This, and:
"But you will carry on bankrupting people when they get sick because the corporations that profit from that want to keep profiting." AND the lawmakers that are bought and paid for by those corporations have a massive incentive to ensure that profit continues.
"If you don't pay Arlo more money for actual customer service, you're relegated to cobbling together support solutions..."
As a current Arlo customer (cameras and subscription), I can confidently say that paying or not, the term "actual customer service" is very generous. That said, at least as far as I know, they don't share my video recordings with the local constabulary.
The point that I was trying to make (tongue in cheek), but didn't articulate very well, is that whether people are innate assholes and social media just gives us a medium/window in which to view that behavior, or whether it is social media itself turning normally civil people into assholes, the outcome from my point of view is the same. I understand that division and polarization have been around a lot longer than Facebook et al, but there is no doubt in my mind that social media is not doing anything to improve that division, and is indeed doing a great deal (intentionally, it appears) to amplify the angriest voices. From my perspective social media is assholes all the way down. The research is interesting, but I must have missed the part about it getting us closer to a more civil social media landscape, let alone a more civil world.
So just to make sure that I understand, social media is not the problem because it turns people into assholes, it is just the problem that social media exposes assholes to each other, and allows them to respond to assholes they don't like or agree with? Oh! Well I feel better now.
U.S. kleptocrats support broadband industry ripoffs of consumers, surprising nobody. Regulators agree this is business as usual, and that there is nothing to see here.
<sarcasm> Well, I don't see how else Facebook could respond to a person who has so little regard for their business model. Imagine, creating a tool that puts the well-being of Facebook users above the interests of Facebook shareholders. Mr. Barclay clearly left Facebook with no choice but to banish and threaten him with legal action. </sarcasm>
<pessimistic rant>
I have completely lost all hope that any form of meaningful industry regulation is possible in the United States. Regulatory capture is the rule rather than the exception, and all of our politicians (Democrats and Republicans alike) are to a greater or lesser degree bought and paid for, or they wouldn't be spending the lion's share of their time fundraising rather than legislating. Even if there was the political will to punish criminal corporate behavior, any penalties or punishments are that are levied against these giants are always monetary judgments, and always just pennies on the dollar anyway, and it is far less expensive/painful for them to do whatever they want and pay a meaningless fine, than it would be for them to act ethically.
The fix is in. The game is rigged. The house (and the senate) always wins. </pessimistic rant>
Your last paragraph puts me in mind of an extremely succinct description of conservatism, by Frank Wilhoit that has been floating around the internet for a couple of years:
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
I completely understand the general sentiment that the people who buy into these scams are getting what they deserve. Unfortunately, as is the case in most of these kinds of situations, someone has to clean up the mess afterward. When mom, or grandpa get scammed, the kids are going to have to figure out how to cover the loss, and deal with the anger/heartache/anxiety. I am not smart enough to know how to fix any of this, but I do feel that we only have so much capacity to bail out the willfully stupid. It is tempting/easy for me to feel that anti-vaxxers who get Covid, and freedom phone buyers who get scammed etc., are getting their just desserts, but I also can't help but feel that when the check is finally brought to the table that we going to be the only ones left to pay. Grim.
I feel for everyone who lost their stuff, and perhaps I'm just naive, but with the seemingly ever shrinking cost of storage I have never been able to find a downside to backing up all of my stuff to an external drive that is intentionally only local, and never sees the internet. I assume that there are many, many cases in which this might not be practical, but speaking personally, not having my backup drive ever connected to a network is comforting.
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Re: Reforms?
This, and:
"But you will carry on bankrupting people when they get sick because the corporations that profit from that want to keep profiting." AND the lawmakers that are bought and paid for by those corporations have a massive incentive to ensure that profit continues.
Re:
This. Exactly.
Re: IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME!!!!!
Your subject heading expresses my sentiments exactly.
(untitled comment)
"If you don't pay Arlo more money for actual customer service, you're relegated to cobbling together support solutions..."
As a current Arlo customer (cameras and subscription), I can confidently say that paying or not, the term "actual customer service" is very generous. That said, at least as far as I know, they don't share my video recordings with the local constabulary.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Yes, sort-of?
Thanks PaulT and Scary Devil Monastery for the feedback. You have given me some things to think a bit harder about. I appreciate it.
Re: Re: Yes, sort-of?
The point that I was trying to make (tongue in cheek), but didn't articulate very well, is that whether people are innate assholes and social media just gives us a medium/window in which to view that behavior, or whether it is social media itself turning normally civil people into assholes, the outcome from my point of view is the same. I understand that division and polarization have been around a lot longer than Facebook et al, but there is no doubt in my mind that social media is not doing anything to improve that division, and is indeed doing a great deal (intentionally, it appears) to amplify the angriest voices. From my perspective social media is assholes all the way down. The research is interesting, but I must have missed the part about it getting us closer to a more civil social media landscape, let alone a more civil world.
Yes, sort-of?
So just to make sure that I understand, social media is not the problem because it turns people into assholes, it is just the problem that social media exposes assholes to each other, and allows them to respond to assholes they don't like or agree with? Oh! Well I feel better now.
:^\
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
U.S. kleptocrats support broadband industry ripoffs of consumers, surprising nobody. Regulators agree this is business as usual, and that there is nothing to see here.
(untitled comment)
<sarcasm> Well, I don't see how else Facebook could respond to a person who has so little regard for their business model. Imagine, creating a tool that puts the well-being of Facebook users above the interests of Facebook shareholders. Mr. Barclay clearly left Facebook with no choice but to banish and threaten him with legal action. </sarcasm>
Follow the money.
Re: Re:
Your last paragraph puts me in mind of an extremely succinct description of conservatism, by Frank Wilhoit that has been floating around the internet for a couple of years:
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
Unfortunately, we'll be cleaning up the mess. Again.
I completely understand the general sentiment that the people who buy into these scams are getting what they deserve. Unfortunately, as is the case in most of these kinds of situations, someone has to clean up the mess afterward. When mom, or grandpa get scammed, the kids are going to have to figure out how to cover the loss, and deal with the anger/heartache/anxiety. I am not smart enough to know how to fix any of this, but I do feel that we only have so much capacity to bail out the willfully stupid. It is tempting/easy for me to feel that anti-vaxxers who get Covid, and freedom phone buyers who get scammed etc., are getting their just desserts, but I also can't help but feel that when the check is finally brought to the table that we going to be the only ones left to pay. Grim.
Re: Re: Re: Cheap local storage is cheap!
:^)
Cheap local storage is cheap!
I feel for everyone who lost their stuff, and perhaps I'm just naive, but with the seemingly ever shrinking cost of storage I have never been able to find a downside to backing up all of my stuff to an external drive that is intentionally only local, and never sees the internet. I assume that there are many, many cases in which this might not be practical, but speaking personally, not having my backup drive ever connected to a network is comforting.
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