Edit: if the above Invidious link doesn’t work, here’s the YouTube link.

*Let me start by trying to de-demonize or demystify the word and concept of “fighting” for something. If I have the will and means to take up arms and weapons against an aggressor that plots to take away my freedom, I shall gather an army and vanquish my oppressors by force. If a doctor tells me that my only chance of surviving an affliction is by laying absolutely still in bed and doing nothing, I will do just that. There is no meaningless magnitude or amplitude, quantity or quality, or any other measurement, to a person’s fight for a cause that they believe in.

With that out of the way, I’ll go first.

Have been doing of late\ I have been trying to spread the word on the privacy implications of “smart glasses”/Raybans by e-mail to newspapers, restaurants, public installations (libraries, pools, schools, municipal administrations, etc), to county and government.

Obstacles put in place by government\ A few years back, police gained legal right to wiretap and to frisk without a warrant. The prison and parole industry gained virtually limitless access to both convicted and no yet convicted people’s biometric data (only fingerprints, for now) if available in police records for any reason. SIM cards can no longer be obtained, regardless of the type, without supplying your government issued personal identification number. Private pro profit companies can evade GDPR compliance by registering applying for such an exemption, for instance, in order to supply online phone number, address, date of birth, financial information and criminal records to the general public.

  • I have a sign in my yard that says “no soliciting or proselytizing.” Now I have to replace it with one that also says “No smart glasses (FAFO)”.

    If someone wears those in my house, I might just get mad enough to kick their ass. Like, for real, I’ll toss someone for wearing that garbage in my house.

    I try to use Searxist to automatically randomize my search engines, but many of the Searx instances are not appropriate for my language and location. Anubis wants cookies. Everything I do for basic internet searches is a major hastle. It would be easier to go back to Netscape.

    Flock cameras. I’d love to get a group together to storm town hall but the “I have nothing to hide club” is thick as theives around here.

    Also, I’m afraid that our future is so bleak that it is no longer worth living. We’ll never retire or have job security. I’ve been driven in the ground working so hard, and I’m so tired boss. The issues with the laws are the absence of any legislation to protect workers and our right to be on this planet after AI rapes our employment and privacy.

    Age verification laws in the US has started creeping to Linux. A few of the states made exceptions for open source after the dev who merged it with systemd got death threats and people generally flipped out. I guess people overcame that obstacle by complaining a lot. Also, there were some business interests who helped but can’t recall any longer (many blessings upon them!)

    • Where you the one posting about smacking people in the face for wearing smart glasses the other day? In any case, I am glad you are still with us! I too have an extremely dystopian point of view on the future. While I do have anxiety over the fact that my life someday has to end, I am at the same time overjoyed that I was born in the late 80’s, not having to put up with all the bullshit, the enshittification, the fall and decay of humanity and the complete and utter abandonment of what pride is still left in us.

      If you’d like inspiration on the design of such signs, check this page out! https://banray.eu/en/ A friend of a friend of mine made the site.

    • 2 days

      Exactly, a YT link should never be used here. I definitely will never click them.

    • I think it has to be more common. The idea that you have to live in the shadows won’t help resistance long term.

      It needs to be an open conversation so people know they can and should unite and fight against civil abuses

      • For some reason, every time I even mention the word “privacy” or “online integrity” or the likes, I get the retort “what do you have to hide? 😏😏😏😏😏” Shifting the conversation from “having something to hide” to privacy being a fundamental building block of democracy is what I try to put effort into. But it ain’t easy. 😮‍💨 I have never said “ain’t” in my LIFE before this. 😂

        • My latest reply is “They used the money they made selling your information to buy your government.”

          I should make a bumper sticker.

          Then maybe follow up with “your careless habits fund fascism.”

          The only issue is, many people in my coutry (US) would think that only applies to the GOP, when dems also suck in that regard, even if just by inaction.

        • I don’t think most people can acknowledge when their personal and online intersected, they can… but they see online privacy as an online thing, not a real life thing. You wouldn’t give a stranger at the shop your driving license just to get in.

          • I believe I understand the psychological mechanism behind it, but it is unfortunate, nontheless, that people separate any part of their private life from politics. Even though the idea is that we have voted for whatever parliament/congress ultimately decides, as long as we are subject to law and order as defined by and for the profit of the ruling class, we are not safe. One day all contraception could become illegal. Sugar, butter, flower and other basic groceries could be rationed. Libraries could be forced to remove anti government litterature from the bookshelves. Or, as we have seen in, for instance, Iran and China, Internet access could become restricted, censored or removed all together.

            One of the saddest examples of this collective mentality in which everyday life and politics are seen as separate worlds is Japan, which I experienced while living there for six years. A lot of people took democracy for granted, saying that politics is a discipline or a profession that they would rather leave to the “professionals”, meaning the politicians. As if the people shouldn’t put their noses where they don’t belong. As if political decisions didn’t directly impact their everyday life.

      • I agree. I usually share certain concerns/issues sprinkled in with “e-mail blasts” at work regarding phishing, spam, how to avoid falling for scams, or protect yourself online, etc. I can’t go too deep, but I have had a few people reply asking for help on maybe a new phone, making sure it’s secured/safe.

        I just started a small blog that I write, so I can start to share links without ads, paywalls, popups, etc. It’s VERY basic and empty right now, but I plan on adding content over time. I want a balance of easily implemented security steps while also still allowing friends/family/coworkers to use social media and all the stuff they’re used to, while eventually cutting back. Too tinfoil hat and they’ll ignore it haha.

        • Sweet! Whenever you feel ready, please do share! At my workplace, I am kind of known as “the tech guy”, but unfortunately not in a privacy oriented way… Only, “can you please set up my phone? I wanna Tiktok🥹🥹🥹”…