A classic example of the #toxicity of modern society: It turns out that exercise is as effective against #depression as #pharma, but exercise isn't controlled by a big corporation for #profit. #BigPharma spends huge amounts on #marketing, no one is spending anywhere close to that on marketing simple yet effective things like taking a walk with friends or family every day
"It's much easier for a primary care physician to prescribe medication to a patient [than exercise]"
@lucasmz e.g. which WebDAV or Nextcloud service, via an app or directly, how did you use a USB Thumb Drive, or was it an SDCard?
@lucasmz Have you seen a documented known good configuration? Or have you posted one?
@iron_bug @pluralistic Free Software does provide Digital Sovereignity and lots of governments are jumping on free software exactly for that reason. And the more they build around free software, the more they will also want adversarial interoperability.
@trashpanda most interesting of all: "Countries where resistance campaigns were nonviolent were 10 times as likely to transition to democracy compared to countries where resistance turned violent—regardless of whether the campaign succeeded or failed in the short term. Even when nonviolent campaigns were not immediately successful, Chenoweth/Stephan found, they still tended to empower moderates or reformers within the ruling elites who would gradually initiate changes."
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/advocacy-social-movements/paths-resistance-erica-chenoweths-research
@trashpanda Repression is a given, but protesters have options. I can suggest the work of Erica Chenoweth, her research shows non-violent movements are twice as likely to succeed as violent ones. https://www.ericachenoweth.com/research/wcrw
Some key examples off the top of my head:
* The expressly non-violent organizations in the US Civil Rights Movement were the largest and most effective.
* ANC's turn to non-violence led them to victory.
* Czechoslovakia's Velvet Resolution was non-violent, swift and effective.
Has anyone gotten #Seedvault the #Android backup app working? I've tried on five different devices, with Nextcloud, WebDAV and USB thumb drive. In all cases, the backups either failed to restore or it was not possible to set the backup up.
Adversarial interoperability should be legal. Users should be able to use software on their own devices the way they want to. The tariff wars have opened up a new political opportunity to make that happen. @pluralistic explains it well:
#BigTech #FreeSoftware #FOSS #AdversarialInteroperability #startups #UserFreedom
Are you into #opensource ? And in the #eu ?
There is a Call for Feedback by the European Commission for a 'European Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy' For strategic approach to #foss in Europe, and a framework for using open source within the European Commission. You can respond until 3 February. It is useful to respond even if your point has already been submitted by someone else. The number and repetition of arguments is used as a weight. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/16213-European-Open-Digital-Ecosystems_en cc #fosdem
The @EUCommission "will set out a strategic approach to the open-source sector in the
European Union and present a review of the Commission’s 2020-2023 open-source software strategy, which will
outline the Commission’s plan for its own digital environment." We need to tell them to put #UserFreedom first! They are looking for feedback, submit it here:
#FreeSoftware #OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS #EuropeanCommission #EU #DigitalSovereignity #BigTech
We are very well aware of the fact that X for Grok is now offering a spicy mode showing explicit sexual content with some output generated with childlike images:
📌 A detailed request for information on Grok has been sent to X, and we are reviewing the company’s responses.
📌 X has been ordered to retain all internal documents and data concerning Grok’s features until the end of 2026.
The Digital Services Act is very clear:
In the EU, all platforms have to get their own house in order.
As things ramp up in #Iran, I think it is important to keep all the relevant context in mind. I have no doubt that most protesters there have legitimate grievances and Iran's government can be violent and repressive. The Shah's son is cosying up to the #US. Now #Trump is threatening #military action. There is a long track record of the #US also supporting repression and violence in #Iran. And the vast majority of US-backed regime changes make things worse for the local populations.
I wonder if one goal of #AI companies is to replace #creative people since they have a long track record of being an effective part of #movements against #oligarchs.
@lexinova@toot.community @fdroidorg Sounds like you are well positioned to lead up that project. How about starting by opening an issue and describing as much as possible https://gitlab.com/fdroid/admin/-/issues/
If you don't like #Trump's actions against #Venezuela, or #Putin's against #Ukraine, or #Canada's #TarSands, or #Sudan #Saudi #UAE #NigerDelta #IslamicState etc. follow the money. All of those are driven by #oil and #gas, and any money we pay for oil and gas support those conflicts and the states that back them. That means #plastic, your #car, your cheap flights, your oil/gas #heating, non-#organic farming, etc. etc. There are alternatives, we have a choice to not support any of this.
Looks like #Trump is officially now yet another #DeepState #Washington insider starting foreign wars and plotting coups. It should be interesting to see if the #AmericaFirst proponents still support him.
Being sucked into #monopoly enforcement against #gatekeepers around the world has given me direct insight into why #AntiTrust enforcement is so important economically: monopolists spend huge sums on PR to sell things that people do not want. Organizations like @fdroidorg can spend next to zero money and some hours of volunteer time to pop PR bubbles that surely cost many millions. The money is so concentrated that lots is thrown at even stupid ideas just because the monopolists want it that way.
We’re sponsoring the EU Open Source Policy Summit 2026 (Brussels, 30 Jan), hosted by @OpenForumEurope.
The theme is “Digital Sovereignty Runs on Open Source."
@Amandine will be talking about the importance of interoperability and open standards.