I have been fearing the day where it is actually not possible to leave these things. Already today people say they actually can't leave facebook for work/family reasons. I foresee a future where...
I have been fearing the day where it is actually not possible to leave these things. Already today people say they actually can't leave facebook for work/family reasons. I foresee a future where you can't live a normal life without a bunch of spyware apps installed. In some countries where electronic payments have taken over you can not live without their app installed.
I am mostly free of proprietary software and spyware but I feel like I one day that won't be possible. How long until businesses stop accepting cash and I have to let a bank and mastercard track...
I am mostly free of proprietary software and spyware but I feel like I one day that won't be possible. How long until businesses stop accepting cash and I have to let a bank and mastercard track me? How long until I can't take a bus trip without installing the mobile app to pay for trips? Already I see car parks here require you to use the phone app to pay or walk ages away to use the one cash payment machine, and how long will that one machine be there if everyone is ok with the app?
I feel like I am fighting a losing battle and the only ones on my side are the old people who don't use this tech because they don't know how to.
I thought this was an interesting enough topic that I made it its own post and found an article on the subject: https://tildes.net/~life/8se/if_cash_is_king_how_can_stores_refuse_to_take_your_dollars
That's just people making excuses for themselves, but I'm reluctant to judge them too harshly. My excuse is that if I didn't maintain an account with minimal information, Failbook would just...
Already today people say they actually can't leave facebook for work/family reasons.
That's just people making excuses for themselves, but I'm reluctant to judge them too harshly. My excuse is that if I didn't maintain an account with minimal information, Failbook would just create a shadow profile with whatever info it can infer about me -- assuming some other asshole wasn't trying to impersonate me for some reason.
There are social gatherings I would simply not be informed about if I didn't have Facebook. That's a major reason for me staying (despite not using it much otherwise).
That's just people making excuses for themselves
There are social gatherings I would simply not be informed about if I didn't have Facebook. That's a major reason for me staying (despite not using it much otherwise).
I believe so, but leaving Facebook isn't enough to solve the Facebook problem. There are two approaches to this problem. Regulation, and resistance. The regulation approach involves lobbying our...
I believe so, but leaving Facebook isn't enough to solve the Facebook problem. There are two approaches to this problem. Regulation, and resistance.
The regulation approach involves lobbying our representatives to pass legislation guaranteeing us certain rights and dignities over our digital footprint. Privacy protections, informed consent, interoperability, competition, trust busting, accountability, etc.
The resistance approach involves "being the change we want to see in the world." Let's face it, the VC funded Silicon Valley tech bros are never going to build us platforms unless there is something for them to gain at our expense. They love open source software when it is running on their servers and development machines, but when it comes to their user-facing applications... Ehh, not so much.
We cannot rely on them. The hackers of the world have a duty to build the next generation of social networks, which emancipate their users instead of subjugating them. Which return dignity and purpose to our social interactions, instead of commodifying them.
This website is a perfect example the power and capability of social technology built for altruistic purposes. It is just one piece of a growing wave of platforms which are focused from the ground up, architecturally and legally, on serving their community, not a bunch of shareholders. This place, along with federated services like Mastodon and Matrix, gives me hope. This is the dawn of Web 3.0.
I have been fearing the day where it is actually not possible to leave these things. Already today people say they actually can't leave facebook for work/family reasons. I foresee a future where you can't live a normal life without a bunch of spyware apps installed. In some countries where electronic payments have taken over you can not live without their app installed.
One might argue these developed dependencies are akin to a seduction. Like Ulysses and the Sirens
I feared that for awhile too, and then I finally just ripped the bandaid off and deleted it anyways.
I am mostly free of proprietary software and spyware but I feel like I one day that won't be possible. How long until businesses stop accepting cash and I have to let a bank and mastercard track me? How long until I can't take a bus trip without installing the mobile app to pay for trips? Already I see car parks here require you to use the phone app to pay or walk ages away to use the one cash payment machine, and how long will that one machine be there if everyone is ok with the app?
I feel like I am fighting a losing battle and the only ones on my side are the old people who don't use this tech because they don't know how to.
I thought this was an interesting enough topic that I made it its own post and found an article on the subject: https://tildes.net/~life/8se/if_cash_is_king_how_can_stores_refuse_to_take_your_dollars
That's just people making excuses for themselves, but I'm reluctant to judge them too harshly. My excuse is that if I didn't maintain an account with minimal information, Failbook would just create a shadow profile with whatever info it can infer about me -- assuming some other asshole wasn't trying to impersonate me for some reason.
There are social gatherings I would simply not be informed about if I didn't have Facebook. That's a major reason for me staying (despite not using it much otherwise).
I believe so, but leaving Facebook isn't enough to solve the Facebook problem. There are two approaches to this problem. Regulation, and resistance.
The regulation approach involves lobbying our representatives to pass legislation guaranteeing us certain rights and dignities over our digital footprint. Privacy protections, informed consent, interoperability, competition, trust busting, accountability, etc.
The resistance approach involves "being the change we want to see in the world." Let's face it, the VC funded Silicon Valley tech bros are never going to build us platforms unless there is something for them to gain at our expense. They love open source software when it is running on their servers and development machines, but when it comes to their user-facing applications... Ehh, not so much.
We cannot rely on them. The hackers of the world have a duty to build the next generation of social networks, which emancipate their users instead of subjugating them. Which return dignity and purpose to our social interactions, instead of commodifying them.
This website is a perfect example the power and capability of social technology built for altruistic purposes. It is just one piece of a growing wave of platforms which are focused from the ground up, architecturally and legally, on serving their community, not a bunch of shareholders. This place, along with federated services like Mastodon and Matrix, gives me hope. This is the dawn of Web 3.0.