Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one

@gwagner it really should be that way, and for all traffic tickets. #Finland does it that way, there have been speeding tickets over $100,000 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/world/europe/speeding-in-finland-can-cost-a-fortune-if-you-already-have-one.html

So the #Bitwarden ad on this #FLOSSWeekly episode says: "Bitwarden doesn't track your data, only crash reporting, and even that is removed in the F-Droid installation." at around 16:30 https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly/episodes/720

Maybe not a big deal, but it seems like a new level for #FDroid: people paying money to promote based on F-Droid's principals, in this case, opt-out data collection is tracking.

@indyradio yeah, I think it is totally clear that happens in the Defense Dept, since that pattern happens in any organization I've worked in. Except that of course in the military's situation, "budget" also means destroying stuff and killing people.

@indyradio A classic example comes from SAGE during the Vietnam War: the US wired up all sorts of sensors along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Vietnamese figured out they had mics and urine sensors. So they'd play recordings of trucks next to the mics, and spray urine on the sensors, then run away and watch the US drop millions of dollars of bombs on places where they were not. The US chalked these up as kills, until they noticed they counted more kills than all the gear the Vietnamese had in total.

One of the things that has become clearer to me over my three decades of work with #software as a student, at big companies, universities, startups, and doing grant funded development: #FreeSoftware is about freedom for the user of the software, while #OpenSource is mainly about freedom to make money with software. This struck me when listening to how much #Amazon loves Open Source https://www.redhat.com/en/code-comments-podcast/amazon-web-services-open-principles

I sometimes have the feeling that there is certain kinds of essential #software that either requires developers to already be assholes to be able to build it effectively, or working on it turns the developers into assholes. This is stuff that we all need, that society is built upon. I appreciate the work, but personally want nothing to do with those communities. Yet it is also important that essential software is free software and open to contributions. It is a paradox I often think about.

For about two decades, it's been clear that #WiFi can easily and cheaply cover cities with good internet access. The hard part has been finding ways to make it sustainable. #Tokyo now says that they have 20 times as many WiFI routers as is needed to cover the whole city. They're trying a #cryptocurrency model to get more sharing happening. How about also considering just building out #CommunityWifi and #government networks? There are many proven examples of both all over https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/27/ntt_network_sharing_blockchain/

@sergii Even Russia is not able to provide enough ammo for itself to shoot as much as it wants. Limiting ammo exports to Russia means limiting their destructive abilities.

@sergii https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/06/russia-buying-millions-rockets-shells-north-korea-us-intelligence-ukraine but it could also be that that story is disinfo from the #US intelligence. There does seem to be other evidence that it could be true.

@gwagner One key factor is that Austria believes that the train experience should be better than other transport methods, and puts real money into trying. My experience in #NYC and #California is that the public generally views public transit as something for people without money or who feel guilty about the environmental impact of cars. So they don't spend what it takes to make it work well. So often in #Vienna, trains are the *most* convenient way to get somewhere.

@johnquiggin @gwagner Outside of the busy central areas of #Austria, even in #Vienna, it is still quite common here for people to thank the bus or tram driver as you leave. My family all does it, I'm a fan. But yes, grumpiness is a kind of default public persona in Austria.

I always wondered why the anti-#VietnamWar protests seemed ineffective at ending it, even though so many parts of society where involved: business, clergy, politicians, hippies, etc. Based on declassified docs, Nixon and Kissinger had a fully developed military plan to massively increase attacks on Vietnam, including using nukes. They just had to give the generals the go ahead. The protests actually convinced them they couldn't get away with it, so that plan was canceled. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/movement-and-madman/

Even #Russia, one of the world's major weapons suppliers, is limited in what it can do because it is running out of ammo. They are trying to buy more from whoever will sell it. #Egypt was going to sell ammo to Russia, but when the deal became public, they canceled it because of sanctions. When looking at less powerful nations at war like #Sudan, #Congo and more, the impact of limiting weapons sales can be even greater. The hard part is reigning in domestic corporations that make big profits 2/2

When talking about why wars continue, the focus is so often about the reasons why people are fighting. That is valid, but there are many factors. One key one that is rarely reported on is the supply of weapons. If those who fight have only rifles, the scale of the damage will be drastically less than if they have artillery. The stories of #Ukraine and #Russia running out of ammo show a way to affect wars: do not supply them. This is #Austria and #Switzerland 's law and it can be effective 1/2

Vice has a good article on that demo: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjvb4x/palantir-demos-ai-to-fight-wars-but-says-it-will-be-totally-ethical-dont-worry-about-it When viewing something like this, is important to consider what the #US considers legal. Apparently, mass bombing, death, and destruction by the military is fully legal there since there has been no prosecutions for running the #IraqWar #AfghanWar #VietnamWar etc.

#Palantir demos #LLM in #war, it is sadly ironic how often they say "safe and ethical": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEM5qz__HOU

Looks like the SAGE mentality is alive and well in the US military industrial context, and the #SiliconValley is still driving it. For example, that demo shows they still pretend to be able to get perfect info to feed their centralized, automated overview. This chapter from the book Closed World gives good insight into the mentality of this kind of project: https://web.archive.org/web/20011116023240/http://www.si.umich.edu/~pne/PDF/cw.ch3.pdf