Most of us have spent the last 4-10 years wasting our time to do that on gerry-rigged platforms because we thought they were run by ethical people, buth they pretty much were the same exact dead/empty interaction holes, so what do I know... :/
3,588 karma · joined May 23, 2010
Most of us have spent the last 4-10 years wasting our time to do that on gerry-rigged platforms because we thought they were run by ethical people, buth they pretty much were the same exact dead/empty interaction holes, so what do I know... :/
I'd assume that at major social media and software companies, this data from individual devices is accessible in almost real time, feeding a dashboard of information that only top executives can secretly monitor world-wide conversations and user activity for people that have their specific devices.
I'd also assume that this method of bootleg monitoring has been in play legally and illegally for some time now... It's far too tempting to company execs and CEOs to not get hooked on the god complex of having access to this level of data... If you think about it, imagine being able to access any photos and conversations from anyone on the planet any time you want...
Congress does nothing about it because many of them are afraid it will destroy the economy and upset the wealthy backers to these companies that fund all of them. One day long into the future, there may be a low-key class action settlement that won't change a damn thing, and lawyers will sweep up most of the paltry settlement money.
We pay thousands of dollars now for devices that spy on us, while they barely provide any means of opportunity and extra utility to us. Use black tape and cover your front camera, and leave devices at home sometimes... We're really defenseless against corporate greed and corruption though, watch what you say around tech devices now more than ever.
That's just an example guess, but the bloat is there for a purpose... I'm pretty sure the app gets updated on intervals too, just like so many others under the guise of "security or functional updates".
We're in an era where data is weaponized for profit maximization... The most simple and seemingly benign data sets when combined strategically can work against consumers deeply.
We need app audit boards now, maybe even on a government level, and specific detail of everything apps do to be displayed in app stores. There should be serious consequences if apps are found to do things that are not detailed in their release/update descriptions. This collected data can persist forever, and be used in some of the most destructive ways.
Device/OS makers also need to do better at preventing/partitioning non-essential apps from collecting data they don't need access to...
Likely reasons why this isn't already in place is because most don't know how it happens, and many others are invested in these companies, so they turn a blind eye on regulation of them.
Truth is, once a platform becomes that large, everyone and their peers jockeys to control their image upon it, whether it is an official request to de-prioritize posts, or even a comment brigade or mass reporting, this is the result of a platform becoming far too influential and massive to be effective for commoners, and far too vulnerable to money and influence to be an open and free community.
We all have the perfect inverse of deregulation and absence of moderation with Twitter, and we all know how bad that's going, while the management still tries to transition the mess back into a "pay for play" platform.
There is simply no way to manage platforms that large once they become popular pulpits... We need to return to an ecosystem of smaller community forums and apps based around individual topics that can maybe be aggregated in part or whole to news sites perhaps. And no, Mastodon and Reddit are not what I'm talking about either.... It would have to be something entirely different, more effective, more innovative, without ads & ad buying, with a better system of managing credibility and merit than paying for verification, and far less corrupt-able to work well.
I don't know why the company obfuscates and complicates operation of it's OS, but so many others including Android & IoS create ridiculously tiered configuration menus to the point where users get so frustrated with every update that I'm sure most just leave default (nefarious) settings as is.
Part of me thinks config complexity will be baked in to keep certification course money rolling in for the company, but with each mandatory "security" update, we're still getting hacked, because configuring our settings now is just too damn tedious.
Microsoft really hinders other innovation on top of not really innovating itself (as a company) by overcomplicating settings and by adding bloatware & monitorware to it's OS... This is also why there's a desperate fight to cling to older OS versions with every new release. The imposed update learning curve is counter-productive, it doesn't make anything better, and it's mostly the end result of us tolerating monopoly behaviors of the company for ages now.
There should be regulation against forcing updates on us, there should also be regulation against arbitrarily removing features post-release in software that we purchased... As we move further and further away from hardware tools, this practice of tiered control and arbitrary feature removal will become a nightmare of predatory corporate greed upon all of us. Imagine buying a lawn mower, and then 2 years later, you find you need to watch ads on it before you can start it, or that you'll have to pay a monthly fee to cut your grass shorter than usual? Pure Hell.
Almost every app now degrades quickly after startup capital fades, maybe we should just all quit social apps the minute they show signs of degrading, because right now most of the content, ads, and people on these social apps are now just as uninteractive, repetitive, mundane, and unrewarding as watching TV.
Tell me why you're personally against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (With key skills and experience as the primary measure)?
In my book, all of those things work better for everyone in finding success.
A company that is homogenous in race and culture turns out products that don't support, they turn out ads that get called out for racial and cultural insensitivity, and actually exclude people that aren't reflected by the population making it's products. Running a company that excludes non-majority race and cultured employees is a deeply political statement that caters to old-world ideals that are dying fast, just like the politicians pushing them.
There is deep rooted bias around the entire world, to act like it doesn't exist is simply coddling the classic narratives of racial superiority propped up for ages by people who are creating a cultural advantage for themselves. We battle the ideal of immigration for some cultures, while other cultures can travel anywhere they want freely, and it highlights a willful ignorance and mentality that is deep rooted, but also contradictory to progress and innovation. It may feel comfortable to only be surrounded by people with the same cultural norms and upbringing as yourself, but if you only live in that bubble, you're part of the problem. Life is far better when we open up to new experiences and people, and that's exactly what diversity represents...
There is a far more fair way to interview candidates, where bias can be eliminated, but most companies foist untrained, unskilled, and politically biased leaders into leadership positions all the time without any sort of accountability. So many companies completely miss the mark on why diversity is necessary, even governments miss the plot completely. There are still so many racially homogenous countries out there build on ideals of racial and cultural superiority that it infects the world deeply in some of the most disguised ways possible.
On the inverse, as Bill Burr cited numerous times [Language Warning] (e.g. -- https://youtu.be/O1xgXJ5_Q34?si=n5XZ2MqPhHHgvSdu&t=195), Diversity and inclusion programs often are frequently led and geared towards the advancement of already privileged Caucasian women, which although rightfully under-represented, rank far above racial minority women and often above racial minority men in terms of pay and responsibility.
They can fight all the political wars they want over this issue, but in my long history of work, I have never seen a culturally homogenous business succeed in the long term, without differences in experience and culture, ideas are stale and tone deaf. It works in all ways too of course, but these days, the biggest indication of flawed leadership is a company or agency leadership photo where the majority percentage of the people in it are all the same skin tone.
Also, an option to do full-screen would greatly enhance the experience.
I think the biggest issue that exists with current YouTube is that so much is crammed into the UI and viewing experience (Ads, the videos on the sidebar, clunky controls to skip videos, etc...) that ruins the continuity of video content, especially when mixed with so many videos in different formats... It's also the same problem that TikTok is fighting with, it makes for a pretty disruptive viewing experience in comparison to cable TV or just choosing to watch TV shows or movies instead.
I suspect they never did this because they never wanted to make YouTube compete directly with cable TV. YouTube content is displayed in a drab click-click UI because they want users to not scroll deeper for the content that isn't sponsored (paid) all the way to the front pages.
The UI of YouTube hasn't changed in essence for ages, it's still page based with only a few (shrinking) trending lists.
I think the reason they do that is because it allows them to control what is prominently displayed across YouTube -- The same concept is used across most social apps, where there are few features for discovering new content. The pages display embarrassing low view metrics on non-sponsored accounts, even when they may have really great content, it's really a backwards way of controlling what trends, and subsequently what makes money for the platform and sponsored creators.
If real choice was allowed on most of these platforms, we'd see literally endless (new) options for interesting new content on a wider variety of topics from creators none of us know, but right now, with shrinking choice, we only see manufactured and heavily co-opted content creators like Mr. Beast, Kai Cenat, Joe Budden, Pewdie Pie, (etc)-- they are usually sanitized, coached, & trained personalities picked based on who sponsors them and based on what makes the most ad profit for the platform. Most of that content seems to be very rigged and fake to me, as they clearly have staff working out of view. I find most of that manufactured (Picked YouTube Influencer) content to be drab and over-scripted... I can't stand watching it on & off YouTube personally.
Interesting channel scroller... The way it plays content also seems to look far more lively than watching YouTube on the regular site for some reason. I'd love to easily see the option to customize what is displayed based on the YouTube channels I already follow, and links back to subscribe to channel content I like while watching. A feed for specifically music-related content (by genre maybe) would be highly useful.
People who follow trends, and try to sound like others is definitely an indication that their career is short lived, but in this day and age, with the way social media promotion works, too many artists compete to constantly be on trending lists, and that easily burns out audiences on them and their names... It's relatively easy to "look popular" if you dump tons of money into music promotion, and labels love it when an artists dominates online, but that also makes them flood out everyone else, and even more important trending topics than music at times.
There can be a huge backlash for bought popularity, and for promoting yourself as more important than other vital topics people care about in their daily lives, as on social media, there is only one timeline and trending list for everything.
Absence can potentially make the heart grow fonder for listeners towards a music artist when well timed, especially if every time the artist re-emerges they put out consistently great music projects... Modern musicians need to learn how to share the microphone, and social media needs to create a more even playing field for multiple artists to coexist in over time, rather than pushing just 3-7 celebrity artists all of the time... That's the key to longer careers in music in my opinion.
This whole incident would have not happened if just a basic deployment test was conducted. It's so widespread, it would have been impossible to miss detecting the issue.
As phones are used in almost every aspect of our lives now, the very devices we use (even our cars) are listening to our most private conversations and leaking them to companies with the sole interest of engineering our money out of our pockets faster. It also empowers CEOs and mega-company insiders to run espionage on and leverage anyone they want in the world, as everyone, even government officials and agents use cell phones.
It's completely contradictory to every aspect of law and democracy, as well as creating a loophole that invalidates privacy and individual rights against self incrimination, and it's only going to get covertly worse moving forward unless it's totally banned with sever criminal consequences as a practice. This data can also be tapped into by any interest through data hacking, or if one can pay for the info, as it's logged across everything from the car you drive to every app you use (especially when TFA is involved).
Almost seems as if it's collaboratively colluded to allow the browser experience to be disjointed, especially in social media apps.
It's really out of hand how such a useful site has been scuttled and manipulative for so many people that relied upon it, even well prior to Elon taking over.
Paid verification means nothing, but the blue checks have been in lace for so long that they have indicated trust... It's a deeply opportunistic move to corrupt the site by changing rules to serve anyone that pays.
Quitting Twitter is not simply a light matter for many who have grown to depend on it, and now those very same users are being ratioed to the point where their only option is to pay, with no guarantee that that will help them at all.
Based on even the complaints of now paying (verified) users, the site is just scuttled, and the money isn't worth it... It's not about the money for people like me, It's about a deep lack of trust for anything that would pull the moves that Elon has on the app/site. The thrill is gone.
Social Media has added a layer of deep disinformation & divisive ideological bubbles that are all largely going unchecked as well, where anyone can be anyone, and where it can be quite profitable for personalities to become incendiary... We're really not holding anyone, nor the bodies managing social media and news media accountable for their actions at all, which opens the doors to sensationalism, and even to embellishment on issues which are normally meant to be commonplace and handled professionally.
I think everyone has had fair warning that the rhetoric would lead to more drama, and the country has ignored it in a quest to line pockets. Politics are meant to be boring, and in order to serve Democracy, it simply can't ignore and even encroach on basic rights of others it represents. We have gone too far in political extremes, and this is the end result, slowly getting worse over time.
It's clear that we need to stop making personal servants celebrities, and to stop watching and pushing politics as if it's a TV drama or Football game, otherwise it's only going to get worse... That being said, there is a lot more organization and agendas involved in politics now than in the past.
Technology now is widely being used against everyone to achieve and monitor goals and progress in capturing profit... Sometimes as tech insiders, we have to be careful about what we implement and even say "no" as a response to being asked to do things that undermine people and the ethical balance of the world.
Profiting off of tech is not good if it makes the world we all live in deeply unstable. There's no castle, even in Maui, that anyone can build to survive political and economic collapse of the country nor the world. There is a better way to do all of this.
1. Getting rid of the BBQ pulled chicken sandwich - Long ago they had it and it was inexpensive to make and quite good. Many people to this day complain about no longer being able to find it anywhere.
2. Phasing out their grilled chicken - It was quite good, and people who wanted a healthier option than fried chicken, like me, simply don't go anymore because it's disappearing.
3. Merging with Taco Bell - The menu is far too big now, and Taco Bell items are lower in quality and cheaper. I think it's the final move to phase KFC out.
When are people going to realize that telling customers what they want, reducing value and quality, and ignoring their complaints is not a good business model?
A work hammer (the tool) doesn't profit, but the company that makes and sells it en mass (Like Stanley inc. or Craftsman) does.
There is also the looming risk that current creators may well turn towards corrupting their work specifically to hinder the corrupt idea theft currently occurring with Ai profiteers.
I think we need to establish prominent technical leadership/chief advisor positions within the White House and each chamber of Congress now to be able to establish ethical baselines and oversight before tech managed by private companies turns even more predatory upon public data (Similar to The Surgeon General's Role in authority perhaps)... There should already be solid ground rules for operation and oversight of Ai development efforts in place to control the egos of the people that will have access to all of this user data, those types almost always exhibit God complexes without any real accountability nor responsibility, because most of the people that legislate have no clue of what they can see on the backend.
For example alone, if we though insider training was bad, just imagine how toxic it's going to get when Ai development employees, or a product owner has access to every aspect of social, economic, and business moves of every single company and individual that uses tools integrated across Chat GPT and similar services, including Email and MS Office (without anyone really knowing their data is easily accessible)... It's not a bright future for fairness and equity at all, and there will be far more oligarchs and monopolies than there are now.
Even Dominos is using 3rd party delivery services now, instead of hiring drivers, it has made their prices skyrocket on top of already ridiculous inflation. It even prices people out of being able to afford pretty much D-class pizza. Even if the model melts down, the original (more valuable) business model may be so decimated that it won't be able to be brought back.
Our world is suffering from trust funders with bad and amateur business ideas, all trying to become market-cornering monopolies, it's long overdue to encourage them to find better and less destructive idea builders and better ideas by others to fund instead of launching poorly though out and highly exploitative profit schemes.
Monthly listeners on Spotify is generally a heavily manipulated number, even for pop artists, that has no bearing on artist skill nor collaboration worthiness.
You can also perhaps base artist finds by comparing who they follow compared to who the searching artist follows, which might be a better indication of compatibility than "Sounds like Drake".
Then I'd recommend a better method of getting in contact with that artist (email address) if they are supposed to be a collaborator, and possibly displaying information about their web site or IG bio text and th4e last post by each searched artist.
There is also no security in using any other tool, especially with this predatory precedent, and especially if you're designing in a web browser.
My best option is to use a copy of CS6 on a computer I keep offline, really all the content aware and other features issued since CS6 aren't that necessary for me, and by going old school, it sets my artistry apart from everyone else.
It's long overdue for people to resist and reject the price/service manipulation fetish model that is exhibited by many major software companies. These companies shouldn't be saddling consumers with higher and higher prices and monthly subscriptions, and cancellation fees... Prices should be going down over time, not up as products mature.
There is no longer an "older software" sale bin at the computer software store for people that don't have volumes of wealth to spend, and that's pretty crazy to think about... And then on the flip side arbitrarily and illegally sunsetting older software whenever they wish. These companies are not even respecting the EULAs they've issued prior, and scraping older promises off the Internet over time.
Fraudulent exploitative software buy/update/service schemes, even in long-trusted companies, are becoming rampant, it's likely profit desperation, but also highly predatory in all the wrong ways.
Everything about most modern social media is phony, they even ratio criticism and brigade against truth about their schemes and negative news both on and off their own platforms.
Even Elon spent 44 Billion to dominate the attention game and it didn't work out well for him. There simply can't be a monopoly on attention, but tech is always trying to make it happen in the most underhanded ways, and then turning to profiting from deception when they can't keep it together.
There is no real logical explanation to it's utility any more, as it serves as a casino for scams and ads, it's really no longer a forum for delivering important information and developing reputation in my opinion, because the popularity garnered on these platforms can easily be bought, forged, plagiarized, and sold on the black market, and often if you're highly controversial.
Even the people getting attention these days know their popularity only lasts for seconds at a time, there is nothing durable, and most social media clout is also not very memorable in the long term. Eventually {hopefully} real life interactions will become more important again after the sheen of tech manipulation on art and news wears off.