Post AJHIXxdpW6mw6PQcSW by ephemeral@mograph.social
(DIR) More posts by ephemeral@mograph.social
(DIR) Post #AJHIXr7LlxF5rwBb04 by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2022-05-09T12:49:13Z
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Oh the joy: spent ages talking to Eir in November when they charged us ~€200 for the privilege of staying with them when we moved house.Was told it was all sorted.Just realised they’ve been charging us more than double (€108.97 instead of €49.98 a month) for the past 5 months.I guess I need to clear a day off my schedule this week to try and get that sorted. “What? Clear a whole day to deal with something like this?”“Oh, I see you’ve never been with Eir.”*smh*#eir #fibre #broadband
(DIR) Post #AJHIXsOl0ilDqDL0ls by ephemeral@mograph.social
2022-05-09T13:03:24Z
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@aral Once upon a time, Eir (then known as Telecom Eireann) were a national treasure in Ireland. They were the national provider of telephone services. Then in the 1990s they were privatised and turned into the abhorrent mess that they are today. To boot, there was a tulip-economy style push to sell shares to the public when they went private, which lots of people bought into and lost plenty of money on, under some pretty intense advertising pressure.
(DIR) Post #AJHIXx55bH00MfAsJE by GiacomoSansoni@social.coop
2022-05-09T13:24:27Z
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@ephemeral @aral I heard a similar story about Telecom Italia. Can we reduce the harm of these privatisations by joining consumers' cooperatives?
(DIR) Post #AJHIXxdpW6mw6PQcSW by ephemeral@mograph.social
2022-05-09T13:33:24Z
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@GiacomoSansoni @aral the sad thing being that they pushed the privatisation as if it was a public good. People bought into it because they thought that they *would* own something collectively (as shareholders) but somehow missed the point that they already owned it as taxpayers.It was a strange time though. I think a lot of people have forgotten just how weird and twisted that ideology became in the mid- to late-90s.
(DIR) Post #AJHIXy3LzDClNZN0F6 by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2022-05-09T13:37:20Z
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@ephemeral @GiacomoSansoni It’s like when I mention that we must fund technology for the common good differently and folks bring up “crowdfunding.”Yes, there’s a name for crowdfunding things for the common good from the common purse: it’s called taxes :)
(DIR) Post #AJHIXzYEPtUy1cpB0i by drq@mastodon.ml
2022-05-09T14:10:30Z
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@aral If only it were so easy. The problem with taxes is that they are managed by the state. And the state is FAR from innocent. For all intents and purposes it's just another corporation, with "common good" being used as a marketing strategy. Want a say in managing the expenses? Unless you already agree with the state, they won't let you run for office. Want to know where the most of the goddamn money went? Screw you, it's classified.Think you can hold the state accountable? The army and the police would disagree, they have their cut in all this and they sure as hell don't wanna lose it.Speaking from 30 years of living in a failed democracy. We see taxes being collected, we see cash surface into the top statesmen private houses (sometimes literally), can't do anything about it, because cops and alphabet agencies bust and kill protesters like it's their job.So... yeah. Crowdfunding is far more direct. I can at least see WHO I'm throwing money at.@ephemeral @GiacomoSansoni
(DIR) Post #AJHP4gxd9hRreKgFbU by ephemeral@mograph.social
2022-05-09T15:23:42Z
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@drq yes agreed with this point about state accountability. Public representatives are just as open to corruption as companies; Ireland in the 90s is also a good example of this. But in the Telecom Eireann saga above, the sad point was more that people bought shares in something that they had already paid for, and were left with an inferior service.But I don't regard crowdfunding as particularly transparent either.@aral @GiacomoSansoni
(DIR) Post #AJHQDBV3aylQdTvePg by drq@mastodon.ml
2022-05-09T15:36:28Z
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@ephemeral Yeah. No objections there. Conceptually, everything the state does, we own legally and physically. However, in the real world, sadly, it's only yours if you're able to keep it. Same with money. Same with data. Same with everything.Not saying crowdfunding is perfect either - it's very hit-and-miss. And definitely not saying that an already tax-funded company going joint-stock and then underdelivering ain't fraudulent. It's more of a "there's no silver bullet" type thing. Malicious forms of self-interest are still a thing, and the Murphy's law is still in effect.@aral @GiacomoSansoni
(DIR) Post #AJL0mKyeWwUfzMiHjs by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2022-05-11T09:08:04Z
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@drq @ephemeral @GiacomoSansoni Right, I wasn’t precise: whenever I talk about this I state that we should be funding independent organisations using money from the commons. That independence is key. And, you’re right, it’s very rarely (if ever) a thing in practice. Eg., see BBC. Independent? I don’t fukcing think so, no. But it’s still an ideal to aim for and try to bring about in my view.