So, as some people here probably know, I don't use any of the mainstream, mass surveillance integrated social media and messaging services. Since I'm located in the Netherlands especially whatsapp is nearly a life requirement but Facebook and such come close as well and I don't use anything related to Facebook, Google, Apple and any of the other companies related to mass surveillance programs which often puts me in awkward positions.

Every time someone wants to stay in touch and the fact that I don't use whatsapp comes up again, it usually turns into an explaining session with much disbelief from the other party but more and more often, I'm getting rather tired of that.

Recently, I had one of those moments and instead of saying 'sorry, I don't use whatsapp', i went for 'sorry, I'm old school, i only do texting and calling!'.

No discussion, just got a "ah, fair enough!"

😮

I started doing this more and more and I get the same response every time!

I find it quite astonishing how bringing something another way can get one a completely different response, especially in this context.

A lot of times during holiday parties, I meet new people.

Afterwards, often a quick group chat is created to share pictures with all the people there.

Every goddamn time we come at this point again where this is done and since WhatsApp is nearly considered a requirement to function in society (Netherlands) and I refuse to use it and other mainstream media...

The moment that I have to explain why I don't use WhatsApp arrives, yet again. I don't find it awkward anymore but it doesn't improve the atmosphere and getting called paranoid for the rest of the party also isn't the most fun thing ever!

In the end I usually get the pictures emailed.

I understand now! I keep getting ++ on rants I wrote forever ago, and I finally understand the formula to become devrant famous:

1. Pick something that is mildly annoying and at least mildly tech related. For best reception, it should be something widespread, uncustomizable (and or difficult to customize so nobody does), and just mildly annoying so it's not too over played.

2. Post a long form rant, using almost the entire character limit to make this one, insignificant annoyance into a much bigger issue than it is. This is how the mainstream media does it, this is what the people want!!!!!

3. Somehow find a way to shift the blame onto one of the following groups: Microsoft, apple, arch, arch fanboys, arch haters, users, management, the fundamental laws of physics that allow computers to function, or in a worst case scenario start a flamewar (emacs sucks; arch is the best operating system; micro$hit; it's just Linux, if they wanted to call an OS GNU, they would finish fucking Hurd; etc. It's almost too easy)

4. Sit back and wait. You're now internet famous in a tiny portion of the internet. Congratulations. You've made it.

Build an app that would tell you about all the news that mainstream media doesn't want to cover, like what's happening in parts of Africa, the enslaved workers in the far East and the situation of the Syrian and Iraqi lands under siege.

Then follows it with a cute baby/puppy/kitten video so you don't end up looking at the "empty half of the cup"

I got so many concerns/questions about the EU chat control and the future. Sorry for my long rant lol:
1) What about projects that are on life support and no active development?
2) What about chat application in video games or the chat service on the website of a local shop
3) What about false flags? Like that parent who got into legal trouble for sharing a picture of his kid with a doctor to get a medical opinion on some skin condition. (might misremember the details)
4) What about false flags like instagram banning accounts and forwarding it to the police department and over-exhausting the resources of the police (accidental 'DDOS' of their personel)
5) What if the content shared in country A is legally OK but not in country B. What if you then travel there? Or if your participant is from that country B.
6) What about content that is taboo but should be OK to discussed? Like puberty or hormonal discussions online? Some subreddits like "stopsmoking" is now also regional banned by Reddit in the UK to avoid any unneeded risks. That is bad. YouTube had some problem where adult content existed on their platform but labeled as educational.
7) What if you encrypt messages before sending it. Will you be banned just in case? What if you need support with an app and you send an encrypted application crash log that came from your computer, will you now be banned just in case?
8) What if you like privacy and have those apps for innocent purposes. Is having those apps now illegal
9) What if criminals use apps from Asia or Africa or somewhere where this law is not present/enforced. Or what if they create a simple app with this encryption. It is not difficult to make one.
10) Before 2001, airport security was very lax but then 9/11 happened and the security increased. It never went back to the state before. Since they have or will have this check, what will them stop it from expanding it after the next disaster of an unrelated accident (like terrorist attack).
11) What if those services miss a case? Will the company that allows this to be send now have legal trouble?
12) What if users are using metaphors or practice self-censorship to avoid flagged words? We see it with monetization in social media (like murder or killing is replaced with "unaliving")
13) It will be just an other problem to start a new company with limited budget. So start-ups will just have a bit harder time to break into the market.
14) this might just push users away from mainstream options
15) it's just an other attack vector for hackers to use
16) Do we want to have private companies be able to scan our messages because they are contracted by the government? They can have their own bias to satisfy their shareholders. What if they are invested by the Big Oil so critic towards the Big Oil is altered? How certain can you be this won't happen now or in the future. Reddit Admin did that before so who knows at this point.
17) Anonymity will disappear.
18) Different companies verify users and store this data so this seems like a major cyberrisk and identity theft waiting to happen
19) fragmentation of users. it is now annoying that some family or friends don't use whatsapp but use telegram and the other way around. You might need +5 chat application to keep contact and lose social relationships.
20) Is AI detected messages even legal proof in court?
21) What if you talk about video games and flag the AI system this way? Or use abbreviation from a niche community that also overlaps with flagged words (like checkpoint being abbreviated as CP) or just the language with poor support or use a 'dialect' in your chat that trips up the software.
22) What if your phone is stolen and they send those messages in your name or this is done remotely.
23) What if you are sharing old family pictures and there is 1 and only 1 odd picture that just barely trips up the system.
24) Games like 'Beyond human' also has gameplay that hurts a fictional child which fits the storyline and acts as shock value. Will this be banned
25) The newer population will see this as normal so what will they find acceptable if they can now vote

Popular opinion: AI is nothing more than complicated algorithms that no one appreciated before and probably never will. 99.9% of all coding would be AI if mainstream media had their way.

So going thru my facebook memories, ive been seeing all these old posts where I come up with ideas for various jewish websites and apps, since for some reason the entirety of mainstream jewish media and leadership seems to be completely out of touch with youth culture and, well, they just all suck. Anyway all my posts end with "someone should create this"

Now i have so many great ideas to work on and practice on 😇😇😇 I honestly LOVE coding so much, its given me such a vast new creative outlet!!!!

!dev
to;dr: fuck American mainstream media and all the lies.

I'm am so fucking fed up with American mainstream media. they constantly spew fucking blatant lies or disingenuous, misleading bullshit, and basically cover up anything that "doesn't fit the narrative".

it's like they think we're all idiots.

In South Africa, privately owned farmland is being confiscated from whites, as far as I can tell, because they're white. it's basically not being talked about in mainstream media because they're white. if it were any other race, I'm sure it would be all over the media.

"Violence again women in videogames must stop". uhhh, most videogames I've played, the violence is against about 99.9% male/0.1% females.... so....

"Donald Trump is a fascist". now I'm not saying one way or another whether I support Donald Trump or not, no opinions here just facts: Donald Trump is, at the very least, right-leaning, and fascism is a FAR LEFT IDEOLOGY. saying Donald Trump is a fascist is completely baseless and just a completely retarded claim.

literally calling for socialism.... do I even need to comment? have you ever read a history book?

countless other examples can easily be found if you look at any independent moderate to slightly right-leaning news source, podcast, etc.

I've had enough of the fucking blatant dishonesty of the mainstream media, whether it's flat out lies, or being disingenuous, or misleading, or not covering huge stories because they don't meet the narrative.

Let's hope the government starts an initiative to get rid of fake editors. All the mainstream alternative editors will be banned from discussion in social media. People have to think critical and realize that there is only one editor: vi.