Post Awmb1hJ4O4ETFdRhce by Qbitzerre@unbound.social
(DIR) More posts by Qbitzerre@unbound.social
(DIR) Post #AweGHGy6QY2JtcXpzs by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2025-07-30T04:55:27Z
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I find myself increasingly unwilling to cooperate with anything on the Internet requiring unnecessary logins, and lately, onerous (subjective) cookies requirements. It seems like, from reading here on the fedi, that lots of people go along with this shit. I've been active on the Internet since 1993, but def remember life before it. I hate to lose it, but honestly, the shit required to use many websites is way beyond anything reasonable. So I find myself withdrawing from it. If "age verification" becomes common here (US) I'm unlikely to cooperate. I do many of the few things we can "do" online, and I give money to EFF and many orgs monthly and for years, but things are not good. I've done work on separating electronic and physical (and phone) contacts and even printed out some on paper. I'm trying to assume nothing. The Internet is not the world.
(DIR) Post #AweHtRVplytLYY5Sjo by Su_G@aus.social
2025-07-30T05:13:30Z
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@tomjennings I think you speak for many who are becoming increasingly unwilling to provide any private data to strangers websites on the internet &/or strangers on the phone. Than you for putting it so clearly & sharing your thoughts & conclusions.
(DIR) Post #AweIbewBDjcVw0Uhqi by babble_endanger@freeradical.zone
2025-07-30T05:21:31Z
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@tomjennings I think like ideally a really good software product wouldn't need accountsIf we go back to p2p or friend-to-friend stuff it's just like, give me your pubkey and I'll give you mine. The passwords and email verification and all that horseshit is just so some asshole middleman can get in the way
(DIR) Post #AweKEXJ7cdzNWDKKsi by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2025-07-30T05:39:47Z
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@Su_G Thanks. I was fearing if just sound crazy.
(DIR) Post #AweKK73U8l4HpufjXs by babble_endanger@freeradical.zone
2025-07-30T05:29:57Z
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@tomjennings Except for of course federated stuff, love you Tek <3
(DIR) Post #AweKK8WweiEAPZSm6S by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2025-07-30T05:40:47Z
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@babble_endanger Oh absolutely!
(DIR) Post #AweLAje7uAbKaAu3XM by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2025-07-30T05:50:16Z
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@babble_endanger Totally. "Accounts" for placeholder info would be fine, often, but we're so far from that it's not funny.
(DIR) Post #AwezFfC7sbWaOGi8cC by sintrenton@todon.nl
2025-07-30T13:19:19Z
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@tomjenningsI got my first email address in 1992, I remember the world opening with Usenet groups and been using all kinds of services. Like someone said, once search engines served you what you asked for. Through the years, the enshittification of Internet and the web, along with how "smart" phones developed, I have found myself in a similar position. Now with the UK state spyware, ChatGPT in the EU, I am also reaching a similar point as you. I still use Signal (and to some extent XMPP with OMEMO), I have my OpenPGP keys and I am active here in the Fediverse.If someone wants to tell me their private stuff, they are welcome to it. But more than once, I have replied "Sorry, unless you can communicate in a secured way, this information is too personal/too private". I reject all cookies requests by default. (GDPR so far gives me that choice even if lots of sites do their best to circumvent the alternatives). And more and more, I activate flight mode, using stored EPUBs, MP3s and LibreOffice, etc as a compromise, being digital, but not online. Nowadays, when I click a link and see what the site I landed on requires of me, (Accept all cookies! Register an account! Download our app!), I just close the tab and ignore it. Thank you for your post.
(DIR) Post #Awf0OH1XDQNpzDQUvQ by pki@mastodon.bsd.cafe
2025-07-30T13:32:05Z
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@tomjennings Hear, hear. 100 % agree.The only place left seems to be the dark web, in regards to being free from tracking and ads from the behemoths at least. It reminds me of Web 1.0, and ironically I feel safer on the dark web compared to the clear web. We live in strange times, indeed.
(DIR) Post #Awf2Ih25nlJkp49c7U by firefly@m.ai6yr.org
2025-07-30T13:53:31Z
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@tomjennings I’m on a similar track. Glad to read your thoughts on the subject.
(DIR) Post #Awf4lTjAY5s5rb9lJ2 by eLearningTechie@mas.to
2025-07-30T14:21:08Z
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@tomjennings Similar mood here. Over the past year I've switched to running 99% of things on Linux and recently deGoogled my phone, gradually reducing any Big Tech dependencies in my life (can't fully avoid it for work, unfortunately).I long for someone smarter than me to develop a whole new networking protocol that enables the creation of a 'better internet', one that prioritises privacy and isn't driven by profiteering. One can dream, I suppose...
(DIR) Post #Awf9eGAX3pklYWKgAC by Su_G@aus.social
2025-07-30T15:15:51Z
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@tomjennings No, you don't sound crazy at all, you sound considered & sensible. Can see, from others' comments here, that you've hit a nerve & expressed something many feel. Thanks for doing so! 😊
(DIR) Post #AwfC4kky9ucdrL8WHo by tbortels@infosec.exchange
2025-07-30T15:43:04Z
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@tomjennings "Lots of people go along with it" may be selection bias. People who are defeating age verification or other identity/geography mechanisms are unlikely to be bragging about it on social media - so their voice is missing.I can tell you if a website wants PII from me - it's pretty much on my personal ban list. Identity theft is real and common, I'm not handing that sort of data out without strong assurances that it won't be misused. Age verification online in a safe manner is something without a good solution yet - and laws that assume it's existence are doomed to be worked around and ineffective.
(DIR) Post #AwfNLfJcjzSVP2c3I8 by olivetree@ieji.de
2025-07-30T17:49:14Z
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@tomjenningsThere's an upbeat song in my language that has the phrase "Crazy people are right" in the lyrics. In that sense, and because you deviate from the norm, you are crazy.But you are definitely not alone!@Su_G
(DIR) Post #AwfmEXlQus0soFJyIS by elebertus@mastodon.social
2025-07-30T22:28:12Z
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@tomjennings at this point I only use web browsers in private mode and have a new session each time I open the browser. Use proxies, vpn, content blocking.Still it’s unavoidable and not enough.What is missing here is a bidirectional trust between the user and the entity requesting yet more personal identifiable information.At this point I don’t believe this trust can ever be established. The internet economy is based on user info and data.
(DIR) Post #AwgFu5eqhaRuTNP9Q8 by _L1vY_@mstdn.social
2025-07-31T04:00:38Z
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@tomjennings Agreed and having a lot of similar thoughts
(DIR) Post #AwgLfUxSxApaJzXPNY by MikeImBack@disabled.social
2025-07-31T05:05:13Z
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@tomjennings I'm just relying on those who know more than I do, and who create ad blockers and privacy browsers. Those people are heros. But I still try to slowly disengage from the internet more and more over time. I miss reading books
(DIR) Post #AwhH9xXovfrp3UCwym by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2025-07-31T15:49:27Z
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@MikeImBack Books are still there! And more then ever I think. It is sad to have to treat the Internet as a source of "infection".... And yeah ublock origin peeps are quite heroic.
(DIR) Post #Awl9KEPD4ZTvFBPIvY by Qbitzerre@unbound.social
2025-08-02T12:40:30Z
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@tomjennings I resist the intrusive bullshit too. Because the Internet is the world.All my knowledge about the world is mediated by the channels that deliver information to me. It is a constant battle to curate, filter and cross-check the info I am fed. The veracity of my conclusions is always suspect. But without these sources, I might as well be in the dark.
(DIR) Post #AwmXTEQCyT3txSetW4 by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2025-08-03T04:45:48Z
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@Qbitzerre that's not my experience at all, sorry. I have no problelm cutting off shit that doesn't work for me. i have notificatiosn on my phone essentially off. I feel no anxiety not answering emails. I'm extremely skeptical especially about internet crap. It's not the world, to me, or really, objectively,. There are increasing number fo commercial services that are forcing mediation in series to no good end for us; that's a selarate conversation.Therre is an age component; if you grew up in the internet age you might take it for granted but i assure you, it's not all that hard or inconvenient to push phones to a quite secondary role.I gotta start blogging about this and other things. In some ways the fediverse is the worst place I've ever been regarding technology; so many peoople here embrace tech as part of their inner selves, which I find kinda self-inflicted wounds. Its just some man made shit, It serves you or it doesn't.
(DIR) Post #AwmXqx0tLjqyuv7wmW by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2025-08-03T04:50:05Z
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@Qbitzerre that's not my experience at all, sorry. I have no problelm cutting off shit that doesn't work for me. i have notificatiosn on my phone essentially off. I feel no anxiety not answering emails. I'm extremely skeptical especially about internet crap. It's not the world, to me, or really, objectively,. There are increasing number fo commercial services that are forcing mediation in series to no good end for us; that's a selarate conversation.Therre is an age component; if you grew up in the internet age you might take it for granted but i assure you, it's not all that hard or inconvenient to push phones to a quite secondary role.I gotta start blogging about this and other things. In some ways the fediverse is the worst place I've ever been regarding technology; so many peoople here embrace tech as part of their inner selves, which I find kinda self-inflicted wounds. Its just some man made shit, It serves you or it doesn't.The world remains a primarily physical place. We were bodies first, This ephemeral info crap is a made up corporate paradigm. It doesn't really exiar, it has no independence from corporate infrastructures. It;s al artifice. You really do get to pick and choose.I know I'm not making myself popular with my ideas. And so it goes.
(DIR) Post #Awmb1hJ4O4ETFdRhce by Qbitzerre@unbound.social
2025-08-03T05:25:36Z
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@tomjennings I was born nearly 70 years ago so please disabuse yourself of any preconceptions about my perspective being warped by the latest toys in my naivete.I've also served in elected public office at the local level. I think it's experience that helps qualify me as grounded in the reality of community.The technology is merely a tool and it is our burden to manage our interactions prudently. Retreat and isolation is no more prudent than shunning the product of the printing press.
(DIR) Post #Awmg12jnikRPCSSMV6 by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2025-08-03T06:21:33Z
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@Qbitzerre We're the same age! Just turned 70. I don't shun, just moderate. If it doesn't serve, it's deprecated.