Indeed. Authoritarians keep multiple sets of books. Reactionarianism might be near the top of the pile, with no particular ideology , let alone morality, being at the foundation. whatever is required in the moment to maintain power. Also worth pointing out that HK were promised universal suffrage by the CCP, under internationally ratified agreement. I realise this ship has sailed, but we should not forget what Hong Kongers have had stolen from them. And how we all lose because of it, especially those from the ‘main’land

Yeh and their own ‘R and D’ may have been leverage in the negotiation.

I switched in 2021. I havent noticed any fuckupery. Whats been happening ?

You should go to Aus and judge for yourself. They’re also addicted to fossil fuels, and sports (which includes gambling). Funny thing is of all the many Australians I know, and all the many times I’ve been there, none I know seem to mention, do any gambling, take part in or work in gambling related areas. Anecdotal I know. I have seen casinos, and noticed many bars have gambling machines in them. And perhaps when you imply that all Australians are completely addicted, you don’t literally mean “all”. Perhaps you mean a disproportionately large amount of the population in comparison with similarly sized economies with rule of law? Would need to chevk that. I know alcoholism is a big issue. Their economy is most likely addicted to gambling however, with many Western democracies being beholden to special interest groups, most citizens are well aware of what goes on in their democracies. There is also very strong and active rights groups, NGOs, activism and lobbying on all manner of social issues probably including this one. They currently have a slightly less conservative gov right now so perhaps things are being done. I’m with you on how damaging and nefarious gambling industries are to individuals and societies.

The nz SIS also turned a blind eye to people being kidnapped by united front on NZ shores and taken on Chinese ships to China. If one state is able to do this to NZ without our push-over government(s) taking any action what so ever, a cybersecurity threat level report is probably not even the tip of the iceberg. As usual we want cake and to eat it - trade partnerships are being juggled on either sides of the Pacific while NZers rights are trashed. Keep selling that milk powder.

Loneliness is also a thing, and I’d guess it’s rising. Falls under mental health also I guess. I also don’t relate, but we can look at the history of sex tourism, ‘mail order brides’ , dating sites etc, scams in general and there is a fair bit of cross over maybe. Add to the mix these pseudo intelligent LLMs that seem to serve to please and here we are. What I don’t get is how users falling for them aren’t having the bubble burst by the context issues and inconsistent coherence. Perhaps loneliness and other mental issues result in us hearing/seeing what we want to. Self reinforced illusion to fullfill some sort of need. Just speculating tbh.

I’m amazed it didn’t already as someone who has never used or heard one being used. What’s the business model? Just the data harvesting for purpose of their other businesses?

Is this done manually , or there’s a system thing for it ?

Wheres the melodrama in this post ? I’m detecting enthusiasm maybe, but not melodrama. They’re looking for peoples thoughts and experience, i.e what your own terms are for making these choices. Seems reasonable. Sharing that is optional of course and I also choose not to, end of story.

You’re right, but also They get alot more from the deal than you acknowledge. The service has never been free. They already had a profitable model, and now they want even more. I call it evil, but in a sense it’s standard corporate behaviour.

The two approaches you mention need not be mutually exclusive. I ditched google services more than 10 years ago, while loving somewhere they did some truly despicable antidemocratic things. but so what? They’re a corporation. There are political lobby groups, privacy foundations and advocacy groups you can contribute to. Despite being respectfully evangelical with those around me, most other than a fringe really don’t care enough about this. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop. I will still suggest alternatives. They’re my principles. you’re working in their interest if you tell your allies to give up. I understand and share the cynicism around political process especially in democratic nations with disappointing levels of corporate influence over legislation, we can only engage in it best we can, as well as exerting our rights as consumers. The critical mass required may seem insurmountable but negativity toward those effectively on your side is not going to help either.

To a degree perhaps. It has also monopolised industries that feed into each other. Even if you choose not to use their consumer products, you are being used by them as the product in these industries if you use the web at all, which is most of their business model. That isn’t consumer choice. Political intervention is one hope, which in some countries I guess there is some consumer power over, if consumers were to collectivise to a degree more valuable than the lobbying power of this monster. The internet was turned into the yellowpages with sharp teeth by google .

They would still have everything else to make up for and improve, but maybe it would be a start. Unfortunately self criticism is not in the programming, and its a very dangerous failing. Saying that, the boom in mental health awareness in China is an interesting cultural development occurring since covid, and Beijing has been involved in it.

I ditched it around 2014 when I noticed it had effectively become the yellow pages. Its pretending to be one thing to the ‘user’ when its actually serving someone else. This is transparent of course but the balance/compromise or tradeoff of it still providing some utility to the user despite this is what may vary for different people. My threshold was low. That and the privacy violations. Unfortunately its a corporation.

Thanks both. I’ve seen enough. Beyond problematic on substicks part.

Mind providing a bit more context to this so I can look it up ? I’ll boycott substick if need be.

If we have to pay for access to something we then don’t own, we may as well do it as a collective. So public libraries. Librarians in my country and city are excellent curators and, information and topics on display are more interesting and less insulting than what a pyramid scheme’s algorithm thinks I should ‘buy’ next. They’re often topical, relevant to our local community and timely. Libraries and librarians have a vested interested in books being good for us, and the service being useful to individuals and community, which goes beyond physical books also as you say. Amazon is in a race to the bottom with total disdain and disregard for readers, authors and probably even the sellers.

That’ll help with keeping a low profile. I personally go for a red flashing clown nose, and triggers in my shoes which set off a loud explosion sound with every step. The speaker is in my ridiculously tall top hat.

Why would we believe the promises of the ones who ruined the primary utility of their core product in the first place, and convinced or blackmailed the rest of the internet to take part in the ruination ? An advertising corporation will tell us to put cyanide on our pizza if it makes them an extra buck this quarter, and google is worse than that. Profit despite the social costs is doing no evil /s

Destructive. The intention being to return to a perceived ‘status quo’ which was effectively a policy(more like ideology) of cultural annihilation. The behaviour of an authoritarian occupying force, rather than one of partnership. Stirring up the worst in our backwater colony while they prepare to fleece their credulous voters while dangling plastic carrots (oooh tax cuts).