Post #2699345

2026-03-13 15:15 UTC

@bittner@hachyderm.io I guess more specifically: you say it's a cultural problem and not a technical one, and I think you're right. I also think you're right that people care. But how, culturally, are you seeing folks effectively push back and make changes other than by changing technology? Or is it linked, so resisting the commercial incentives means looking outside of those companies offerings?

Replies (1)

@bittner@hachyderm.io 2026-03-16 12:29

@discontinuity@infosec.exchange One of the things I've seen slip away during my lifetime is the notion that things are, generally speaking, better when companies operate and exist at what I describe as "human scale." Cable TV is a decent example — when cable first came through our community it was run by a local interest, the county cable company. If you had an issue chances are you knew someone who knew someone who could help. There was local accountability. Fast forward to today, that's gone, and not just from cable TV. We can all think of countless examples of the things we rely on for every day society being consolidated and gobbled up by huge multinationals. We're left with a version of Lilly Tomlin's famous telephone operator, "Sir, we're the phone company - we don't have to care." Look at a platform like YouTube. They've got no meaningful competition, and yet there's nothing stopping anyone from taking a run at them, which helps shield them from antitrust claims. Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple's App Store all enjoy massive scale and a government uninterested in regulation. Perhaps cynically, I've come to believe that we are, more or less, a reactive species. (I hate being cynical!) So change may come when there is no other option, or when the powers that be find themselves directly affected. ("Senator, based on this publicly available location data we purchased, it seems you have been spending many overnights at your intern's apartment.") I wish there were easier answers, and that's a big part of my frustration. That lack of "human scale" makes it feel impossible for one person to make a difference. So, for me, I vote. I demonstrate. I engage directly with my elected officials. I share what I'm thinking so others know they aren't alone. And I try not to give up hope. “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Open ##2699346