Interesting Links for 22-01-2023

[andrewducker]

1. The IRS, Fake Populism (and the fallacy that we are in a war of ideas that can be won through argument)

(tags:politics republicans lies )

2. The inevitable enshittification of Tiktok

(tags:socialmedia business capitalism Amazon monopoly economics viaPatrickHadfield )

3. Mercedes Becomes First Automaker To Get Approval For Level 3 Autonomy In The U.S.

(tags:automation driving cars USA )

4. The BBC chairman helped to arrange a guarantee on a loan of up to £800,000 for Boris Johnson weeks before the then prime minister recommended him for the role

(tags:UK viaPatrickHadfield BorisJohnson corruption politics BBC )

5. I don't think of myself as prudish, but I'm definitely raising an eyebrow that "MILF Manor" was produced

(tags:TV sex mother wtf incest )

6. Password security reminder: Please continue to treat your LiveJournal passwords as compromised

(tags:Livejournal dreamwidth passwords security )

Comments

No. 2

[channelpenguin]

Utterly utterly fantastic, pretty much my own view (why I am not a freelancer for businesses, because I refuse to waste my life trying to work out the algorithm to help them "win the teddy") and pretty bloody depressing.

I think maybe the only answer would be that we all "man up" and pay directly for a service without advertising.... But as a consumer I'd hate that, because there would be many and to even cover costs, it would be much more expensive than most people might think. And then it's still going to be built on top of either Google, Amazon or Microsoft cloud computing services. Because everything is that needs world scale - and most things do. I assume most likely that Cory Doctorow has a different article for that somewhere.... But even if you don't directly host on the big 3, the tools you have to use will. (Akamai probably deserves a mention ... I dunno who they are built on or if they maintain their own physical infrastructure).

I decided long ago there was nothing in it for me to be fighting algorithms and rules and APIs that change at a whim on services that can ban or cripple you on the whim of a bot or whatever... The rules will always change under our feet. I gave up on that shit as a child with no friends. (Lol. I just realised THAT is why I have always had so little patience with that crap)

Re: No. 2

[andrewducker]

"I think maybe the only answer would be that we all "man up" and pay directly for a service without advertising...."

I did. You're using it right now.

Re: No. 2

[channelpenguin]

:-) indeed

Re: No. 2

[fub]

I run a Mastodon instance through a managed hosting service at the smallest group size (10 accounts max) and it costs me 1 euro per user per month. That's not too bad, I think. And with the higher tiers you can get many more accounts on there with a lower cost per user.

Re: No. 2

[channelpenguin]

It's not social media per se as a normal user that's my big issue. Though it is one. It's as a professional who provides services to businesses who are customers of platforms, or as an artist and creator (which I am) that I have no interest in playing a rigged game.

Hell, life is already a rigged game, I just got dealt a passable hand. I'm not hugely interested in wearing myself out playing another on top.

[autopope]

I see your "MILF Manor" and raise you the ghastly prior art (FSVO "art") of Gillian McKeith's Three Fat Brides, One Thin Dress (a reality TV show fine-tuned to sell her quack weight-loss nostrums).

We should maybe pitch a mash-up of the two shows? We could make bank! (And the devil could bank our souls at the same time.)

[andrewducker]

Jesus Christ that's horrible!

[poshmerchant]

6. Thanks for the reminder! I've now deleted my abandoned LJ account