Comment by kelnos | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kelnos | Hacker News Reader

This really resonates with me. I haven't gone so far as to run LineageOS (because I want to be able to use Lyft, Google Pay, etc.), but I do some of this stuff. I have a Raspberry Pi controlling all my smart home hardware, with the internet-connected bit running on a server I control. My TV is from 2007 even though I'd really like a larger, better, higher-resolution TV, because I don't want a TV that tries to connect to the internet. I run Linux as my daily driver because I don't want Windows tracking everything I do and popping up ads in the start menu, and don't like Apple's trend toward locking down their OSes to the point where it's not even my hardware anymore.

I would love to get Google out of my life, but Google Photos is easily my favorite phone app, and I still get a lot of value out of GDocs, GDrive, etc., and managing a Nextcloud instance sounds like more work than I want to do.

I do feel like I have an antagonistic relationship with technology, and as someone who works in technology, that makes me really sad.

I'm reminded that, in the mid-90s, one of Microsoft's branding slogans was "where do you want to go today?" While that seems funny in retrospect, back then MS's software really did let you do more or less whatever you wanted. These days our platforms are becoming more and more locked down, and meanwhile they're actively leaking our personal information to third parties who are the poorest stewards of it imaginable.

I want to be optimistic for the future of technology, but it's really hard to be.

Today the slogan for all big Americans tech companies is more like "we are going in this direction and you are probably dumb enough to just agree with our terms".

I think that is a little unfair. The tech companies still do some stuff that provides value to people and usually for free. Additionally, grandma isn't going to be rooting phones and installing toolchains and managing their own hardware and OS. Making tech trivial to use and "just work" at scale is hard. Doing it all for free is even harder.

The point is that they aren't doing it for free. Users are not paying with money, but are paying nonetheless, with privacy and freedoms mainly.

And the problem with that is most users have definitively and repeatedly voted with their wallets that they would rather give up privacy and freedoms than pay money. The vast majority of consumers simply don't care, and the HN audience are outliers.

People also were happy to buy unsafe food at low prices, or cars without seat belts and airbag.

Consumers make myopic choices all the time, and it's legitimate to establish regulations enforcing a more long-term outlook.

Right but freedom is never free. It is free if users think it is free. Companies use lots of chemicals that are unhealthy in/on/around all our food (even "organic") but growing all your own food is untenable, unless we revert to agrarian societies.

Doing it “free” is impossible, hence the ad-tech shitshow.

No, the real problem is creators/stewards in technology (e.g. most of the people here) are dumb and oblivious enough to sign on to the idea that "average joe, who must use a baseline of our particular mix of technologies to merely get by in this world, is fully and completely consenting to the entire range of whatever those huge companies dictate because a wall of text flashed by them when they turned the thing on."

This notion is UTTER B.S. and needs to die quickly, and it is wholly unfair to put this on the users and not the creators and big companies.

(Yes, I am lawyer, and it is absolutely immoral to abuse our notions of contract law in this fashion. Gives the whole system a very bad name.)

Amen. The law needs to change to require informed user consent.

What would it change? I can't think of anyone from my immediate family who would ever not give permission to a popup that requested it.

More than that.

When manufacturers were letting rat poop get into the ketchup, we didn't create the FDA to make sure that "rat poop" was clearly printed on the label.

brilliant way to put it

GDPR tried to do that, and the governments charged to enforce it decided to not enforce it. It is one of the primary reason why there are people saying that only a few single digit percent of websites actually comply with GDPR, and why consent popup that most sites use do not actually conform to the law.

For sure. I was still glad to see it though; I think there's a lot of pressure for laws and policies to be exact, but honestly, in the very-quickly-moving world of tech, we should actually -- ha, fail early and often, even when it comes to policy.

How do you feel about software licensing, then? GPL and BSD licenses are certainly too long and heady for the "average joe" to understand when installing software, yet they're an essential part of software freedom. Are they also being exploitative, since they're subjecting the user to conditions they're unaware of?

Of course not, this should be obvious. The conditions themselves are not exploitative. The terms matter.

(edited to sound a bit nicer)

IANL but just installing and using GPL software is not subjecting the user to any exploitative conditions. Only if the user tries to create a derivative work (linking) and redistribute that.

IAAL and yep :)

Seeing such passion rekindles my faith in the world.

FWIW, generally proprietary apps will work just fine with LineageOS and Play services. Where things get nonstandard is using LineageOS + microG. The former still has most of Google's built in surveillance, but the advantage it brings is a consistent interface between devices.

No idea specifically about Google Pay though, like if it demands a proprietary device for "security". I personally don't see the appeal of new forms of surveilled payments - the plastic cards in my wallet work just fine for that.

Also I can't say this enough - if you're apprehensive about trying out LOS or LOS+microG, get a second device. It only runs on certain devices anyway, so most likely you'll be buying used for $100-$200. You don't have to take a leap all at once - rather you can try different apps gradually.

(Although at this point I hope Pinephone is gaining on LOS. You might consider focusing your attention there, even though it's much less ready for prime time from what I understand)

> managing a Nextcloud instance sounds like more work than I want to do.

there are multiple hosted options where you don't have to manage the server - instead, you'll get admin access to your nextcloud, you can add accounts for Family members or freelancers whenever needed and it mostly "just works". When using a Nextcloud client, the only additional step that is needee compared to Dropbox etc is providing the server URL.

Wow, that "where do you want to go today" really tripped a strong nostalgia vein and reminded me of the old Microsoft Interactive CD Sampler: https://youtu.be/FrD78hULKIQ?t=234

I’m curious, what’s so great about Google photos? I’m on iCloud photos but looking to move away from it in the near future in protest of the recent infringement by Apple

used to be unlimited capacity (now you hve to use Yandex Disk for it, if you don't mind limits on videos)

also search is quite good

personally not using any cloud backup

I had heard "unlimited capacity" but they were lossy-compressing your images (not preserving RAW for example).

the compression was really amazing though, you had to magnify it like 600% to see difference

> I’m curious, what’s so great about Google photos? I’m on iCloud photos but looking to move away from it in the near future in protest of the recent infringement by Apple

Assuming you're protesting CSAM detection, you should know that Google has been doing this forever.

https://support.google.com/transparencyreport/answer/1033093...

But Google does this using the same hashes everyone else does and it runs on Google's cloud, not on your phone.

Not on device they aren’t. (I hope)

What software do you use for home automation?

I’ll put 10 bucks on Home Assistant.

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