That’s an absolutely crushing schedule.

When I think of “middle aged family man”, I think of a salaried employee or tradesman working a 40 hour work week, and supporting kids with the help of a spouse who’s either a homemaker or earns additional income. Which mostly describes me.

You’re comparing apples to oranges when it comes to lifestyles. I work occasional overtime and it always knocks my dick in the dirt for a week or so. All things considered, just surviving what you’re describing is an achievement.

You’re doing an amazing job and I hope you can find a situation that gives you more time off soon. You deserve it.

Why can’t we win the AI race and still not have a surveillance state? Those don’t seem like they have to be linked…

Yeah, journalistic integrity is important, and they shouldn’t slander Google, due diligence and what not.

But there wouldn’t even be a need for an article or any investigation if Google and other tech companies weren’t treating user data as something they have a god given right to.

That’s my point. It doesn’t matter what Google does or doesn’t do with the data. They shouldn’t collect it unless I tell them they can. It’s MY data. It’s MY right to keep it private or destroy it as I please. That’s the baseline all tech companies should adhere to.

Play Services does collect data it shouldn’t collect, by sending it back to Google.

Right. And my argument is that this shouldn’t happen without users opting in.

But the difference between “I am collecting your data” and “I wrote software you are running” is important and needs defending,

I don’t disagree. Not am I arguing the content of the article. I just disagree with your notion that we have to prove negligence or malfeasance to deserve privacy.

Your original post placed the burden on users to prove that Google mismanages the data they collect. That’s not how this should work. I should own that data, just as I own the text I write with a text editor. I shouldn’t have to prove that Google is mismanaging it in order to keep that data private. I shouldn’t need any other reason than “it’s my data and I don’t want to share it beyond what is necessary for this technology to operate.”

If you don’t collect the data in the first place, there’s nothing to mismanage.

Rather than users having to prove that Google is mismanaging OUR data, Google should prove it has a need to collect, aggregate, and sell access to that data beyond surveillance capitalism.

The default option should be that only fully anonymized data that is essential to device functions should be collected, and this should be validated through an independent audit. Everything else should be opt-in.

Yes, that’s denying them the freedom to be ignorant, superstitious, greedy, sociopathic idiots and be rewarded for it.

Ah, yeah, it was just my SO and I. But most of the videos are gangbang scenes.

I don’t follow…

You know those crazy Japanese videos where they cover a woman in gallons of lube, ruin her nice outfit, and go to town while everyone is all slimy?

So, sure it’s fun. Like stupid, giggly fun, but it’s also hard to get any traction, it’s distracting when it gets in your ears and nose, and it’s super, super hard to clean up. Like two showers just to get it all out of her hair.

We tried it a few times. The fantasy was fun to fulfill, but the sex was kinda meh, so not really worth the effort to make it a regular thing.

It’ll give you what you want, but not what you need. Sorry if that seems obtuse.

It’s an artificial parasocial relationship. Imagine falling in love with an Onlyfans performer, yet even that astronomically slim chance of being the one out of their thousands of subscribers who is unique enough to win their love isn’t even there, it isn’t even possible.

At its best, it can give you some small validation that you’re too embarrassed to get elsewhere. Sort of a “things you already knew but needed to hear from someone else” vibe, but it can’t give any real insight, and real love, or any real connection. It’s the participation trophy of relationships.

It’s hollow and empty, with simulated complexity and depth.

What AI is kinda good at is creating absurdly specific interactive erotica based around your particular fetishes. But even then, it can’t produce anything truly unique or innovative, so it’s sort of the same old sexytimes wearing new clothes. It’s probably a decent form of porn if you don’t mind the ethical concerns, but it’s not a real relationship.

An optimist invents the airplane. A pessimist invents the parachute.

I like to point with both hands, and with my feet if I’m in a good mood.

Cut off internet for people who pirate… Those people are now unable to stream anything… Sacrifice thousands in potential revenue over an infringement that maybe cost them a few dollars, if that… Deter no one because everyone thinks they won’t get caught.

Good move. Smart guys.

They can’t even look him in the eye. They know he’s telling the truth and they’re full of shit.

Zuck’s eyes always look like they were cut out of his original body and hastily glued into his current one…

Also, fuck him and Meta for this bullshit. Greedy cowards.

Yup, it’s easier for a user to justify a small purchase and lose track of how much they’re spending and that’s exactly why they do it.

It’s the same with in-app currency, they sell you 100 coins or gems or whatever for $2.99, then charge you 75 for the shortcut to the progression required upgrade. You don’t want to let a quarter of your money go to waste, so you’re more tempted to put another $2.99 down to utilize it and buy the next upgrade. Cue the leveling treadmill.

It’s a sort of weaponization of the study of human behavior IMO.

Yup, and as I said, it’s possible that I’m attributing these design changes to the wrong thing, but it’s hard not see them as greed driven when you consider what’s happening in other parts of our digital lives.

It was more due to the way a lot of the games I liked to play started to make changes to gameplay to try and push players to spend more money. Unnecessarily long grinds with subscription based paid shortcuts, freemium/premium BS, game modes that started to require you to be online for a certain amount of time each week to progress.

Gaming was always more of a social thing for me, and once it started to feel like an unpaid, part time job for me and my friends it stopped being fun.

I do muddle around a little bit with indie games, and I’ve honestly let some of this make me a little too cynical, but it just feels different these days.

True, but I don’t think it’s due to a lack of faculties for most people, it’s just not an area of interest or a primary concern. It should be, because this sort of consumer and media manipulation is being used to enable some very dangerous things at present, but it’s really hard to make headway when you’re telling people how fucked up and unhealthy the one thing that’s providing them with a little escape and joy is.

It might be easier to lead an addiction intervention.

I try to reframe privacy concerns with the idea that if someone was stalking you and recording your every action in physical public spaces that you’d be pretty disturbed. Most people get it, they understand the idea and can view their internet activity through the lense of that metaphor.

But they don’t really feel it, and that’s where the disconnect comes in. How do you get people who don’t feel the Internet is part of “real life” to understand how invasive this is on both and intellectual and emotional level? Because of digital privacy and user rights don’t hold some sort of emotional significance for them, it’s going to stay a back burner issue in their lives.