Tim Cook May Have Just Ended Facebook

[nam78_two]

30. Hmmm-I think my next computer will be a mac

Last edited Sun Jan 31, 2021, 04:44 AM - Edit history (1)

I have to admit to a preference for PCs. But these are important issues and I think I might make a leap to the mac. Mac, Iphone and so on.

Of course one will have to be vigilant with any for profit enterprise because these guys are not great at self-regulation. That is ok-I am not looking high degrees of trust wrt ethics in business transactions with corporations. I just want to deal with businesses which don't come off as pirates. Dealing with creepy and untrustworthy businesses is a time-suck. Dealing with any creeps is a time suck but they aren't quite as prolific in non profits in my experience.

I am starting to have a slightly higher level of trust of Apple as opposed to Facebook, Google and Amazon. Microsoft is probably also creepy and sucky.

The problem is not dispensable garbageware like Facebook. The real issue is the use of the exploitation of what Zuboff has termed "behavioral data surplus" by people selling stuff we cannot remove from our lives Web forums like these are fine for political action. There is no need to use one centralized and tacky website run by a pack of creeps who first exploit ignorance and then try to normalize shady practices and numb awareness through bribery or extortion.

But Tim Cook's speech signals that any software that comes with the Mac/Iphone is likely to be less intrusive than the equivalent on offer with the PC/Android. Computers, an internet connection, a search engine,email- these are no longer dispensable tools and to have them come from all the companies-large or small that mimic Zuckerberg's or Larry Page's unsanitary and creepy practices is just a terrible idea. I would not buy a computer from either of these creeps. I would not get medical care from them or from anyone who behaves like them. I would not like people who behave like this to have government authorization to snoop on citizens. It is a shame that DuckDuckGo and Protonmail are not partnering with Apple to provide email and search engine solutions that protect privacy so that more users can abandon Google/gmail and Google search. I would like to opt out of data harvesting. A focus on real and complete privacy without further tolerance of sleazy groups, companies and people who are too far gone to establish trust with. Who have not paid at all for practices that have egregiously abused trust repeatedly for more than a decade now. At least I'd like the option of punishing such people with one's wallet first while waiting for government regulations to crack down on them.

Without surveillance equipment and snooping, lots of people can do the layman's version of behavioral science-i.e. a necessary evaluation inside one's head of the trustworthiness or creepiness of people or systems they deal with. The role all these companies played in radicalizing people and inciting violence should not be ignored any more than the overt malice of the GOP.