Subj : Re: Computer Kits
To   : boraxman
From : Jeff
Date : Sun Jan 30 2022 11:16:34

On 31 Jan 2022, boraxman said the following...
 bo>  Je> Then your defense is to say that what is considered decent changes ov
 bo>  Je> time and you have changed with the times. Apologize for your past vie
 bo>  Je> and move on. If you decide instead to double down, then the consequen
 bo>  Je> are on you. Your participation in society is as smooth as you make it
 bo> It doesn't work like that.  Activists will take that and destroy you. 
 bo> By that time it is too late.  You don't get a chance to explain yourself.

It's been done before.

 bo> I really think you don't know what is going on, and how these people
 bo> operate. Are you not aware of how these people operate??

I am, and if they are "activists," they are "active" for a reason or a cause.
Should they not leave you alone if you agree with them?

 bo>  Je> This is true. A lot has changed in a short amount of time.
 bo>  Je> Then realize, first and foremost, that social media does not offer
 bo>  Je> privacy. It never claimed to offer privacy, and it should never be
 bo>  Je> expected to offer privacy. 
 bo> IT does offer it, then settings change on users without warning. 
 bo> Facebook has privacy settings.  But even then, they will collate data
 bo> without you knowing.

If you know it to be a false promise, then don't expect privacy. Surely there
are other ways to communicate. Social media is primarily designed for people
to share things that they *want* others to see.

 bo> But for other areas, like an online meeting place, I consider it polite,
 bo> netiquette if you will, to make it clear.  As I said, the Internet is
 bo> new, we are learning how to live with it.

I would agree with that. However, you can often just look at a site and tell
that it's not going to be private. What you can see of others, others can see
of you.

 bo> I think one custom we need, is that Internet communications are as
 bo> private as practical.  If you chat on IRC, is it just an ephemeral
 bo> message, is it logged and searchable?  Is a BBS just for the users who
 bo> sign up, is it web searchable? I think this should be considered decent
 bo> behaviour.

That depends. Some searchable communications are very valuable to others. An
example of this would be a forum post about someone having a particular
difficulty in setting up a particular BBS. If you search for that problem,
you're likely to come across a logged copy of that conversation. And it might
be just the thing you need to get your BBS running.

 bo> If I chatted with you in a pub, with two others, we would expect the
 bo> conversation to just be between us.  You would not expect the world to
 bo> be able to hear it.  We have to move away from the "everything is
 bo> public" mentality. The "Internet" is just a computer network.  Not
 bo> everything is public, or should be.

Ooh, no, I would not expect a pub conversation to be private, at least not in
the establishments we have here. I would expect mundane conversation to go
without notice but not unheard, and if I started saying offensive things I
would expect that others nearby would be offended and that I very well might
face consequences.

Jeff.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
 * Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (21:1/180)

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