Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

If governments of the world realised (as I've often suggested) that they should be funding critical digital #FOSS infrastructure, instead of OAuth run by mega corporations, slurping our data with their surveillance capitalism bizmodels, we'd be using Mozilla Persona and our lives would be better for it. Huge opportunity missed. Sadly, by failing to take it, you've thrown further fuel onto the fire currently razing our national and personal sovereignties.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/10/1044917871/facebook-instagram-safety-controls-kids

This, right here is the kind of thing I'm talking about:
"Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, told Bash in a separate interview Sunday that it's time to update children's privacy laws and offer more transparency in the use of algorithms."

Facebook is treating users as products, collecting masses of individual data through passive surveillance, selling it to private corporations, using individualized user profiles for highly targeted advertising, refusing to give users control over who they associate, and arguably has been instrumental in the rise of fascism in several countries including the U.S.

And what is Congress talking about? The impact on children.

Exciting EU study on open source software:

> strongly contributes to GDP
> avoids vendor lock-in
> reduces costs & maintenance
> drives state-of-the-art tech
> fosters competition, interoperability & tech-neutrality

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/study-about-impact-open-source-software-and-hardware-technological-independence-competitiveness-and

You know someone is legit when both the major political parties want to kill them, and the legacy media refuses to report on them.

https://fair.org/home/deathly-silence-journalists-who-mocked-assange-have-nothing-to-say-about-cia-plans-to-kill-him/

From October 9th-15th 2021
Go #AllOutForWedzinKwa
For years, the Wet'suwet'en have defended their territory against repeated incursions from industry and the RCMP. In 2020, an invasion by heavily militarized RCMP tactical teams sparked the #ShutDownCanada movement... 1/

@jauntywunderkind420 I revile the GOP... but I have very little time for the DEMs either. I'm quite sure the US needs to destroy the current duopoly and find a progressive government, like what Sanders would've provided, to restore any semblance of internal unity or external respect. The US conservatives (even most US 'liberals' are very conservative by non-US standards) are simply selfish and anti-intellectual... wanting to retain privilege and even respect they didn't earn.

With changes in Brazil’s Fake News Bill in the pipeline, lawmakers must firmly reject the traceability mandate. It undermines users’ rights and key principles of privacy and security on end-to-end encrypted apps. @orlandosilva @DepBrunaFurlan 1/6 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/08/faq-why-brazils-plan-mandate-traceability-private-messaging-apps-will-break-users

Was just pondering the term "primitive religions" I've read in various places... it's a strange term because... primitive relative to what? It implies there's an 'advanced' or 'modern' religions... but what's the difference? One hasn't lapsed into myth yet?

One reason why stopping #overconsumption is so often overlooked as a major part in solving the #ClimateCrisis may be this tendency to "default to searching for additive transformations, and consequently overlook subtractive transformations".

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03380-y

If you're hosting your own stuff, and using Let's Encrypt, they've updated their Certificate Authority (CA) which *might break* many services (especially on Docker containers that haven't recently been updated). It's bitten me once already. For more info, see https://letsencrypt.org/2021/10/01/cert-chaining-help.html

Today I learned about EnQ.

The IRS has a longstanding problem with call hold times; because of the volume of people calling, and a paucity of agents, it can take hours to get a real person on the phone.

The founders of EnQ decided to "solve" this problem: they bought a vast phone bank and now constantly auto-dial the IRS, locking up all their phone lines indefinitely. Then, you pay EnQ, and they attach you to the line that's been on hold the longest (and is therefore closest to talking to a real person).

I don't know how to relate as a human being to someone who can be this blatantly villainous.

My uncle just finished 1.6 kg, 700 pages long dictionary of Northern Sami, a language spoken by around 20,000 speakers.

Sami are an indigenous people who have inhabited large parts of Northern Europe spanning from Russia to Norway for millenniums.

He has dedicated his life to advocate for their rights and preserve their languages and culture. This book is a major contribution in an effort to ensure that this ancient language will be passed on to future generations.

RT @newint

The soil is dying, the water’s running out, & climate change is rendering the future even more uncertain. hazel_healy speaks to farmers in Senegal who are ready for a different system. #FoodJusticeFiles #agroecology

https://newint.org/features/2021/08/09/land-beautiful-agroecology-senegal-food-fjf

"In Andhra Pradesh, over 700,000 Indian farmers have been practising agroecology for several years with increased production and significantly increased net incomes compared to farmers farming with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides."

"If somebody robs a store, it's a crime and the state is all set and ready to nab the criminal. But if somebody steals from the commons and from the future, it's seen as entrepreneurial activity and the state cheers and gives them tax concessions rather than arresting them. We badly need an expanded concept of justice and fairness that takes mortgaging the future into account."

—Ursula Franklin, 22 years ago, on our societal tendency of flat out ignoring and even explicitly rewarding negative externalities

#Berlin’s car ban campaign: ‘It’s about how we want to live, breathe and play’ | #Germany | The Guardian

I wonder if this could be made to work and whether it could be translated to other major cities?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/06/berlins-car-ban-campaign-its-about-how-we-want-to-live-breathe-and-play

#Environment #Transport #UrbanInfrastructure

#DominicRaab confuses meaning of #misogyny in #BBC #interview | Dominic Raab | The Guardian

This ignoramus doesn’t know the difference between misogyny and #misandry, though I’m nor surprised given that he didn’t know Dover was a busy port. But at least British #Justice is safe in his hands. [sarc.]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/06/dominic-raab-confuses-meaning-of-misogyny-in-bbc-interview

#UK #Politics

I'm curious how other fediverse folks are feeling about the ongoing U.S. congressional hearings about Facebook. Thoughts?

I ask because, while I haven't been following them closely, I have the lurking feeling that congress is in danger of responding to all of this with the wrong kind of legislation.

(boosts welcome)

Windows 11 continues #Microsoft's long trend of mistreating users. Read why you're better off avoiding it: https://u.fsf.org/3gd