Telegram is the most realistic alternative to breaking Meta’s monopoly. You might like Signal very much, but nobody uses it and the user experience is horrible.
Joke’s on you, I use nothing by Meta, nor Signal, nor telegram. My comment had nothing whatsoever to do with what I like or not.
This will likely change after Durov’s arrest, but it was nice while it lasted.
Why use a tool that relies on the goodwill of the operator to secure your privacy? It’s foolish in the first place.
The operator of that tool tomorrow may not be the operator of today, and the operator of today can become compromised by blackmail, legally compelled (see OP), physically compelled, etc to break that trust.
ANYONE who understood how telegram works and also felt it was a tool for privacy doesn’t really understand privacy in the digital age.
Quoting @possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip :
Other encrypted platforms: we have no data so we can’t turn over data
Telegram: we collect it all. No you can’t know who is posting child abuse content
And frankly, if they have knowledge of who is sharing CSAM, it’s entirely ethical for them to be compelled to share it.
But what about when it’s who is questioning their sexuality or gender? Or who is organizing a protest in a country that puts down protests and dissent violently? Or… Or… Or… There are so many examples where privacy IS important AND ethical, but in zero of those does it make sense to rely on the goodwill of the operator to safeguard that privacy.
Dear cops: Oh now we worry about unchecked power and lack of oversight in the deployment of surveillance technology? Please. May as well join the surveillance dystopia with the rest of us, you helped usher it in. Tell me again about your robot dogs and your Stingray devices why don’t you.
There is no big plan to weaken encryption or anything.
This may not be a symptom of such a plan, but there very much is such a plan.
Exportation of PGP and similar “strong encryption” in the 90s was considered as exporting munitions by the DoD.
it was not until almost two decades later that the US began to move some of the most common encryption technologies off the Munitions List. Without these changes, it would have been virtually impossible to secure commercial transactions online, stifling the then-nascent internet economy.
More recently you can take your pick.
Governments DO NOT like people having encryption that isn’t backdoored. CSAM is literally the “but won’t someone think of the children” justification they use, and while the goals may be admirable in this case, the potential harm of succeeding in their quest to ban consumer-accessible strong encryption seems pretty obvious to me.
As a bonus - anyone remember Truecrypt?
https://cointelegraph.com/news/rhodium-enterprises-bitcoin-usd-loan-bankruptcy
In support of OP, just copying and pasting a comment I made a few days ago for the benefit of anyone who doesn’t think this is real or widespread.
The gig has been up about their “supply chain costs” excuse they started pulling during the pandemic for quite some time now.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan is pushing for an inquiry into the ongoing surge in grocery prices that started during the Covid-19 pandemic and that remains a hot topic in this year’s presidential election.
On Thursday, during a virtual public meeting hosted by the FTC and the Department of Justice, Khan said the probe would “shed light” on why prices and profits at grocery chains “remain so high even as costs appear to have come down.”
“We want to make sure that major businesses are not exploiting their power to inflate prices for American families at the grocery store,” she said.
Puh. They absolutely ARE and HAVE BEEN exploiting their power to inflate prices.
Between grocery prices, fast food shenanigans, and shrinkflation, anyone with little enough disposable income to be at all conscious of prices has known for a long while that these companies have picked the pandemic as their excuse to pull in as much money hand over fist as they possibly can, all while fighting tooth and nail against wage increases to even approach the overall rate of inflation across the same period of time.
From the first link in that para:
TheStreet reported that Medium French Fries went from $1.79 in 2019 to $4.19 in 2024, a 134.1 percent increase. A McChicken went from $1.29 to $3.89, a 201.6 percent hike.
The price of the beloved Big Mac increased 87.7 percent, from $3.99 to $7.49. An order of 10 McNuggets rose by 68.8 percent, from $4.49 to $7.58. Of the five popular products examined, cheeseburgers saw the largest price increase—going from $1 to $3.15, a 215 percent spike.
These increases exceed the general average for inflation calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which shows that prices went up by about 21.5 percent between the end of 2019 and March 2024.
From the second link in that para:
Few details were released about the change, but Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the new menus will let the fast food chain test “more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.”
“We expect our digital menu boards will drive immediate benefits to order accuracy, improve crew experience and sales growth from upselling and consistent merchandising execution,” Tanner said on the call.
Surge pricing could be a “turning point” in the industry, according to Jonathan Maze, editor-in-chief of trade publication Restaurant Business. “If Wendy’s idea works, it could get others to do something similar, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another chain or two test the idea themselves, given what Wendy’s is doing.”
Fuck you Wendy’s. You’ve been a favorite since I was 12, and I tried to ignore your decreasing quality in recent years. You are dead to me now. (Yes, I know they rolled the idea back after they heard what the announcement did to the pitchfork futures market.)
From the third link in that para:
Frito-Lay shrank bags of some of its Dorito’s from 9.75 ounces to 9.25 ounces. Bags in both of these sizes, as well as some 9.5-ounce bags, are currently for sale at Target for the same price. "We took just a little bit out of the bag so we can give you the same price and you can keep enjoying your chips," a Frito-Lay spokesperson told Quartz.
Fuck you Frito-Lay, what kind of Orwellian doublethink is this?
I realize that, but his objection is predicated on the “entire point” of a bun being to avoid greasy hands. I contend that is not the entire point, and that the brioche bun is not inferior with regard to the “entire point” of a bun.
It’s an entirely different level of mess you’d get on your hands eating a burger without a bun vs with a brioche bun. And anyhow, how are you getting all the fixins to stay in place without a bun? THAT is the primary purpose of the bun, IMO.
Stupidity doesn’t adequately explain the number of times they have done this. I’m surprised it’s even a headline anymore.
stockholm syndrome
Facebook is the absolute worst of the worst though. They have proven time and time again that they will always be as anti-consumer as the law allows - and then some. It only takes a peek at their wikipedia page to see how true this is.
As best as I can tell, the jawa sandcrawler was fully functional and well constructed. Meme fail. ;)
Well I’ve been imagining the wrong drink all these years, I’m sure you are right. (and that sounds yummy)
I’m pretty sure they just didn’t want to say Orange Julius. That was the big brand at the time, and it was amazing. Looks like they are still around, but I don’t know if they have been enshittified. https://www.orangejulius.com/en-us/
It was just a frothy orangey creamy cold drink - not icy like a slurpee or icee, just very cold and frothy. Somehow amazing.
Fuckin’ A how could I forget John Candy? Anyone want an Orange Whip?
LOL, sorry I forgot it wouldn’t be obvious to everyone.
I just don’t have the words to describe how awesome this movie is to folks who haven’t seen it. It’s a must-watch.
sorry I forgot it wouldn’t be obvious to everyone.
I’m with you, but granted we are in Lemmy Shitpost.
Sorry you’ve had such a rough go, just remember your experience isn’t everyone’s experience.
This was my 2020.