☢️Google will be tracking everything starting 8-weeks from now

[williwaw]

That's the point. A new form of Gov't now exist. And its direction has emerged. The signs are apparent......

As for the internet, I think the government agencies that contracted with the universities to create a decentralized network realized their screwup almost immedialy once the technology went public with ARPANET back in the 70's.
Did not the internet come under the jurisdiction of the FCC in 1996 with the adoption of section 706, and isn't one of the purposes of the FCC to infringe on the rights of the people to free speech?
And if you want to drag partisan politics into the discussion, you should remember it was FDR in 1934 that signed the FCC into law.

There is nothing new under the sun.

[wiak]

Currently at least, the overall Internet architecture doesn't prevent groups implementing their own service protocals, search engines, and so on. Most all major standard Internet protocols are specified in open RFC documents (the actual code implementation is not specified per se). Underground (google and so on avoiding) 'internet' is thus feasible with enough developers involved (e.g. university postgrads are good at this sort of thing). Why, even Musk's Starlink could be utilized if more standard ISP's control traffic and lock everyone down quicker (of course Starlink would lock us all down too... sigh).

Alas a physical communication network is certainly needed, and despite compression protocols, the likes of radio is hardly going to suffice for the needs of most of us.

[bigpup]

What gets me is the fact that we agree to let Google do all this spying, when we agree to the terms of use.

But it should be an option, to not allow them to do this spying.

Who is going to make them do that?

[N97]

Two questions seem appropriate to all parties concerned here...

1.) How many of you own a smart-phone?
2.) How many of you have one or more social-media accounts ?

My answer to BOTH Q's is 'no'.
THAT DOES NOT MEAN IMMUNITY !
But it does mean no secret apps, or spy-utensils.

[tammi806]

Trust No One.

[mikewalsh]

Trust No One.

.....what, and live like a nervous, paranoid, fearful hermit for the rest of my days.....seeing enemies around every corner, concealed in every shadow and under every stone? Ooh, no, no, no.....I don't think so; that way, madness lies...

Mike.

[williwaw]

....what, and live like a nervous, paranoid, fearful hermit for the rest of my days.....

I dont think it follows that paranoia is the only alternative to deciding who you trust. Its as simple as, If you dont like whats happening in the marketplace, don't buy the product.

[geo_c]

....what, and live like a nervous, paranoid, fearful hermit for the rest of my days.....

I dont think it follows that paranoia is the only alternative to deciding who you trust. Its as simple as, If you dont like whats happening in the marketplace, don't buy the product.

I have to agree here. It's like hiring a landscaper who takes photos of you inside your house while he's working on the shrubbery, and yet you continue to hire him but complain loudly about it, because after all, his shrubbery is top quality.

[williwaw]

This is what they will do.

This is what they could do.

etc......

a lot of this going around these days

[tammi806]

Trust No One.

.....what, and live like a nervous, paranoid, fearful hermit for the rest of my days.....seeing enemies around every corner, concealed in every shadow and under every stone? Ooh, no, no, no.....I don't think so; that way, madness lies...

Mike.

Just because I say trust no one doesn't mean I live in fear.

You are way over exaggerating.

I don't expect you to understand.

[mikewalsh]

Just because I say trust no one doesn't mean I live in fear.

You are way over exaggerating.

I don't expect you to understand.

@tammi806 :-

Actually, I think I CAN understand.

Yes, my response probably was OTT. Sorry about that! At a very basic level, one's personal definition of "trust" has to come down to what you, as an individual, feel comfortable with. And that's going to vary from one person to another.

Social media - for example - is to ME a prime example. Anybody who is ANYBODY in those circles appears to have 1000s of purely on-line "friends; people they've never met, yet who seem to hang on their every word. Me, I find that creepy as hell. Am I the only one, or does anybody else take the same view?

I've seen it myself, in day-to-day life. Inter-communications on the phone, especially; there's too many people who go out of their way to try and be an "instant friend", wanting to call you by your first name especially when they've never even spoken to you until 2 minutes ago. Call me a cynical old so-and-so, but such behaviour always puts me in "alert mode". I don't like "false familiarity". What are they really after? What IS it they want?

(You want MY friendship, you need to earn it. I don't just hand it out like a freebie to every Tom, Dick & Harry.)

No; the direction in which modern society is evolving is NOT exactly conducive to trust. It's like simple business transactions; years ago, you'd contract for a job to be done. You'd get an estimate; the tradesman would come and do whatever needed doing, they'd bill you, and you'd pay at the end when you were satisfied with the work.

Now, you can't buy or get anything done until you pay up front, before you've even had the 'service' or received the goods. Nobody trusts anyone anymore - modern on-line business methods, and the constant selfish on-line criminal activity to try and relieve people of their hard-earnt income are definitely contributory factors here - so.....I think I understand where you're coming from in principle, if not in actuality. (No way I could, since I don't know your personal circumstances).

I confess, I don't LIKE the directions in which society is heading... There again, it's entirely possible I've got hold of completely the wrong end of the stick!

(*shrug...*)

Mike.

[d-pupp]

I confess, I don't LIKE the direction in which society is heading...

Plus 1 on that!!
Google and everyone else tracking everything and using ads to influence us.
Social media has people mindlessly scrolling for hours on end.
And now AI so we don't have to think at all.
Very sad.

[tammi806]

@mikewalsh

You seem to have a good grip on things.

At one time I was more trusting of people but no longer since my days in the Military.

As for social media I don't do social media websites.

Computer forums are the closet thing to social media I do.

If I want to talk to someone out of state or locally I call them on my LL or cell phone.

I prefer to deal with people in person one on one.

I'm very cautious what I put online unfortunately that's not possible when dealing with Government and State websites.

Unfortunately I'm forced to use Google Chrome to access certain Government and State websites or use Windows and neither is a good choice imo Firefox just won't do it sometimes.

I'm in my 70s and remember when privacy existed but seems that disappeared with the computer age and the WWW.

I don't do anything on my cell phone that involves online internet use I just text and make phone calls.

I hate cell phones but they do make things easier sometimes an damn near impossible to live without one (convenience).

Were all good and no offense taken so no apologies necessary.

My kids live on their cell phones and seem to live for social media.
I don't understand or get it.
I guess is what most everyone does these days.

Want something to eat order it through an app and have it delivered and pay high prices they don't seem to be bothered by what's going on and I don't think most people know what's going on.

It is what it is.

Have a great day.

[N97]

THIS IS A PHONE

phone.jpg (55.21 KiB) Viewed 1047 times

THIS IS A NEW(ish) COMPUTER

puter.jpg (52.93 KiB) Viewed 1047 times

WARNING: DO NOT MIX THEM

[N97]

sorry for dbl-post, but there IS a way for us to pay for all this AI spying... THE ELECTRIC BILL !!!
These server-farms/ data-centers consume HUGE amounts of electricity in addition to internet comsumption of electricity.

old adage: pay attention, or pay money.
Frank Zappa "You been made a C*****-S******* by proxy."

[tammi806]

The Google Data center where I live has big solar panels on its roof tops.

I used to use flip phones unfortunenatly the display is way to small for me to see I'm old.

I've seen computers that are like the ones posted but most likely are out of my price range.
I get my computers from thrift stores or are given to me by others who are upgrading Windows computers.

[bugnaw333]

I do not have smart phones...and I don't need it...

[williwaw]

any reccomendations for "dumb phones" that are easy to text with?

[darksun]

Using dumb phones for privacy (and/or security) is a dumb idea; phone calls and SMS text use unsafe and not private protocols where bad actors can easily listen to everything that goes through and/or exploit vulnerabilities of such protocols (for example see G2,G3, SS7 protocols).

A well made and informative video about this topic is this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVyu7NB7W6Y.

The easiest and most accessible way for safely communicating would be an android phone with a custom ROM on it (golden standard is a google pixel with grapheneOS on it) and using an E2EE messenger like SIGNAL.