What are we to do in an era with out privacy?

Government overreach is something that citizens should always be aware of and censorship measures must always be treated with scrutiny. I do think it should be pointed out however that the "problematic" content on Telegram isn't limited to hate speech or the like but things like child pornography, drug trade, financial crimes; the kinds of crimes that you don't have to put in quotes and can in all other contexts go to jail over for facilitating. The reason the French justice department specifically has gone after him is because Durov has French citizenship.

siLLy puPPy wrote: There has been no true privacy for decades. I've watched ex-CIA whistleblower testimonies that spill the beans about satellites being able to see what's inside your walls from orbit. In fact no technologies are released to the public unless they serve a dualistic purpose of weaponization of some sort. In the age of the internet we all live in glass houses. ANYTHING you do on line is saved and stored in super computers in the Utah desert. The only way i know of to prevent cyber spying is to build your own Unix computer and avoid all the spyware they insert upon manufacturing PCS and Macs. Being visible can be used to your advantage. Our consent is needed to bring much government overreach to reality so if we vehemently oppose certain policies the gatekeepers will get the word.

Yes. I mean this came literally an hour after I came home from my local Best Buy with a new computer to replace my old one which broke. I talked with the tech support there for over an hour about privacy issues - look, I've been skeptical about Windows 10 since I got it in 2017 (before which I had been using a Mac), but I modified the operating system using the command line so that many of my skepticisms were removed (for instance I literally deleted the update driver so the computer CANNOT update, even if I wanted to... a big f**k you to Microsoft, btw, for FORCING updates on the device and in doing so, collecting ALL information on the system). With this new computer running Windows 11, which literally REQUIRES a Microsoft account to setup - which also beyond INFURIATES me because I have literally been locked out of EVERY MS account I've created because I REFUSE to give them my phone number, which they will eventually require (like all big tech these days) to sign in using forced multi-factor authentication... do not get me started on why 2FA is the f**king bane of my existence; I cannot stress how much I f**king hate 2FA from both a privacy and a security standpoint, but digress - anyway, I'm currently at an extended stay hotel which has a wifi network that requires online verification to use, which means I cannot connect to that network, nor thus set up the computer. I'm kind of SOL, unless I have the Best Buy set it up for me, which they charge $100 to do, which I'm not going to f**king pay.

Welcome to 2024 where if you don't have internet access you can't set up a computer on which you spent $1000. Shame on Microsoft, and shame on society for allowing big tech to do this. Mark Zuckerberg has even called the mass populace "stupid/idiots" for essentially just giving him their personal information for free, and I agree with him.

Anyway, the point of this reply? ig I have no choice but to root the bootloader on this $1000 computer and install a Linux kernal, which in all fairness I've been wanting to do for years but never had the motivation to do until now. I wish I could create a custom Unix-based OS, but I don't have the coding sills necessary for that. My choices are either MacOS (not happening because the Apple ecosystem is horrible), literally using Unix itself and thus not being able to use the stupid machine for anything that can't be done with command-line executables, or Linux. ig the lattermost makes the most sense. This also comes three months after I was lied to ASUS about their Zenfone having an unlockable bootloader. I intended to install LineageOS on it, but as it turns out, this promise was a lie, so now I have create a Google account (lmao not happening) to set it up. They were literally sued in the UK for this, and once I have my housing situation under control, I'm probably going to open up a lawsuit here in the US, as well, for false advertising.

Last week, as it turns out, I got locked out of my Discord account (which is probably a good thing tbh), because the email associated with the account locked me out because I refuse to give them my phone number for 2FA, banned from Wikipedia and Reddit because someone else who got banned from those sites used the same IP address on this public wifi network I'm on at this extended stay hotel and thus anyone, such as myself, who logs into their accounts on this IP will also be banned, even if they are innocent (so it's not just government institutions that have no regard for privacy; it's anyone who wants to hold on to any kind of power...). And about two weeks ago I finally got access to my god damned bank account, which I got locked out of as well because I refused to give them my phone number for 2FA again - I fought them for over a month and they finally decided, after over five hours of aggregated discussion with them to finally re-implement security questions for me to log in instead. Needless to say I'm piseed about all of this.

2024 has been a living Hell for privacy. It's just one thing after another, after another, and I can't get a f**king break. Dystopia in the making, and I have no control over my virtual life anymore, meanwhile it's becoming harder and harder and harder to escape the grasps of the internet every day. If I could permanantly log off forever, I would. But then I would literally not be able to do many things I need to do, like I could before the 2020 pandemic. I hate this. I hate the internet. I hate how people take the internet and their mobile phones for granted, and that it's impossible to live a life wthout one anymore. It wasn't until the 2020 lockdowns that I was finally forced to become a "netizen," even f that was the direction life was heading beforehand, and I want to go back...

Edit: And further to my point, about losing access to Discord and getting banned on Reddit/Wikipedia, etc... here is the ONE tech company that actually does respect users' privacy, and that very aspect of the platform he runs is what makes him a criminal. We are f**ked, for anyone who wants an iota of privacy in the future.

Edited by bardberic - August 25 2024 at 21:48

Telegram isn't the only social media site used to commit crimes.  All the big social media sites are used for things like child pornography, drug trade, financial crimes...Facebook, Youtube, X, Tic Toc., Instagram, Douyin, Reddit...

Edited by omphaloskepsis - August 26 2024 at 15:11

Interview from four months ago with Telegram CEO.

Lewian wrote: ... I'm surprised that I see so much anti-government speech then, all over the place. Wasn't it you yourself who linked piles of youtube videos that make your anti-government point?

omphaloskepsis wrote: ... t's hard to sentence folks to jail for anti-government narratives in America.  Free Speech is protected in our Constitution.  Instead, the US government wages lawfare, and censorship, and puts pressure on companies to fire employees.  ...

omphaloskepsis wrote: Lewian wrote: omphaloskepsis wrote:   Governments want 100% control over all social media sites. The government's goal is to control the narrative and prevent any speech or opinion that contradicts the government's narrative.  Free Speech morphs into opinions and narratives that agree with the government's narrative. Any narrative or opinion that disagrees with the government's narrative is Hate Speech.  I'm surprised that I see so much anti-government speech then, all over the place. Wasn't it you yourself who linked piles of youtube videos that make your anti-government point? Depends on the country.  UK sentenced a man to prison for 20 months for an anti-immigration Facebook post. Another UK citizen was sent to jail for retweeting an anti-immigration post. It's hard to sentence folks to jail for anti-government narratives in America.  Free Speech is protected in our Constitution.  Instead, the US government wages lawfare, and censorship, and puts pressure on companies to fire employees.  Tucker was fired from FOX after Blackrock bought 15% of FOX. Now? Tucker cannot fire himself.  The man that Tucker interviewed in the video just got arrested by France.  Canada froze folks' bank accounts. Germany, France, and Australia arrest their citizens for anti-government narratives.  Governments prioritize influencers and important people with a wide subscriber base to harass. Do you deny that the governments I listed are not targeting important people who express anti-government narratives?

Sean Trane wrote: lazland wrote: I give this thread another two days max before it is zapped. ADMIN! It won't be because of the topic itself, but because of the interveners insulting each other.

But since we officially have a moratorium on political threads, I don't see one keeping politics out of the discussion. It is a very political topic. And topics that encourage conspiracy theory type thinking generally are problematic.

Edited by Logan - August 26 2024 at 13:30

^ True. At one time I might sooner have expected the kind of propagandist that supports Prog Supremacy to be dominant at a Prog forum, but the propagandist seeks to disseminate their views any chance they get. And at a forum like this they can feel special, like the voice of reason (the one who holds the key to truth) amongst the ignorant masses, instead of one of many in more echo chamber type places which attract many like-mined people. Oh, they will still argue the details of their favourite conspiracy theories etc. at many venues.

Edited by Logan - August 26 2024 at 15:18

Atavachron wrote:   Finally someone who not only lives in said countries, but knows some history.