Notices by Jacob - Challenging Apathy (challengeapathy@infosec.exchange)

I wanna know why X can't fight the bot spam but Mastodon manages to avoid it without a problem.

I could tweet the most idiotic nonsense on X and get a bunch of bots (usually porn bots) liking it every time, but on Mastodon, I actually get proper, organic responses to my posts.

I get that Mastodon (and the Fediverse as a whole) is comparatively tiny when looking at X, but still, the Fediverse is definitely quite busy regardless of that, yet we don't seem to see that issue here. 🤷♂️

Man, I'm absolutely in love with @libreoffice. Initially, I used OpenOffice because I needed a free alternative to #Microsoft Office but since then, I've become very conscious of my privacy and the myriad benefits of #FOSS.

It wasn't until 2022 that I made the switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice and at this point, I genuinely see ZERO reason to use #Office365. Why on earth would I pay a subscription for proprietary software when I can use an outstanding FOSS office suite that respects my rights and allows me to support them through donations, rather than predatory subscription plans?

It's awesome to me that free/libre open source software is at that point, now, where the alternatives are equal to, if not better than their proprietary competitors. In general, the #libre movement in computing is making for a much more hopeful digital future as big tech and proprietary software developers get worse and worse. Long live free software!

@patrickcmiller No kidding. It's why generative AI is more of a problem than a solution. Do I have sympathy for major corporations dealing with copyright infringement? Not in the slightest, but this sort of thing DOES harm independent creators just trying to make a living and the whole "just learn AI" argument doesn't work for things like that.

Funny enough, I just finished watching a video on AI and copyright. Linking in case anyone is interested: https://odysee.com/@UpperEchelonGamers:3/the-achilles-heel-of-ai...-%28its-called:f

@horse @toriver @QasimRashid Fair perspective, neighbor (PA native here). I just don't think anything as important as dictating the future of our federal government should be left up to oligarchs, regardless of what sort of oligarchs those are. Something that big should be, at the very least, heavily and transparently impacted by the public at large. These people are supposed to represent all of us, not just a select few and that's why this precedent concerns me.

It's really not about politics for me in this specific case, just about the precedent it sets. We're in more dire straights than we've been in since the Civil War and this partisan goofiness isn't helping. We have differences but both sides demonize each other instead of recognizing that the system WANTS us to do that: a house divided cannot stand.

@horse @toriver @QasimRashid I appreciate the explanation but this is still an issue. With a representative or senator, you're able to impact the way they vote in congressional hearings where there's proper debate.

@QasimRashid I'm not going to get political but the idea of a single state court being capable of banning a candidate from running sets a very, very bad precedent for EVERYONE. A candidate should only be banned either by the SCOTUS or by a 75% majority of state supreme courts. It shouldn't be permissible for one state to determine who can and cannot run.

@toriver @QasimRashid Indeed, but the courts are there to determine the legality of legislation, not to determine what candidates can run. They're unelected. It's not their role to decide politics, it's their role to determine legality.

@toriver @QasimRashid The doctor analogy is a bit flawed. You get to choose what doctor you go to (within reason). It's not legality the Colorado Supreme Court determined, it's politics. This whole thing really does boil down to the ruling class acting as if voters can't make decisions for themselves. I, for one, am fully capable of doing my research and making up my own mind without the help of mass media, big tech algorithmic manipulation and, yes, without the help of an unelected court stepping out of its bounds to play party politics.