most of the practical functionality of the 21st century by a single bad AI decision or stupid policy!
Again, I agree this is a legitimate concern. That also fortunately does not affect me.
Blaise wrote:
So, it occurs to me to wonder whether there is a way to guarantee that access, rather than living at the precarious whim of a network of monstrous monopolies. Maybe a guaranteed government id that can't legally be excluded from any organization that serves the public? Maybe just using the force of law to ensure something like OpenID is guaranteed access? Not entirely sure...
I agree with this completely and would support it 100%. No one should be locked out of essential services at a corporations whim. I would contribute to work in this area.
A little background on my perspective. I was an early adopter to Google, even though I initially hated them. That changed when Android was released. The idea was simple. Google is a marketer and everything they have done has been ultimately to serve that purpose. I had a Gmail when it was invite only. I read the TOS and I knew I was allowing them to screen my emails for marketing purposes as they clearly stated this. So early on I used Google, Yahoo, Hotmail (later live.com) for junk mail. Preferring my own servers for sensitive information. Such as doctors, schools, lawyers, business in general. Keep in mind I have used Gnu/Linux since 1992 (or there about) so it was always relatively easy for me to have my on email server and DNS server. Today it is a little more complicated as you have to have a domain in order to send mail to a Gmail account for instance. As they have special requirements that I found out about when setting up Sendmail for this Instance.
Back in the day Yahoo consistently provided better searches than Google specifically because of Google pay for attention policy. This really offended me. Though the release of Android was a game changer. I would not have ever been able to own a tablet of smartphone if it was up to Apple. Apple is a hardware company. The revamp open source code to produce proprietary systems for their hardware. If it was not for competition then Apple prices would have never came down to reasonable for the layman. Tablets and smartphones would be the domain of the wealthy.
Google made an initial investment of over 300 million dollars to produce a mobile operating system that they gave away for free. Anyone, even you and I can make a device, download the official Android source and compile it for our device and sell it with no royalties owed at all. This was unheard of in that era. Though I understood. They were setting up the largest marketing network in the world. Because Android Developers could get paid to include google ads in their software and a lot did. This made smart devices affordable for the average person they just had to be able to deal with ads or pay for the apps, but at least they could afford the device. Google charged me a 1 time $25.00 fee to become and Android Developer. Apple want $99.00 a year last I checked. So for the exchange of some privacy over my junk mail and knowing I am dealing with a marketer I get great service for many of my needs. I am willing to make this trade off. If you are not, then I am cool with that. Perhaps you have the resources to buy these services where I cannot. I am not upset with you because of that.
Google hired a bunch of staff from my heros from Bell Labs, such as Rob Pike, Brian Kernighan and Ken Thompson and many more! Google became a very respected employer of developers, much the way Bell Labs had been in the 70's and 80's. They support and develop tools such a Rust, GoLang and Dart. Many more as well. They have significantly increased the quality of my life .
I extensively use Google in my workflow. I can as easily replace them as you could stop using MS/Windows for work. It just is not going to happen. For one I pay less than $200.00 year for the 5TB backup and other tools I use. 99.99% of my use is on the free tier. But even if I used the paid tiers it is markedly lower than their competition. So no, I am not going to de-google anytime soon (as in never unless Google goes bankrupt). I know how to keep my privileged information secure and I can still use Google services in areas that I just do not care about. It is a personal decision and I do not get upset at anyone for having a different opinion than I have.
I started this Instance with the hopes of attracting some of my friends and family to the Fediverse, so far not so much luck in that. Though, that is probably a good thing. As I have had time to iron out a lot of the issues. My next big project when I get the time will be to develop a plugin for a WYSIWYG editor for comments and posts. I think that would help some of those I would like to join us here. That and the lack of roles is Friendica's biggest flaws.
@Unus Nemo Hey, on the topic of expansion, back when I joined, on the first version of the server, you sent me a link so I could donate, but I lost it when we had to rebuild from scratch!
Wanna shoot it my way again, or point me at a process?
My prefered way is my cash app because I do not have to pay any fees. But if you do not use cash app then Ko-Fi link is also available on my profile and on most of my posts.
I used to try to warn them each time, but it's clear that no one will ever listen, so instead, this is just a heads up for anyone who still thinks:
When the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else. Then, when the liberals were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the reactionaries, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the reactionaries and everyone else. Then, when the reactionaries were in charge, to exact their revenge they mocked, taunted, and generally tried to make life worse for the liberals, and they succeeded in doing so, both for the liberals and everyone else......
So yeah, first Google "gave it away" to schools, because "Education is so important". Now that they are so intertwined with modern education that even (maybe especially?) public schools can't get along without it. And now, with American education pover a barrel, the mask has come off: 'Force your students to be the targets of our AI slop-systems, or you can't use any of our systems'
So in 2016, Stanley tools wanted to release a new insulated 40 oz steel drinking cup, and they needed marketing copy. Their bright idea was to call it a "tumbler", a word which had previously meant a delicate cocktail glass. For whatever reason, their marketing copy completely rewrote American English, to the point that apparently large swathes of the American public no longer know what the word means!
And therefore, my wife and I nearly had nervous breakdowns this weekend over a very confusing argument about whether the kids should be allowed to take highball glasses to school this term!
I'm seriously of the opinion that allowing HR departments to call programmers "engineers" was the single biggest mistake the tech industry. They aren't. They generally have no idea how to engineer anything. They don't understand risk-benefit analyses. They don't understand that in the real world, 'efficiency' and 'optimization' which address only one variable solution spaces are neither efficient or optimized.
And we've put them in charge of our econony and our government because they are really good at making things that have less features, but at least cost more and run slower!
There is a clear distinction between a develop and a Software Engineer/ Architect. Yes, you need to be a developer or programmer to become a Software Engineer/ Architect but that does not make every developer an engineer. If you HR department does not realize that then I feel sorry for your company, and your developers (I doubt they are actually programmers) as they will have more than they are capable of expected from them.
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA—Refusing to inform the press or the man’s emergency contacts until they could nail down the vocabulary for the press conference, local authorities were reportedly waiting Wednesday to release the details of a hiker’s death until t…
Even if the Trump regime is prevented from subverting the voting process, they will be unconstrained after November 3rd, because they'll have no more political cards to play unless they create some chaos. This is where the real danger lies. The fascists in the regime are at least constrained by political necessity right now. After the election, they literally have no political necessities, because its a lame duck administration with a hostile Congress, and Trump will see them as a means to an end.
Mark my words. In the week or so after the election, there will be major actions both within the US and in the war on the Middle East. New massive military action in Iran is my primary bet, with starting a new war with a different MIddle Eastern nation in second place (Perhaps Yemen?). Simultaneously, I expect a huge burst of blatantly unconstitutional domestic actions from the Trump regime, all of which are anti-democratic and most of which will never really be intended to survive the courts, but rather to make people confused and scared.
Does anyone else long for the days when your email was just text with some tags for embedded images, instead of the "All CSS, all the time!" nightmare that is Outlook 365?
Sure would be nice if we could resize images, but apparently the css won't allow it!
It's that time again, makers! 3 Days of hands-on workshops, lessons, and displays for a couple of hundred dollars. That's like $10 per class, but you get dozens of options! Kids are welcome, and can even do the hands-on stuff (with a guardian present, yadda).
I hate government, but this rule, I would stand for. People convicted of fraud should have their pants literally set on fire! While they're wearing them...
One has to wonder how many new makers gave up because the instructions said "needle nose" pliers, so they ordered them, never realizing that sites like Amazon and TEMU have decided to label all fine-tipped flat and chain-nose pliers "needle-nose", while calling needle-nose pliers "Round Nose".
I preferred notepad++ or using gedit or kate via mingw64 Though these days I suppose people could use WSL2 as it supports GUI applications as well.
I am completely MS/Windows free these days so it is not really an issue to me anymore. I know that some people, due to work, are force to still use that OS. I feel sorry for them. I dropped all support for all MS/Windows projects early this year as I now personally consider the entire OS spyware and unfit for use.
Recall that the CDC lab that tracked outbreaks like cyclospora was hollowed out to a point of being non-functional.
More than 17,000 people have been sickened with cyclospora.
This is deliberate, part of Project 2025.
🧪 https://www.politico.
. The idea of Google going through my junk mail does not bother me. The idea of a corporation screenshotting everything I do, now that is a real privacy concern. Why are so-called privacy advocates not up in arms about that? Every day I hear nonsense about de-googling from people using MS/Windows??? Why? If you are going to use an OS, that in my opinion, is spyware then why are you concerned with your email? If you have business to do online that requires privacy. I suggest taking a few minutes to set up an email server. If not and you are really sensitive about your junk mail accounts then I suppose you could use protonmail 
.
Unus Nemo
in reply to Blaise • •@Blaise
Thanks for sharing, I really liked his perspective.