this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2024
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1
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For example, efforts in the areas of data protection, freedom of information, combating misinformation, improving working conditions in the online sector, creating fair digital remuneration models and so on and so forth. Pretty much things that the Electronic Frontier Foundation, NOYB and many other such organizations are committed to.
The EFF is great. Perhaps going a little bit off-topic, the EFF creates plug-ins, but I wonder why the EFF doesn't create a privacy-based ecosystem similar to Proton?
A VPN provider or a system like Proton with encrypted mail, VPN, etc. is entirely based on trust and yet we trust our privacy almost entirely to for-profit corporations, which are inherently untrustworthy over the long haul. It would be cool if a non-profit with a long history of defending privacy, like the EFF, developed such a system. Mozilla seems to be moving in that direction, but it seems like a good fit for EFF too.
That would be great. Perhaps there is a lack of funding to make this possible. Or the EFF, as an NGO, simply does not want to become a provider itself in order to ensure that it remains neutral.
The thing is, for-profit doesn't equal bad. There are a small subset of companies that aim to provide the best service for modest gain, and IMO, they are inherently as trustworthy as orgs like the EFF.
One of the problems is selling out. Like Bandcamp was, so far as I know, a cool way to share and sell music. Musicians got a good cut, customers got drm free music. But then they sold out because a few guys at the top could walk away with a hundred million dollars, and now the site's probably going to be enshittified or sold for parts.
Maybe we should rearrange our financial and tax incentives so long term earnings are better than short term, somehow.
I understand that perspective. In a lot of cases, people sell out because they are burnt out (Notch with Mojang/Minecraft) or because they think it's best for their company and its vision (LucasArts).
I don't think we can have a good solution to this issue until "creating shareholder value" moves down from 1st to 3rd or 4th or lower on the list of priorities for large companies.
So you're saying it's hopeless to fix any of these issues? Why?
Major parts of today's internet are controlled by extremely powerful corporations - that's just a fact. Private individuals and even committed activists have very little to no influence on how these corporations shape their part of the internet. Hence the analogy with climate change: this problem, which threatens the whole of humanity, could probably also be solved, or at least be tackled in a meaningful way. However, a solution is only possible if those corporations that are largely responsible live up to their responsibilities. Of course, this is not to say that private individuals should give up all hope and not try everything they can. Look at it this way: every post or comment on Lemmy is the equivalent of a properly disposed plastic bottle - just a drop in the ocean, but a drop nonetheless. What I was getting at overall is that you can certainly make a contribution, but this small contribution will be of little use as long as those who are actually responsible do not live up to their responsibility, because only these players could turn the tide for the better; but unfortunately they don't; quite the opposite, I think. Nevertheless, every contribution to improving the situation is important. So please don't let my pessimism get you down.