Post #3225331

2025-10-02 15:13 UTC

@JustinDerrick@mstdn.ca @hedders@mas.to yeah, but why were they so complicit in creating these business models based on invading peoples privacy - or the algorithmic feeds that manipulate people, or the exploitation, or or or... I really wonder why there was not a bigger outcry. Yes, wild times and of course I know the "good" people as well, but it's that generation that laid the foundation of what's wrong now with this sector.

Replies (1)

@JustinDerrick@mstdn.ca 2025-10-02 16:15

@wonshu@mastodon.social @hedders@mas.to To the best of my knowledge, none of the folks I knew had ventured to the dark side -- we all understood the benefits of anonimity, because it was trivially easy to identify people in the early days... Back in the day, your IP usually gave away your location or the name of the organization you worked for (or the school you attended). Your UNIX login name was closely related to your real name. Services like 'whois' and 'finger' and 'ident' made it trivially easy to geolocate networks, or definitively identify folks. Hell, the phone number and names of network admins was (and still is to a lesser degree) listed in WHOIS records -- getting someone in trouble was as easy as picking up the phone and tattling.

Open ##3225332