mrmanner

Also autofill is just broken by some sites and app login screens, so users are used to looking at and typing their passwords every now and then.

The category of speech most in need of free speech protection is "unlawful but fine".

The dominant market position of someone who has last/mile cables to every household in an area is much stickier and more absolute than the dominant position of any social networking site.

Even if it’s hard to stop using e.g. Facebook, it’s easy to access 1000000 other sites too, and publish your own. That’s not the case with ISPs - for the most part you can have only one.

“ In exercising his or her right to data portability pursuant to paragraph 1, the data subject shall have the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from one controller to another, where technically feasible.”

They’re not necessarily in the right to block you, if you’re the data subject or acting on their behalf.

> Could you not shoot an email to those institutions asking for a copy

They’ll respond within a few days, asking me to log into some web portal to prove that I am me, and then we’re back where we started

> What are the legitimate (i.e. legal) use cases for a product such as this?

Data portability! Tools like this can be used to allow individuals to export their data from hostile web services trying to hold it hostage.

Legal in the EU, with GDPR.

Some of these changes by Apple are clearly user hostile. There's a consumer protection debate to be had about removing software features after selling a hardware + software package like this.

I think at least some of the "apologism" and "distraction" comes from more honest ideological differences though - like what should the role of the state be, what is a free market, should business be fair, how much consumer protection is the right amount...

> It's that easy, right?

I've used... six mobile operating systems in the last ten years. Some learnings:

1. There are cross-platform alternatives for file storage. Consider using them for important things. 2. For work things and organized volunteerism you'll use the tools of the company/organization anyway. 3. Backups help when migrating. You need backups anyway, so make use of them. 4. Only migrate things you actually care about. Screenshots from last year or that draft email to the electrician who installed your fridge? Let them burn

Not that I mind their goals or philosophy, but isn't catering to "advanced and experienced computer users" a clear case of elitism?

I don’t agree: Specifically if you live somewhere with only a single food store, there’s a decent likelihood that you’re either heavily invested in the area (farming, forestry, …) or that you can’t afford to live anywhere else.

More generally, moving means leaving friends, forcing kids to change schools, and if moving far, learning new laws and customs. Not to mention that packing and moving all that stuff takes days and/or costs thousands of moneys. Extracting files from Google Drive and iCloud is a pain, but is it _that_ bad?

Moving to an area with more grocery stores is orders of magnitude more demanding than selecting another operating system next time you upgrade your phone or computer, though.

If a tower falls in the forest, but no one heard its broadcast…

Which probably makes sense - either listeners or other broadcasters will complain, or a problem is not that urgent. And eventually the licensee will call the New York Times, everyone will find out, and the FCC can take action.

One thing I still haven’t understood after reading far too much about this strange story, is why the requirement is there. Like, why can’t they just apply for a regular FM license on the frequency they already use?

> Remarkable support would like me to create videos showing every workaround I tried

I had the same issue, they asked me to try 3-4 things that each took some time,, like “charge on a slow charger for 12 hours”. When I didn’t respond on my support ticket within something like 48 hours, they silently closed it and never responded again.

When I opened a new case they invariably asked me to try and video the same things again.

Which reminds me, I was lucky enough to buy the stupid thing in a physical store, and have a couple months left to give it back to them. I should do that…

That could end up not too bad actually - the for-profit company becomes hugely profitable, the foundation uses the dividends to further their goals of affordable computer education etc. etc.

> we live in a free society, where consumers are supposed to be able to decide for themselves what they value, and spend their money accordingly

…except if they value a device that enforces audited software only, because they find it safe and convenient. If they value that they’re wrong, because wanting that is unfair to some businesses who want to sell them things.

> it is better than letting a single for-profit corporation set the terms

This is sort of true, government regulation is better than a single corporation dictating terms. But it’s not that relevant, is it? There are two major corporations in the mobile OS business. Plus a bunch of open source projects and a few small businesses for the adventurous. And web standards making it reasonably possible to not depend on any one of them, if that’s a priority.

Are the big technology companies powerful? Yes. Should they be regulated? Yes. Like this? Probably not.

> letters make no mention of a deadline or the fact that their payments will cease if they do not respond within 28 days. A spokesperson said this was “to avoid causing upset”

This is the most stereotypically British thing I’ve heard this year

But the premise isn’t that using only lowercase increases legibility. The Premise is that Not Using Title Case Improves Compression and Also Increases Legibility for Author of Article.

I think this discussion mostly comes down to how we interpret the word “secure”. Do we mean “zero risk”, “nothing can go bad”, “no potential attack, ever”?

Or do we mean “low enough risk for this thing , here, now”? I prefer the latter, even if that implies that statements like “this thing is secure” are somewhat useless due to the subjectivity.

I like when people bring their values when they do business. Especially when those values are more than “make money”, and expressed in more ways than product design.

This assumes all potential customers know all products and services somehow, without the enterprises communicating their existence? Without marketing, how would we know that website analytics as a service even exists?

Sure we could guess and randomly reach out to companies to ask if they provide it. Answering those inquiries could easily be considered marketing, though.

My delivery could have been refined as well - I don’t mind criticism per se, only when it’s angry and comes off as mean. To some extent I do believe in public praise and private criticism, but less so when an author links their own work like they did here.

> Paying taxes in the US is complicated because everyone wants their taxes

Everyone wants their taxes and refuses to cooperate. Most countries have some kind of local or regional taxes, and the single tax authority is responsible for collecting and distributing them all.

I get that the federal level in the US is a bit special (EU for example doesn’t tax citizens directly, instead the member states pay fees from their tax revenue). The local tax authorities per county surprised me though - what a mess…

This type of comment is why we can’t have nice things. Don’t like a link? That’s fine, but no need to be mean about it.

> Impurities matter

Yes, we need to recycle the materials. Landfill is not a viable solution for any waste, none of that is unique to solar power.

> Long term plan is wait

Waiting a lifetime is easy. Waiting hundreds of generations after we’re dead is not. Is that an argument against nuclear power? Not in my opinion. There’s still no finalized plan describing how waiting will work in practice though.

Stored indefinitely until a curious explorer decides to investigate the unknown tomb of the gods of the third millennium, and… voila. I’m convinces we’ll solve storage by reusing the waste - but it’s not a solved problem by any stretch.

No, climate change is a far bigger problem. No one argues otherwise. There’s a pervasive idea, though, that renewable electricity production is harmless so there’s no point focusing on and avoiding waste.

Adding to that, by acknowledging the harms of wind power we can locate it where it’s less harmful. Near cities or at sea, instead of destroying the few quiet places.

> ("Externalities of wind power"? Oh.... is this bird strikes?)

Noise is problematic for wildlife, and in some areas we tend to build wind power in previously quiet areas.

“Nano PV particulates” are mostly sand, and mostly harmless. All forms of electricity production have negative externalities, we want to minimize those so internalizing them is good policy. Goes for nuclear waste (dangerous, there’s no long-term plan) and PV waste (large amounts, maybe reusable, there’s no mid-term plan), as well as fossil fuel waste (all of the above).