Why stop half way? All you need is a benevolent dictator, shouldn't be too hard to find, right?
Some of these points are good, some are just absurd. Letting "the state" handle everything and hold all the cards, and then actually believing that it won't be coerced and corrupted or that there won't be strong disagreements about how to handle things is just delusional and wishful thinking on a grand scale imo.
I agree that most modern countries need to strenghen the public sector, but you still need checks and balances between powers, individual responsibilities and freedoms, real-world economic feedback and incentives, and so on.
I hope at that point we have enough capable alternatives. Like, hopefully around the time they add ads is also the time when open-source models and apps have caught up again.
If you have an always-on-and-connected device then you can self-host their bridges. It preserves e2ee because messages are de- and reencrypted on your device, and it's relatively easy to set up.
It can be a bit annoying sometimes, but there are solutions for almost anything, like alternative clients and frontends. I also think it's important to remember that this is not an all-or-nothing situation. Every little bit of privacy you can preserve helps, even if you still have to use their services sometimes.
If your example is mostly about chat then Beeper might be a good option for you. The messages on FB and IG would still go through Meta, but at least you don't have to install their apps.
It's hard to overstate what a nothing-burger this article really is! Let me break it down:
Signal got $3 million from the Open Technology Fund at some point in its development
Some anonymous source alleges that the OTF's ultimate goal is to promote US foreign interests
The current chairman of the board Katherine Maher worked at the National Democratic Institute and Wikipedia before
The same anonymous source says she was recruited because of connections to the OTF
She has at some point voiced the opinion that a completely free internet without regulation just reproduces existing power structures, and that balancing regulation and 1st amendment rights is a tough problem
Signal doesn't have reproducible builds on iOS (it absolutely does on Android btw)
Some people feel like Signal chats come up more often than they should in court cases and media reports
That's it, that's the whole story. That's the reason why the Telegram guy of all people thinks you should be careful, and better use his chat service instead, and the Twitter guy agrees.
I mean, reproducible builds on iOS would be nice, but that platform has much bigger problems from a privacy/security/sovereignty/freedom standpoint anyway. And the rest is just nothing turned up to 11.
I think some of the arguments are quite flawed. Bitcoin itself has most of the properties it is said to have, but it lives in a world that doesn't and so some only really apply if you manage to stay inside the system. Like, your Signal chats are private as long as you don't copy-paste them to Facebook.
Regarding self-custody/decentralization and using custodial services: The problem here is not that those properties don't apply to Bitcoin, but that some people just choose to give away control over their wallets or not use Bitcoin itself for certain transactions. Can't blame that on the currency, unless you think it can't be done any other way.
Regarding privacy: I don't think any serious "Bitcoiner" advertises Bitcoin as private. The message has always been that it's "pseudonymous", that you have to take extra steps in order to make it anonymous, and that it's transparent instead of private by design.
Regarding transparency/inclusion: These paragraphs actually argue about privacy again. One is trying to spin the existing transparency into a negative, which is a valid opinion but not something "Bitcoiners" are wrong about. The other circles back to the idea of staying inside the system. Bitcoin transactions are inclusive, but ofc you can still get into trouble if you have to fear external repercussions and can't stay anonymous.
Cause it's one big part of why the Fediverse and Lemmy exist in the first place.
We wouldn't need all this decentralization overhead if centralized sites were trustworthy and focussed on serving their users. The fact that they are not is what leads to privacy violations and enshittification, hence why people created the Fediverse and why we are here (at least most of us I presume).
Best tip I can give is to use a tool that's made for this task, like Tdarr/FileFlows/Unmanic. They take care of all the complicated issues like encoders, ffmpeg parameters and parallel processing on multiple nodes, so you only have to handle the things you actually care about.
I unironically think that quality political satire is a good way to engage with politics.
It often cuts right through the BS and talks about issues that regular news or talk shows are afraid to touch. Also, it's always clear that what's being said is the opinion/interpretation of the artist, so you're encouraged to think about it for yourself and see what you agree or disagree with.
You have to be careful not to rely on it too much, and also use other forms of media to inform yourself, but it definitely helps when trying to get into political subjects.
If you have a monopoly and need to maximize profits then the question becomes: Why not?! You could extract more money this way, and it's not like your users would go anywhere else at this point.
That is why it's so important to fight and break up monopolies, and to limit what these companies can do. Because they have no reason not to squeeze every penny they can get out of you!
I've been running Gluetun for a few months now, and just the other day discovered that you can use it to seamlessly proxy Twitch streams (using it as http proxy for ttv lol pro), so they load via countries that Twitch doesn't show ads for. Setting it up was ridiculously easy, and now I have neither ads nor endless loading anymore. The whole thing was a really nice surprise!
shrugal @ shrugal @lemm.ee Posts 2Comments 525Joined 2 yr. ago
Why stop half way? All you need is a benevolent dictator, shouldn't be too hard to find, right?
Some of these points are good, some are just absurd. Letting "the state" handle everything and hold all the cards, and then actually believing that it won't be coerced and corrupted or that there won't be strong disagreements about how to handle things is just delusional and wishful thinking on a grand scale imo.
I agree that most modern countries need to strenghen the public sector, but you still need checks and balances between powers, individual responsibilities and freedoms, real-world economic feedback and incentives, and so on.