He looks like early 2000s Kevin Rose aged up to pretend he’s 2020s Kevin Rose.

Yup, he does what his boss says first and foremost. Every now and then Putin let’s him pocket the difference.

Is ungoogeled-chromium any less skeezy? It’s not my main browser but every now and then I need a Chrome based browser or some sites just don’t work right.

If you need the cert to do your job they should compensate you (i.e. allow you to use company time). If it’s not required then I would say I’m going to accept the risks of not becoming certified as the time investment is not feasible for me. Many people provide value staying in the same role for years and advancement, if it’s a net negative to someone’s overall well-being, should be optional at the employees discretion.

Best case, rest of the world goes Star Trek while the US goes Mad Max. I mean, if everything got better worldwide I kind of feel like we’ll backslide again because people have no idea what struggle and suffering is anymore. The US can be a shining beacon on the hill proudly declaring, “Stay away! Dead inside!”

Depends. You could argue that economically speaking it’s not worthwhile to stop and cite people for speeding. Police do have discretion on that kind of thing so not the best example, but still, there’s probably stuff that isn’t good for the bottom line that just needs to happen. The government is not a business.

Now when I say “depends”, I would be more inclined to go after a small number of people committing massive fraud than a large number committing minor acts of fraud. In the first case I think charges would discourage future abuse but in the second probably not. It wouldn’t be a vast, organized network of people doing the same thing, but a bunch of people that happened to notice the same opportunity. I think you’d do just as well having applicants read and sign a paper that goes over the penalties of abuse (while spending very little resources on enforcement).

Sounds like some actual common sense was applied to German law. Good to hear.

It’s not a gray area at all. There’s an EU directive on the matter. If an image appears to depict someone under the age of 18 then it’s child porn.

So a person that is 18 years old, depicted in the nude, is still a child pornographer if they don’t look their age? This gives judges and prosecutors too much leeway and I could guarantee there are right-wing judges that would charge a 25yo because it could believed they were 17.

In Germany, the majority of suspects in child porn cases are minors. Valuable life lesson for them.

Is it though? I don’t know about the penalties in Germany but in the US a 17yo that takes a nude selfie is likely to be put on a sex offender list for life and have their freedom significantly limited. I’m not against penalties, but they should be proportional to the harm. A day in court followed by a fair amount of community service should be enough of an embarrassment to deter them, not jail.

And make sure you’re alive long enough to spit on their graves.

I learned more about their paid services from this one post than in the last 5 years of using their browser. Not that their browser should be constantly inundating you with ads for their other services but dang.

I don’t know why they haven’t floated the idea of some kind of subscription or one-time payment (though a subscription might be just as infuriating). I’m not above paying for software and if it was a reasonable price, say $10 one-time, I’d much prefer that over it becoming the new Chrome.

On one hand I don’t think this kind of thing can be consequence free (from a practical standpoint). On the other hand… how old were the subjects? You can’t look at a person to determine their age and someone that looks like a child but is actually adult wouldn’t be charged as a child pornographer. The whole reason age limits are set is to give reasonable assurance the subject is not being exploited or otherwise harmed by the act.

This is a massive grey area and I just hope sentences are proportional to the crime. I could live with this kind of thing being classified as a misdemeanor provided the creator didn’t use underage subjects to train or influence the output.

I agree with the idea of trying lots of different things, especially physical activities. If you’re kid falls in love with computers early that’s awesome but it can also lead them down a road of bad health habits.

So one portal in an active volcano and…

Stay strong. If they feel that strongly about using platforms that support the oligarchy they either want one or are putting profits above people. That’s literally what all of this is about: screwing over people out of insatiable greed.

It’d be nice if things on Meta or X just stopped sucking but giving them exactly what they want (views and clicks) isn’t the way to change their policies.

Notice it’s “you” will own nothing, not “we”. 😳

That’s amazing! So glad to hear it. Don’t let those assholes to the North talk down to you. Sounds like you have a functioning Democracy and you’ll be able to hold that over our heads for decades I’m sure.

Regardless I’m not buying a new laptop. My 15 year old netbook is chugging along and if it suddenly died I’d sooner rehab another used one rather than make this economy look in any way good by buying new.

Guess I’m 10% less likely to buy one then. If crashing consumer confidence is the goal you’re well on your way Mr President.