this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
340 points (98.6% liked)

Technology

87412 readers
7176 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Residents of Dowagiac, Michigan, just filed a lawsuit against a data center that allegedly generates a high-pitched whining sound — and has done so 24/7 for the past two years.

The data center, which is owned by Alliance Cloud Services LLC, a subsidiary of Hyperscale Data, used to be an industrial building that sat behind a row of pine trees across the street from the most affected residents, according to ABC-affiliateWXYZ. The site started development in 2018 and was eventually turned into a cryptocurrency mining center in 2021. But in 2024, something changed drastically when the building started emitting noise pollution around the clock. Residents say it sounds like a vacuum cleaner in their living room, and the company has offered to buy up homes from unhappy residents.

all 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] grte@lemmy.ca 120 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

The company said that it’s planning to expand its operations in the footprint in the area

Residents say it sounds like a vacuum cleaner in their living room, and the company has offered to buy up homes from unhappy residents.

Very convenient for them that they converted their data centre into a property value destroyer before making this offer. I'm sure that's coincidental.

[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Offer to buy at 500x the highest value it ever had, when adjusted for inflation, plus 10% of the company's revenue going forward, and maybe I'd consider it.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah an outrageous amount, plus ethical costs to undo all the fuckery, the lost peace, the labor and lost investments, and all of that doubled, is the correct fee.

If the house would have sold for 1m, ask for 50m, then the environmental damage costs in equipment and labor and plants and animals, so now we're up to 1b, doubled to 2b, and a fat 50% fuckyou fee on top and round up to 3b usd.

People need to aim higher. If the company won't pay and will ruin your life instead, then guess their intent is actual war, and they shall have it.

Don't let the bullies win. Fight back.

[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 7 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

More reasonable: roll back to before the datacenter was permitted for construction, find substantially equivalent houses in the general area - 20% more square footage, 20% higher value per square foot, and track their values over time until the present, and whatever the peak was, offer 20% more than that plus moving expenses... effectively 175% of "fair" value + maybe $20K.

[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Why be "reasonable" with unreasonable people?

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 weeks ago

Being "reasonable" with unreasonable people is unreasonable. Be reasonable.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 weeks ago

So far what they've done sounds like they're trying to be somewhat reasonable. They bought a bunch of acreage as a sound buffer zone and they offered to buy people's houses at a price we don't have information on. We don't really know how unreasonable they're going to be.

[–] athatet@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 weeks ago

Most reasonable: burn down the data center and build low cost housing on the ashes.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 5 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Plus .5% of all future profits.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

Always get a part of the gross, there's no net!

  • Freakazoid
[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, 0.5% was what I was offered as Director of 50% of new startups... 0.005% is more realistic - and could range from 0 to outrageous.

[–] weew@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

So... An extra $0?

[–] Monument@piefed.world 70 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Neat. I looked it up.

Less than a mile from a wildlife refuge.

[–] Zarobi@aussie.zone 43 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Good thing wildlife are known for their terrible hearing

[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 16 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

There's the thing: what's a woodpecker's property rights on his dead tree? I mean, you can offer him any amount of money and he isn't likely to just give up the nest he carved in it and move on to try to find another. Ask a colony of bats what they want to move to a new roost?

Same for people's homes, there's a price they could get for them if they tried to sell on the open market because they want to leave, but there's a very different and often much higher price that would be required to compensate them for the downsides of moving.

When a corporation wants to entice a new hire to move to a new city, they will buy the home at high-end market value, pay the real-estate commissions on both sale of the old home and purchase of the new home, pay for professional movers, and bulk up all of these benefits to cover increased income taxes where applicable. And that's for a new hire who wants to move.

[–] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

How many years until they evolve to have bad hearing?

[–] WesternInfidels@feddit.online 52 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Hyperscale Data CEO William Horne told the residents directly in a special council meeting that the site is pivoting away from cryptocurrency operations towards AI computing and advanced robotics, and that it’s spending $100 million to achieve this.

Why would anyone outside the business give a shit about this? Why would the CEO think anyone outside the business gave a shit about this?

Why aren't the datacenter owners ever willing to spend, say, $10 million on making the data center actually quiet instead?

[–] HeartyOfGlass@piefed.social 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Why aren't the datacenter owners ever willing to spend, say, $10 million on making the data center actually quiet instead?

I think you know the answer to this - $10 mil on soundproofing doesn't make the Bottom Line go up. The only people they're trying to please are the folks that profit off the company.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I think you know the answer to this - $10 mil on soundproofing doesn't make the Bottom Line go up

Neither does buying out 10 million worth of houses.

[–] HeartyOfGlass@piefed.social 5 points 3 weeks ago

I didn’t see anywhere in the article where they say they were going to buy the houses for that amount. Do you have other information?

'Cause otherwise - those homes have been severely devalued because of that data center. Unless the CEO was feeling generous (ha), those homeowners would be forced to sell for a bottom-of-the-barrel price. And that is much cheaper than litigation.

[–] EliteCloneMike@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 weeks ago

His real audience are the investors and people who stand to make a profit off of this data center. CEOs rarely if ever addressing anybody but the shareholders. It sounds dumb in that context, because it is, but when you realize who the real audience is, it makes sense. It’s shitty.

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 44 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't sell!!! Sue the fuck out of them until they leave.

[–] mPony@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I've heard there are other ways to be sure.

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

In a totally unrelated note, Have you ever noticed how pretty fire can be?

[–] notabot@piefed.social 36 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

That's very decent if them, but the thing is, there's now strong demand for those houses, as there's a corporate buyer looking to purchase them, so the price has gone up a bit. Say by an extra digit or so added to the value.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago

Yup, if say, the going rate for the houses were 400k, we'll they should now be 4 mil each

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Nah, they’ll have the government eminent domain the houses for pennies on the dollar

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Can’t eminent domain for a data center that’s already built.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Can do it for expanding a data center

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Are they expanding? Because the article is about noise.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The developer mentions wanting to expand in the article

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks, I missed that as I was skimming. Jeeze, really burying the lede there that a company already fucking up the neighborhood wants to get bigger.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Can’t have a neighborhood complaining about noise if there’s no neighborhood

[–] Aqivex@fedinsfw.app 7 points 3 weeks ago

Other poster isn't being difficult, facetious, or provocative, btw. The scumbags have already done exactly that, in other US states, already. Often. The articles are all over Lemmy.

[–] brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's mainly about the noise but the article does mention

The company said that it’s planning to expand its operations in the footprint in the area, but the city said that it hasn’t received any permit applications.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Expanding “in the footprint” would mean adding more operations to the existing property, not taking more property. Unless that’s a typo

[–] TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social 7 points 3 weeks ago

With the current government they'll be able to eminent domain when they feel like it.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

also if you have a lower interest rate than is available today (likely) then your payments are going to go up even if you buy a house at the exact same price. not to mention the cost and hassle of moving.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 3 weeks ago

and the company has offered to buy up homes from unhappy residents

“I’m gonna pay you $20 to fuck off.”

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I’m sure at a fair price.

[–] Folstar@lemmus.org 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It would be kind of hilarious in the darkest timeline kind of way if Hyperscale Data tried to haggle them down because houses near a data center are worth less.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

not hilarious, this is exactly what they do.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 3 weeks ago

You can buy my house - for a billion dollars.

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What are they offering to buy the homes with, highly volatile shares of the AI companies stock, or millions of tokens they can use the AI with?

[–] bad1080@piefed.social 8 points 3 weeks ago

"we'll buy the homes with tokens" is the most asinine shit but it probably has come up in a board meeting...

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago
[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

sure! $600,000,000 please.

it's prime land, if they invest now, they can build another datacenter on it.

[–] nullspace@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

When was the last time you dusted out your computer case?

[–] ViceroTempus@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I wonder what's the number of people affected by this in the local area, and how much greater that number is in comparison to the security force of the data center. Maybe if a town went scorched earth on one of these, we'd start seeing some material changes in how they do business...