Public
- Public
- Network
- Groups
- Featured
- Popular
- People

Conversation

Notices

Embed this notice
Mr. Softie :zc: (whiskeysailor@history.lol)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 05:11:40 JST Mr. Softie :zc:

Just reading Ed Zitron about technology radicalizing him (because of how shitty it is all the time in so many ways) and this stuck out to me
In conversation about 2 months ago from history.lol permalink
Attachments
1. And when I say that, I’m really talking about CNN.com, a website that had 594 million visitors in October 2024. At the bottom is the “Paid Partner Content” section, including things from publications ‘like “FinanceBuzz” that tell you about the “9 Dumbest Things Smart People Waste Money On.” FinanceBuzz immediately asks for you to turn your notifications on — you know, so it can ping you when it has new articles — and each bullet point leads to one of its affiliate marketing arms trying to sell you car insurance and credit cards. You’re offered the chance to share your email address to receive “vetted side hustles and proven ways to earn extra cash sent to your inbox,” which I assume includes things like advertorial content telling you that yes, you could make money playing online bingo (such as “Bingo Cash”) against other people.
  https://cdn.masto.host/historylol/media_attachments/files/113/663/846/146/644/200/original/8a92007d17bca934.png
2. Papaya Games, developer of Bingo Cash, was sued in March by rival gaming company Skillz for using bots in allegedly skill-based games that are supposed to be between humans, and the Michigan Gaming Control Board issued a cease-and-desist order against the company for violating multiple gaming laws, including the Lawful Internet Gaming Act. To quote the lawsuit, “Papaya’s games are not skill-based and users are often not playing against live, actual opponents but against Papaya’s own bots that direct and rig the game so that Papaya itself wins its users’ money while leading them to believe that they lost to a live human opponent.”
  https://cdn.masto.host/historylol/media_attachments/files/113/663/847/871/084/355/original/b7cf00706761af18.png
- Embed this notice
  Mr. Softie :zc: (whiskeysailor@history.lol)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 05:11:28 JST Mr. Softie :zc:
  in reply to
  
  As the IT person for my mother I feel this (I made her change over to Firefox with adblocks, she would have never done it herself)
  In conversation about 2 months ago permalink
  Attachments
  1. Even if you’re technologically savvy, you’re still dealing with these problems — fresh installs of Windows on new laptops, avoiding certain websites because you’ve learned what the dodgy ones look like, not interacting with random people in your DMs because you know what a spam bot looks like, and so on. It’s not that you’re immune. It’s that you’re instinctually ducking and weaving around an internet and digital ecosystem that continually tries to interrupt you, batting away pop-ups and silencing notifications knowing that they want something from you — and I need you to realize that most people are not like you and are actively victimized by the tech ecosystem.
    https://cdn.masto.host/historylol/media_attachments/files/113/663/896/534/608/710/original/6d2b992c23e7b46f.png
  alcinnz repeated this.
- Embed this notice
  Mr. Softie :zc: (whiskeysailor@history.lol)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 05:11:37 JST Mr. Softie :zc:
  in reply to
  
  Anyway if you are interested I'm half way through and he just went through setting up an Acer mid 200 dollar laptop and the pure misery of that, here is the link
  https://www.wheresyoured.at/never-forgive-them/
  
  In conversation about 2 months ago permalink
  
  alcinnz repeated this.
- Embed this notice
  Mr. Softie :zc: (whiskeysailor@history.lol)'s status on Tuesday, 17-Dec-2024 05:12:12 JST Mr. Softie :zc:
  in reply to
  
  Yup yup yup
  In conversation about 2 months ago permalink
  Attachments
  1. Yet it’s not just the algorithms — It’s the entirety of the digital ecosystem, from websites to apps to the devices we use every day. The fact that so many people likely use a laptop that is equal parts unfit for the task and stuffed full of growth hacked poison is utterly disgraceful, because it means that the only way to escape said poison is to simply have more money. Those who can’t afford $300 (at least) phones or $600 laptops are left to use offensively bad technology, and we have, at a societal scale, simply accepted that this is how things go.
    https://cdn.masto.host/historylol/media_attachments/files/113/663/902/348/804/947/original/d0c7b9f16d297cfd.png

Public

Conversation

Notices

Feeds