On Sat Mar 13 10:15:13 2021 Stefan Monnier <monn...@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
>>>> Besides the social part of asking *everybody* *else* to switch I'm >>>> also not aware of a viable <something else>. Fortunately most of >>>> the conversations have been moving to WhatsApp (where they are >>>> supposed to be encrypted, at least). >>> >>> W.r.t. something else, I don't know anything comparable to Facebook >>> (which isn't saying much since I never used Facebook and neve >>> looked for something like it), but there are several alternatives >>> to WhatsApp (I'm using Matrix for that). >> >> https://www.xkcd.com/918/ >> >> Time was that'd have been a serious suggestion, but as >> https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/918:_Google%2B points out, >> it's not an option anymore; Google shut it down (for the general >> public, at least) a couple of years ago. It makes little difference to me; not only do I not use Facebook (never have, never will), my machine is a Google-free zone. (DuckDuckGo works fine for searches.) BTW my ISP, Telus, recently decided to get rid of their e-mail servers; all of their e-mail users have been sold down the river to Google. I'm not affected by this either; I get my e-mail through a third party. > I was talking about alternatives which don't suffer from the same > underlying problem of centralization. E.g. Matrix is a *protocol*, > with a Free Software implementation of it available in Debian, so > you can run your own (e.g. as part of FreedomBox), and it can be > used to communicate with users of other Matrix servers as well > (using basically the same model as email), and there are several > different clients available, most of them Free Software as well > (and some of them included in Debian). It's ironic. Back in the '60s and '70s, computing was completely centralized, for the simple reason that computers were so expensive that even medium-sized corporations could barely afford one. The plunging cost of hardware starting in the '80s meant that anyone could have a computer, and designs such as the ARPAnet (the precursor to today's Internet) created a decentralized model. (Who remembers the phrase "global village"?) But now, alas, we've come full circle, as large conglomerates gobble up small companies, and build a surveillance state that makes Orwell's telescreens look quaint. But I digress. I do not use any form of mainstream social media. Usenet, where I hang out (and read this list) doesn't count; it has no graphics, so is totally unacceptable to J. Random Luser. If people want to communicate with me, I tell them to use e-mail like my grandpappy used to do. I understand that for some people, Facebook is like scrapbooking - but I have my own hobbies, thankyouverymuch. When I see how much time people spend glued to their phones and other devices, it makes me realize that I could never go there. I still have a flip phone, which, as handy as it is, I use very little by today's standards. I have better things to do with my time. Many of these things involve contact with people that isn't mediated (and monitored) by multinational corporations. Matrix sounds like it's worth checking out. To paraphrase Ted Nelson in his 1974 book _Computer Lib_ (back then he was talking about IBM): Facebook is not a necessary evil. Facebook is not necessary. -- /~\ Charlie Gibbs | Microsoft is a dictatorship. \ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | Apple is a cult. X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | Linux is anarchy. / \ if you read it the right way. | Pick your poison.
