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Big Tech. A serious issue that needs to be addressed.

q3cpma

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Well said. I'm of basically the opposite mindset as you, but I agree with you completely about what is actually necessary to protect your privacy these days. Avoiding Facebook, Twitter, etc. is not sufficient.
It's more than privacy, though. To illustrate, here's the dialogue I have with most people about the use of TV and media in general:
"Do you agree that TV could be used as a weapon of subversion?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Do you know anything about modern subversion techniques?"
"No."
"So you really think that you would somehow notice subversion that targets you if it happened to to be used?"
"..."

The reality is that people don't care; while Orwell wasn't wrong, the current "hedonism/egalitarianism as state religion" thing fits Huxley a bit more.
 

FloatingPoint

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For anyone interested, various outlets are selling the Moto G7 plus 2019 model, New-in-box, unlocked, GSM only, for $120. I can verify that the bootloader is unlockable. I've installed Lineage OS on one without google apps and it runs like a champ. Battery life is amazing when you don't have all that tracking and wi-fi triangulation going on in the background.
 

pkane

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Hope this doesn't devolve but there is a need for awareness. This opinion on Moneyweek is IME on point. We must wake-up. I share the sentiments of @Frank Dernie , expressed in this post.

Here is the Article.

This is not something we can shrug off ... in the name of convenience.

There’s nothing to do. Resistance is futile. We’ll all be part of the collective hive mind soon, with no privacy or personal preferences allowed. Always plugged in through a set of implants, and receiving a constant stream of instructions from our artificially intelligent overlords that are monitoring our every thought and every biological function. And for audiophiles, MQA streaming straight into the brain will be the only option.
 

yossarian

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while Orwell wasn't wrong, the current "hedonism/egalitarianism as state religion" thing fits Huxley a bit more.

While it may be true where you live, this is not universally true around the world. Plenty of Orwellian places around as well.
 
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RayDunzl

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I wish those that know everything about me would fill out my tax return for me.

Oh well, I'll just file the automatic extension request again. At least I got an extra month this year to perform that little task, thanks (probably) to the Country That Cannot Be Named in Polite Company If You Don't Have Something Nice to Say About It.

Not because my return is that hard, it's just a lot of busy work for nothing. No refund, nothing owed, is the routine.
 

DonH56

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There's the joke about the local guy going on vacation and the sheriff said they were too overloaded to do their normal daily drive by and check the house. He posted an ISIS flag at one corner, Iran flag at the other, and put a MAGA flag under his main American flag. Now the house is under surveillance 24/7 so he can enjoy his vacation.
 

Martin

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Forget Google, Facebook et al, everything you buy with a credit or debit card is tracked. Unless you use cash for all your purchases or prepaid credit cards purchased with cash they already know your buying habits. It’s too late. All we can do now is damage control. Also, every post on a public forum provides yet more information to big brother.

Martin
 
OP
F

FrantzM

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Credit card tracks me when I purchase something. Google et al.. know when I wake up, eat, purchase, talk to my friend, go home, go naked, what music I listen to , what I am about to buy ... I could go on.
it may not seem scary to many (most?) ... which reminds me of The Boiling frog fable...
 

scrubb

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There’s nothing to do. Resistance is futile. We’ll all be part of the collective hive mind soon, with no privacy or personal preferences allowed. Always plugged in through a set of implants, and receiving a constant stream of instructions from our artificially intelligent overlords that are monitoring our every thought and every biological function. And for audiophiles, MQA streaming straight into the brain will be the only option.

I've always assumed humanity will eventually go the way of the Borg, or if we resist, the way of the Terminator.
 

Beershaun

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Re: the article posted by the OP. Its not well written. There are no statistics or anecdotes from real world used to illustrate a specific point. It just reads like a horror-scifi novel first chapter.

That aside there is a real problem where our technology is way ahead of our laws and policies.

I tell my daughters 2 things about technology.
1) if someone is giving you something for free, you are the product not the customer.
2) learn how to tell computers what to do or they will be telling you what to do when you grow up.

And my last nugget is: do business with a company you trust and who's actions reflect your values. If they don't, choose another business to give you data, time, money to.
 

restorer-john

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For anyone interested, various outlets are selling the Moto G7 plus 2019 model, New-in-box, unlocked, GSM only, for $120. I can verify that the bootloader is unlockable. I've installed Lineage OS on one without google apps and it runs like a champ. Battery life is amazing when you don't have all that tracking and wi-fi triangulation going on in the background.

Tell us more about Lineage OS. Is there a list of phones it will work with? Their site seems rather bare.
 

Martin

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Re: the article posted by the OP. Its not well written. There are no statistics or anecdotes from real world used to illustrate a specific point. It just reads like a horror-scifi novel first chapter.

That aside there is a real problem where our technology is way ahead of our laws and policies.

I tell my daughters 2 things about technology.
1) if someone is giving you something for free, you are the product not the customer.
2) learn how to tell computers what to do or they will be telling you what to do when you grow up.

And my last nugget is: do business with a company you trust and who's actions reflect your values. If they don't, choose another business to give you data, time, money to.

I'll add:

3) do not post anything online that you do not want your parents, future employer, future spouse or future children to find.

Martin
 

Beershaun

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I'll add:

3) do not post anything online that you do not want your parents, future employer, future spouse or future children to find.

Martin
Definitely going to add that to the list! (Runs off to go search for "beershaun" on pronhub...)
 

JeffS7444

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It's pretty much impossible for us to know just how accurate a picture of us can be harvested, aggregated and inferred, because there's no transparency. And while I like to feel like I'm pretty safe because YouTube and others don't do a particularly good job of recommending content to me, who knows whether this reflects what they are truly capable of - maybe their recommendations are deliberately dumbed-down for this very reason.

I use Protonmail for the bulk of my email, DuckDuckGo as my search engine, AdGuardHome for DNS and Firefox for browsing. Curiously enough when fussing with DNS, I discovered that it wasn't enough to alter my router's settings to point to my chosen DNS, I had to disable the service entirely on the router, because while I could redirect IPv4 DNS, I had no control over IPv6 DNS, and hence, some ads and trackers were bypassing my ad blocker.

Trust-wise, I like Nintendo, am fairly okay with Apple (mostly because they are one company which is so staggeringly wealthy that I believe them when they say that the data remains within Apple, save for whatever leaks out to app developers or through contractors).

Smart TV and smart-ified UHD disk player are occasionally hooked up to ethernet in order for me to check for firmware updates, but otherwise remain offline with no access to wireless. I do lose some "free" Samsung streaming content, but that seems to amount to reality TV programming, so no great loss there. Bulk of video streaming passes through one device: Apple TV.

Revo Superconnect internet radio talks to a database operated by Frontier Semiconductor. No user account needed. Even better is Moode software running on Raspberry Pi, which taps into individual stream providers directly, at the expense of rather fussy setup and the need to ferret out the actual stream URLs.

Marantz AVR has diagnostics reporting switched off. Making the most of HEOS Music requires an account,, but basic functionality works okay without one.

Facebook, Twitter, Nest, Instagram, Sonos, Google, Spotify, Pandora, Microsoft Hello, Roon and cloud-connect IoT in general: Nope.
 

q3cpma

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If your threat model is the state, don't worry about some of the tracking, you need a normal persona to avoid sticking out too much. Or you go full Unabomber, but that requires "a bit" of willpower.
By the way, this forum using Cloudflare is definitely part of it.
I wish those that know everything about me would fill out my tax return for me.

Oh well, I'll just file the automatic extension request again. At least I got an extra month this year to perform that little task, thanks (probably) to the Country That Cannot Be Named in Polite Company If You Don't Have Something Nice to Say About It.

Not because my return is that hard, it's just a lot of busy work for nothing. No refund, nothing owed, is the routine.
Reminds me of
index.php
 

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BlackTalon

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My 8 year old surfs on my computer all the time, and we use my Google ID and Amazon account on his tablet. So the data analyzers can have fun building my profile: "Appears to have a fondness for Spongebob DACs and Power Ranger watches"
 

Beershaun

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data is the new oil. Since it has value, if a company wants to milk it from me, then we can negotiate a fair price for it. But you certainly can't have it for free.
 
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