Chronicles of a death foretold.
this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2026
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People aren't burning enough buildings down
Assuming age ID wasn't invasive and stupid to begin with, there could be other ways to set it that would be much less invasive for many devices, such as setting an "IS_ADULT" flag on devices (or even an associated account) at the time of registration.
"Hey Mr Smith, it looks like you've never registered a device on our phone network before but you've got a driver's license from 1979 so we'll just set the age code on your account aaaand, done".
Then you get a sheet of random scratch-off AV codes pulled from a drawer that you can use on other shit, similar to how VPN providers do to separate payment vs login. Nothing should ever say who you are or even your age, just "hey this person is old enough, fuck off and let them at it".
It's still annoying, but less privacy invasive. And it'll never fly because what they really want is to tie all communication back to a person not just an age.
been saying this for over a decade.
nobody cared then, nobody cares now.
the day I can no longer ensure my privacy is the day I abandon tech completely.
the day I can no longer live daily without technology is the day I abandon society.
I remember when consumers had power because they refused to buy things. Tech has power because no one will go without. Don't buy a new phone, computer, tablet, game. Make do with what you already have. Stop approving of everything Tech is doing by buying all their stuff regardless of the enshitification and spyware. Learn how to use cash again or whatever is necessary to stop empowering Tech.
I remember when consumers had power because they refused to buy things.
they still do, it's just that the markets are supersaturated and not enough people have the integrity or willpower to stop themselves from financially supporting corporate interests.
They're required to function in society
that's not true, at least not yet.
but we'll get there soon.
buy refurbished if possible
I'm burned out being online anymore. It was fun and now it's not. It's just stressful
every goddamn thing needs an update or a login or some feature was deleted or now this thing cant talk to that thing. it is unbelievably exhausting. i dream of becoming a hermit in the woods somewhere.
I just run my own internet now, completely restricted to my own hosted websites and services. With hookers and blackjack.
Actually, forget the internet
I think all this regulation will make the internet small again. The pendulum will swing away from this terrible direction we've gone in. I'm okay with it. Let them ruin it. I know that there will still be places to go.
It seems bleak but there are millions of sites and many of them aren't going to add age checks.
And there are also self-hostable alternatives although figuring out how to install and use it can be difficult. But I'm getting used to docker it's a lot easier than when I first started.
Stallman calls this “Service as a Software Substitute” (SaaSS): users operate weak “thin clients” while the real computing happens on someone else’s server. He argues this creates dependence and oppression because users cannot control, inspect, modify, or reliably access the software handling their data. He develops this argument in “What Does That Server Really Serve?” (2010).
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Y'all just cannot fathom how completely most people do not care until it directly impacts them personally.
Shit even when it does impact them directly they still do nothing but accept it, while whining about it.
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Nice of them to push everyone to Linux.
Not gonna matter when apps and services start blocking Linux, or even worse, should this shit creep up the chain to the ISP level and should ISPs start requiring an Apple, Google, or MS OS just to get online to begin with.
That’s when I buy a LoRa array and a ham license.
The thing about the Internet is that anyone can be an ISP and any devices can be networked. If consumer ISPs become gatekeepers, we can network without them. And then we can tunnel encrypted data over the official devices that can’t be fully locked down.
Enjoy your upload/download speeds in the kbps on a clear day...
I like the way you're thinking, but realistically that won't replace the internet. You might be able to run lightweight messenger apps and forums that way, but updating software? Downloading media? Not likely.
People in densely populated areas can probably daisy-chain intranets over wifi to form makeshift mesh networks, but transferring data over distances like if you're maintaining a software repo mirror would require some other solution. The best I can think of is physically running USB drives between different server locations to keep the mirrors up-to-date.
Of course you can use the radio to coordinate, like reaching out and telling people where to bring their USB to get a copy of your repo. Or getting enough people in one area to mesh their wifi extenders to create an intranet.
when I buy a LoRa array and a ham license.
And talk to who? You (and I) and the 0.001% can ham it up, but the rest of the world will be living in a different bubble.
Talk to like-minded people - like you and me here, sitting on Fediverse, discussing tech. Help set family and friends up with access. That's what I do today with my Matrix server.
The rest of the world rarely have anything good to say.
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I'd like to kick most of the world out of my bubble anyway. Most people just annoy and depress me.
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Data hoard enough shit to get you through however many decades you have left and get off grid.
That's literally the only solution that's going to be left.
Can I just have a dumbphone and an offline computer that can run eu4? Id be pretty set. If I could get podcasts somehow though, I'd miss my podcasts, but I could live without.
Not sure that is going to be a solution either. Have you seen HDD prices lately?
In the end, corporate buyers are cornering the market for self-use technology. Once the consumer market is gone, and habits change, there may be no going back since a new subscription market will be built and self-perpetuating. So I hope the AI bubble pops before that happens.
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I hope I. The future, laptops bring Linux by default
You can't demand anything from open source becasue I can just change the demands myself. Linux is free from this nonsense.
only until device attestation does not exist on the web. google has already tried to make it a thing, and the public backlash only caused them to continue development in chrome on android
What I'm worried about is whether we'll be able to connect to anything else. With open source, sure you can remove age gates, but with device attestation coming to a device near you, you won't be he able to log into your favorite game or website.
Its already like that with CloudFlare randomly blocking my Firefox on Linux install occasionally.
That's why local networks are beginning to pop up. We're working on a scaled-down version of Internet for the kids in our estate. So far, it's to control what they have access to, and to provide them with a safe social network. But I can see this growing to localised "Internet" instances for everybody.
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If we are adding age verification, can we please accept that AI age should be calculated for each version separately? So the ChatGPT version X is only 2 years old and should only be allowed to watch Teletubbies
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