Technology

37717 readers

407 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Pluralistic: Antiusurpation and the road to disenshittification (07 Nov 2024) (pluralistic.net)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The difference between a helpmeet and a parasite is power. If we want to enjoy the benefits of intermediaries without the risks, we need policies that keep middlemen weak. That's the opposite of the system we have now.

Take interoperability and IP law. Interoperability (basically, plugging new things into existing things) is a really powerful check against powerful middlemen. If you rely on an ad-exchange to fund your newsgathering and they start ripping you off, then an interoperable system that lets you use a different exchange will not only end the rip off – it'll make it less likely to happen in the first place because the ad-tech platform will be afraid of losing your business

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I can see why you might read my post that way because what other context do you have. I don't belong to the "us" group you mentioned. I spent 2015-2022ish doing direct service activism and it cost me a great deal. Part of the reason I sound disillusioned is because the fascists directly attacked and destroyed much of my work as I was performing it (especially in 2018 2019 when they were a little better organized). I did literacy and library access work for the incarcerated, primarily. My work was primarily volunteer so it seriously hurt my family's economy, in addition to being undone in real time as paper bans and mail bans were put in place. People at the universities I "worked" for would provide verbal support, but that was all it ever amounted to.

Part of the reason I like Doctorow is because he gave a pretty accurate description of how literacy access within the prison system works in The Bezzle except for the part where he was using it to distribute LSD. That sounds cool but its largely based on a myth made up to protect prison employees who trade drugs inside.

You don’t even have to do anything and there are thousands of people out there trying to protect you from getting more fucked[...]

Don't go around telling them they don't have to "do anything" plz 😅

Not trying to call you out otherwise, how are you supposed to know

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You don’t even have to do anything and there are thousands of people out there trying to protect you from getting more fucked[…]

Don’t go around telling them they don’t have to “do anything” plz 😅

You removed the emphasis on "You" from my quote which changes the meaning. I specifically meant that you, the person that I am replying to, don't need to do anything, and there are people who will do something on your behalf.

Nothing that you've said changes my critique of your critique btw. You said:

he lives in absolute La La land

No, actually he presented a well thought out analysis of the way that the relationship between business and customer/user in our current system, along with the relationship between business and legislator, both entrenches monopolies and causes a pathological dependency whereby customers cannot exercise their right to freely choose with whom they do business, and so their rights are severely diminished.

the idea that these webs of laws or these models of “how things should work” mean anything tho the people with power are complete nonsense.

The main point of my reply was that you are arguing against a straw-man here since the intended audience of the article is not "the people with power."

like, buddy, your country just went full Nazi. You’ve been living in a total fantasy. You’re not going to rethink the concept of fixers, get a grip.

A non-sequitur and then a baseless dismissal of the argument that suggests that you either didn't read it, or didn't understand it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Oh okay I think we just disagree then.