I recommend reading the article, because holy fuck is that whole thing dystopian, but here’s who was there:

Those present included representatives of Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Palantir, which works closely with the US military and has contracts with the NHS. IBM and the private prison operator Serco also attended alongside tagging and biometric companies, according to a response to a freedom of information request.

Ah, yes. The very companies that helped install a fascist in the US would be great partners to bring about safety and criminal reform, and they would definitely not inject their fascist ideals into the UK government, eroding and poisoning it over time. Sounds like a brilliant plan! /s

Pragmatically, yes. Legally, no. Progressives have been fighting for years to get internet classified as a utility in the US, and regressives and (ironically) internet companies have been fighting against that effort at every turn in the name of profit.

And now look how well that’s turned out. Gee, if only some people had warned them that deregulation was a monkey’s paw…

Fix? Bruh, they explicitly cultivate that shit. Even if they could, they’re not gonna.

You need to cite specific people, because right now, your post reads like the screed from an Alex Jones’s rant. Vaguely gesturing towards some shadow organization isn’t useful information, and it can lead to being manipulated by people who know how to weaponize that vaguery. You can’t act against the unknown.

There’s certainly bad actors at work, but they operate out in the open. Everybody who hovers in Trump’s orbit, everybody who worked on P2025, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, fundigelical churches, every billionaire…

If they currently have money or power (often both), they’re almost definitely part of the current problem.

Jesus Fucking Christ.

Y’all, remember when people freaked out over Mozilla changing their TOU (but not their Privacy Policy)? This bill is the pro-corporate, ultracapitalist, “hold my beer” version of that change, and it could be enshrined into law.

If you live in California, call your state reps (i.e. don’t just email or write a letter). Tell them to vote no on this blatant privacy violation.

ETA: this is a bipartisan bill. If you have a Democratic rep, don’t just assume they’ll vote against it. Call them, too!

72% don’t like it, but about half of all voters think voting for the billionaires is the solution, so some fraction of that 72% is 100% idiots.

Sure, if that family member is just deaf enough to mishear everything and has the functional intelligence of a cabbage.

Calling him successful is technically true, but it kind of glosses over some very pertinent details of his success. He’s a billionaire, and you don’t get to be a billionaire without doing a lot of monstrous things to good people.

The surprise isn’t whether he’s good looking enough to get a partner. The surprise is over the fact that there’s another human being who thinks that those are qualities worth overlooking, especially one who’s queer, since billionaires like Sam Altman support the current regime that’s wholly against LGBTQ+ folks. And that same person with questionable tastes in partners wanted to take care of another human being with Sam Altman.

I promise I’m not being pedantic. Which claim? I made at least two.

Signal is likely fine for a use case like that. Don’t feel like you need to switch if you don’t have a good reason. Signal is a great balance between stupid-easy useability and E2EE messaging, and people who actually need that extra mile of privacy should know better than to use Signal.

Evidence for what?

Signal collects your IP address and the last IP address you sent a message to. They store that info to maintain their services. They also store your phone number, either of which can be tied back to your identity (in the US, don’t @ me, friends from across the pond).

The only thing these reveal is that you use Signal, which is currently still legal. Also, even if a judge ordered Signal to collect outgoing messages for your user, the content of your messages would already be encrypted. So unless your use of the service could be construed as illegal (or perhaps who you’re talking to), then it’s probably still safe to use.

However, all that said, I still agree that SimpleX is a better choice for activism. No phone numbers or other useful identifiers, uses a series of nodes rather than a central server, expiring contact-adding codes, etc… it’s simply better, if you need privacy against external threats.

And there’s no reason you can’t have both on your phone for different kinds of groups!

Enjoy getting replaced at that job, you mean. If they’re replacing recruitment, those companies don’t value what humans bring to the table.

And this whole endeavor will probably result in catching 0.01% more violent criminals and cost 1000% more money.

But at least we’ll all be safe from those dangerous 4yo immigrants! /s

They stopped putting aluminum in homes, because it has a tendency to overheat more. The aluminum expands and contracts with load more than copper, which can loosen contact points and encourage oxidation, which then increases resistance and heat. Hot wires in the walls and outlet boxes are no bueno.

Premium supported. You get plenty with the free tier, but you get lots more with paid.

Stop feeding the troll. He thrives on the attention, negative or positive. If it’s positive, he was right all along. If it’s negative, he’s a martyr.

Stop treating him like he has any legitimate thing to say, and let him fade into irrelevance.

These AI apologists are deranged.

Start taking your privacy back. Use aliases and throwaways whenever possible. https://addy.io/ is free and allows you to create lots of aliases and then delete them later.

Okay I will admit it was impressive to see how they solved where to stow the wings and essentially shrink the airplane footprint to a long car footprint, but who is this for? Who out there has $1mil to blow and is like, “I have to drive directly from the tarmac to my hotel”?

This thing needs 300m of runway in its airplane form to get airborne, so forget city or even suburban takeoffs. And you’re not going to just drive this thing around. At the end of the day, this is still a (very fancy) plane that drives.

I think they’re using “geek” here to mean “fan,” but I agree that being a geek implies a level of fandom or interest that these “wounded fans” don’t have, or else they’d know more about these corporations they’re stanning.

I think a better word would simply be “fan.”