"You _must_ use a Cloud computer in order to make sure you're not doing anything illegal."
Amazon et al. will have to pry my tech from my cold, dead hands.
I'm just trying to isolate myself now from these toxic developments. If society falls into techno fascism after I'm gone, so be it. They wanted it. While I am around I'll shield myself as much as possible by self hosting, custom phone ROMs etc.
There's a lot of bad things going on - but (and not saying this as justification) - there always has. There's always some power hungry person that claws their way to a position where they can benefit themselves at the expense of others. But the majority of people want to have good, peaceful lives with a sense of community and connection. Build things. Make art. Laugh. Grow and learn. Wonder about what could be, and build futures towards that.
Don't forsake them because of the all of the bad stuff that gets shoved in your face every day.
It's a dis-service to yourself and the life you have, and it weakens the people and groups that have do have the energy to stand up to not-so-good actors. If you're _happy_ being isolated then definitely go do that, but don't cut yourself off because you're only fed bad news everyday.
I just don't follow the mainstream news much anymore. I still like HN and some other tech sites.
And what have you done before giving up?
> While I am around I'll shield myself as much as possible by self hosting, custom phone ROMs etc.
It is the opium for nerdy people. You are not important, and this is the only thing that shields you. Your custom ROMs will mean nothing if they decide to come for you.
I was a member of a political party (socialist). And I would go into discussions with the extreme-right fascists in my country (which currently have about 30% of votes). But there is no point. They don't care about facts or reason, it's more like a religion. They get themselves all worked up about internet memes about things that don't even happen and it's impossible to convince them of reality. I think they just enjoy being rabiately angry. In any case, I don't need that negativity in my life anymore.
> It is the opium for nerdy people. You are not important, and this is the only thing that shields you. Your custom ROMs will mean nothing if they decide to come for you.
I know the $10 hammer thing. But right now the government isn't the biggest threat here, surveillance capitalism is. Google and Meta don't come after us with hammers. The government threat is emerging (chatcontrol etc). I think for that opsec is much more important anyway.