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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
colak wrote #312792:
Hi Destry and Michael, I apologise for sometimes appearing very hard headed. It comes from reading far too many scary academic articles regarding the changes to our daily lives and the future of the net. I admittedly vent a lot of these frustrations in my on and off line conversations recently. It is never meant as a personal attack but as a possibly hopeless effort to distil my thoughts.
No need to apologize to me. Two things:
1) I care about privacy just like everyone else. There are lots of things I would never post online. But I don’t worry about the stuff I do post online. If I am putting my name on it, I will stand by it. And if I don’t any longer, I don’t mind saying that either.
2) I am firmly in the Googleverse. Google Fi is my cell provider for my Google Pixel XL running Android. I subscribe to YouTube Premium and Google Play Music. I back up my personal files to Google Drive. I’ve used GMail as my primary email service since 2004. I am typing this in Google Chrome. Now none of that means I won’t call Google out when I think they do something evil and/or stupid but overall I have been pretty happy with them. I remember blogging about the anti-Google backlash back when in 1984 – a lot of it back then was Microsoft Astroturf – and I am still not particularly bothered by most of it.
I fully support you guys in your search for workable alternatives. I’ve played around with some of them and look forward to doing so in the future. But I don’t see Facebook and Amazon as inherently evil… just Twitter. :)
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
If, like Lemmy Kilmister, you know that chainsmoking and drinking Jack and Cokes all day long is bad for you (and to a certain degree others, while being great for Phillip Morris, Brown-Forman, and Coca-Cola) but do it anyway, that’s one thing. You made the choice knowing the risks, presumably. Nobody can really interfere.
But if you’re one of the billions of others who have no clue about such things and just follow the other lemmings off the cliff, that’s a big problem for society and the environment. That needs to be dealt with. That’s ripe for intervention.
michaelkpate wrote #312817:
I don’t see Facebook . . . as inherently evil…
I guess even the Kilmisters of the world can be wrong. ;)
Zuke basically got his start stealing the project. It’s been swindling and deceptive psychological manipualtion ever since. Pretty inherent.
Just as critical, it has become a place for others to do evil too. But I won’t recycle all the links we know about already.
Lucky for Zuke this isn’t 1790; he’d already be headless. I imagine all the other billionaires too. Maybe that’s the kind of revolution we’re due for. ;)
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
Destry wrote #312823:
Just as critical, it has become a place for others to do evil too. But I won’t recycle all the links we know about already.
My Facebook feed this morning
1. My cousin posting a photo
2. Another cousin posting some photos
3. My brother posting a political cartoon about the Supreme Court Vacancy
4. Another cousin posting some photos
5. A 15-year-old friend of mine posting about Rocket League
6. An online friend posting about the Racist History of Chinese Restaurants
7. A coworker posting about the 25th Anniversary of Ninja Scroll
8. Another cousin posting a photo
9. One of my best friends from growing up posting about the Lakers signing Lebron James
10. A podcaster/entrepreneur I follow posting photos of his new office space
I read about how terrible Facebook is but I never experience it personally.
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
Yep. I hear you. I have a bunch in my circles too; family, acquaintences, peers, etc. Those are the lemmings I’m referring to. People who don’t get it or don’t care anyway.
And FB doesn’t want the ‘evil’ to be evident, of couse. Nor that the lemmings even be hurt, per se. Just that they’re there and dutifully exploitable, drinking the Soma milk. Giving up their key words and behaviours so a slough of advertising can be filtered their way to make them click/share/buy impulsively, thus make the multibillionaire and his cronies even richer. It’s not a good balance. The perceived benefit is just that, a perception FB makes you think is there. FB is really the one benefitting.
But you know about Cambridge Analytica, Michael, and the exploitation of the platform around that and tipping elections. Russian meddling, etc. So you have seen it, even if you’re forgetting or dancing around it — or supporting it. ;) Zuke has been in hearings around the world. It may not be visible to the lemmings, and his well-paid, crack-squad lawyer army are good at white-washing, but it’s visible to those who can read between the lines.
In any case, I’m not trying to change your mind. I know I can’t.
But for those of you following along: FB, Google, and so on are not innocent, honest, or sincere. You wouldn’t trust a person on the street like that. Why trust a massive corporation who can do more harm?
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
Folks will slowly awaken from their slumber … perhaps
…. texted postive
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
SPECIAL REPORT The ins and outs
How to fix what has gone wrong with the internet
…. texted postive
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
Webfaction have recently added the possibility to install Gitea which I hadn’t seen until now as a self-hosted alternative to Github and co (though it has always been possible to set up git repos for CLI access or using a GUI program).
One ‘problem’ (at the moment) with this tool and some of the others posted in this thread is that they more flexible web hosting, e.g. Gitea requires Go, and some of the above require node.js or Ruby which are not (as) common on shared hosting platforms (at the moment).
TXP Builders – finely-crafted code, design and txp
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
bici wrote #312842:
Thanks! I’m already intrigued by that start. It highlights all the things I’ve been saying, which I’ve only learned from other sources myself, of course. But clearly it’s a big and growing issue to get this attention. The natives are restless, and getting hungry.
I’ll look forward to this Jeffersonian/Hamiltonian discussion. I don’t like duopoly thinking like that, because it’s never a this or that situation, but it could be useful for framing the discussion at first. We’ll see.
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
@francesca_bria
“Citizens should own their data. We need public alternatives that are decentralized, privacy-enhancing and rights preserving. We need democratic control & ethical digital standards for tech platforms to protect the digital sovereignty of citizens. That’s why we need @decodeproject “
…. texted postive
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
Beware – Your TV is watching you.
How Smart TVs in Millions of U.S. Homes Track More Than What’s On Tonight
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
Don’t get me started on the TV.
Too late…
Our ISP is Free, which now provides these ‘FreeBox’ drives to get caple and internet (they will only rent both, you can’t just have internet alone even though it’s a separate box). The cable box is a Google Android drive, or at least runs some form of Android OS. The drives take long moments to get up to speed and the network to be accessible, then you’re given this fawking menu of Google shiza, with Google talk on the standby, SpewTub videos pushed in your face, on and on… All designed in such a way that it’s way too easy to accidentally click into it via the ever-confusing remote control (oddly enough fewer buttons but more cryptic in function). The actual TV menu is buried under all this stuff so you have to click 3 times to get to it, instead of being right on top and active by default — because, you know, TELEVISION! It’s infuriating that Google is forced into our home like this (and especially a home where someone like me lives).
It’s a seriously painful compromise, both from a technology standpoint and family standpoint (who are not as concerned about such things despite my attempts at explaining them).
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Re: Decentralized software alternatives
My ISP is Comcast, our local cable company. The only other option is DSL from our local phone company but that hasn’t been upgraded in at least 15 years so it is still only a max of 3 Mb/s. When I became a cord-cutter (meaning we no longer pay for television channels just internet) a couple of years ago, I gathered up all their equipment and took it to the office. Everything connects to my own modem and router.
I just bought a new Vizio TV – 4K Ultra HDR – a few weeks ago. When you start it up you are presented with a screen of Apps – Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and 4 or 5 others before YouTube followed by a few more. Last year I subscribed to Sony’s Playstation Vue streaming service but the cost increased in November from $29.95 to $39.95 and last week to $44.95 so it isn’t even a viable option at this point. I actually have a Roku as well but rarely bother to use because the TV has most of what I need at this point.
The biggest downside is that I can remember waiting for televisions to warm up as a child. Then in the 1980s, we had instant on. Now modern tvs have come full circle back to the interminable startup time.
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