this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Privacy

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This is Depressing (lemm.ee)
submitted 2 years ago by spookedbyroaches@lemm.ee to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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Does anyone else feel as if it's over when it comes to really owning your own things?

As of now:

  • You don't have the option of having a phone with decent specs and replaceable parts
  • You have to have really good knowledge in tech to have private services that are on par with what the big companies offer
  • You have to put up with annoying compatibility issues if you install a custom ROM on your android phone
  • You cannot escape apps preventing you from using them if you root your device
  • Cars are becoming SaaS bullcrap
  • Everything is going for a subscription model in general

And now Google is attempting to implement DRM on websites. If that goes through, Firefox is going to be relegated to privacy conscious websites (there aren't many of those). At this point, why even bother? Why do I go to great lengths at protecting my privacy if it means that I can't use most services I want?

It sucks because the obvious solution is for people to move away from these bullshit companies and show that they actually care about their privacy. Even more important is to actually PAY for services they like instead of relying on free stuff. I'm not optimistic not just because the non privacy conscious side is lazy, but because my side is greedy. I mean one of the most popular communities on lemmy is "piracy" which makes it all the more reasonable for companies not to listen to privacy conscious people.

I wouldn't say that this is the endgame but in this trajectory, privacy is gone before 2030.

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[โ€“] paral121@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

You will own nothing and you will be happy

[โ€“] xiao@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 years ago

Strangely your post makes me think of the SciFi book written by Alain Damasio - Les Furtifs. ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

Not sure that it has been translated in English...

[โ€“] theneverfox@pawb.social 4 points 2 years ago

It was outlawed out of concerns it would make us less productive

[โ€“] eruchitanda@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

3. I'm guessing that Google apps would be problematic. Except those apps, I didn't have any compatibility issues, on Custom ROMs. Especially GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, LineageOS, and /e/OS.

4. On a different user, I installed banking app that would usually prevent you from using it. No problems to use the app whatsoever.

[โ€“] Borgzilla@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Depending on your situation, most of your issues can be avoided by not owning a smartphone. It's extreme (by today's standards, at least), but it does work. I ditched my smartphone back in 2017 for a cheap flip phone. I can find spare parts on eBay easily. My car is older, so there is no SaaS crap in it. If I need to keep in touch with someone, we can use SMS, call each other or meet in real life. I use a Linux laptop for banking/browsing the web and I keep a physical GPS in my car in case of emergency.

and I agree with you. Privacy is pretty much gone already.

[โ€“] itchy_lizard@feddit.it 2 points 2 years ago

Dunno, I don't use shitty apps that aren't available in F-Droid and I'm all the better for it.

[โ€“] itchy_lizard@feddit.it 2 points 2 years ago

Yes, we need to pass laws that prevent companies from blocking access to their services on the basis of using privacy tools. Basically apps should be able to run on any customised client device and they should only legally able to say "no" if my session is clearly demonstrating malicious interactions.

We need better consumer protection laws.

[โ€“] DRS_GME@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Graphene OS does a great job of protecting your privacy. Although, since it doesn't rely on google services, unless you want to sandbox some, most of the time you don't get push notifications. Which isn't that bad.

And in terms of actually owning things, instead of relying on subscriptions services, that's what Web3/NFTs are trying to solve. Despite the fact that everyone loves to shit on them, and they're in their infancy, their utility far exceeds overpriced pictures. Right now you have to indefinitely subscribe to Netflix or Prime to access movies and shows you've already paid for, but if you bought an NFT of the movie, no one could gate keep that media from you. Musicians could cheaply disburse their songs to people and not be price gouged by Spotify, and any digital asset you bought would truly be yours, including video games and their skins/weapons/pets/etc, with the ability to resell those as you saw fit. As well, there would be an incentive for the studios that create this media to make them into NFTs, because unlike with physical copies, they would make a cut of every single sale that happens. So, they'd make money on the initial sale, and then a cut of you selling to a friend, your friend selling to someone else, ect.

What I think it, ultimately, comes down to is people getting, too, complacent and just accepting any ToS that's thrown in their face, because they can be dozens of pages long, and we just want to use the service right then and there.

[โ€“] ScrimbloBimblo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

+1 for GraphineOS, but I can't get behind NFTs. The technology is cool, but for me, the definition of "owning" something includes not only the ability to view it, but also the ability to modify it. If I own an NFT of a song, then I could listen to the song, but I still couldn't, say, make a remix of it, which for me is the entire point of owning it in the first place.

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[โ€“] doggoloko@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

Here where I live is very hard privacy, school apps and governments are very intrusive and doesnt care for linux, custom roms for my model is so rare and to unlock oem is everything manual and mostly local sites are paywalled or useless, really thinking stop using html protocol lol

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