Should we become Luddites?

[AURex 2,019]

Back in the late 1800s into the 1900s, there was a movement that opposed the rampant use of technology in factories and other workplaces to eliminate human work -- or even exploit workers. For example, children were used in factories to run machines that eliminated adult workers.

Now we have AI chatbots replacing humans throughout service industries. We have AI deployed in medical settings. We have surveillance systems monitoring our everyday activities, from grocery shopping to walking down the street to driving.

Automobiles are among the worst offenders, tracking everywhere we go. We have invasive government systems tracking every medical issue for everyone .... of course to identify women who receive abortions .... but it is everyone everywhere for every medical issue.

And as for your smartphone and online activity, everything we do, every site we visit, every message we send, every post we make, is captured, recorded, archives, used, sold. Your logins to your bank account, your online purchases, your posts to X or Instagram or Facebook or Yelp, the pictures you upload, the pictures you download, the news articles you read ........ everything.

How do you feel about this? Are you in the camp of "I ain't done nuthin' wrong so you can see my weeny if you want to" or are you in the camp of "this is the realm of 1984, of the surveillance state, of the neo-nazi fascist overloards taking control of our lives"?

Are you a Luddite -- avoiding as much surveillance as possible? Or are you of the "It will be someone else, not me" group?

 

[Loganmiles 0]

4 hours ago, AURex said:

And as for your smartphone and online activity, everything we do, every site we visit, every message we send, every post we make, is captured, recorded, archives, used, sold. Your logins to your bank account, your online purchases, your posts to X or Instagram or Facebook or Yelp, the pictures you upload, the pictures you download, the news articles you read ........ everything.

 

it sounds very scary, but what can we do because social media or even using internet is now part of our daily routine!

[AURex 2,019]

On 10/9/2023 at 4:07 AM, Loganmiles said:

it sounds very scary, but what can we do because social media or even using internet is now part of our daily routine!

There are alternatives to Google Chrome. There are alternatives to Microsoft Edge. There are alternatives to internet providers  eating everything you do. There are alternatives to being another guy in the endless number of other guys.

You don't have to be owned by Google or Bing/Microsoft.

 

 

[AUloggerhead 2,241]

I use DuckDuckGo as a search engine & browser, combined with Express VPN.  

[SaltyTiger 7,820]

7 hours ago, AUloggerhead said:

I use DuckDuckGo as a search engine & browser, combined with Express VPN.  

[AUloggerhead 2,241]

I might add after using this setup for awhile, I can report that I've encountered zero Luddites(!)

[Shoney'sPonyBoy 350]

On 10/11/2023 at 10:48 PM, AUloggerhead said:

I use DuckDuckGo as a search engine & browser, combined with Express VPN.  

I read an article on using alternative search engines a while back that basically said that the search engine you use is just the tip of the iceberg.  If you use a GPS app, if you use Uber, if you search anything online as far as a map (even if you're searching on DDG) if you use anything like that, you're using Google and they pretty much still got you.  I'm not tech savvy and don't remember the details, but essentially they were saying that unless you totally disengage yourself from the internet you're still being monitored like crazy. 

[AUloggerhead 2,241]

50 minutes ago, Shoney'sPonyBoy said:

I read an article on using alternative search engines a while back that basically said that the search engine you use is just the tip of the iceberg.  If you use a GPS app, if you use Uber, if you search anything online as far as a map (even if you're searching on DDG) if you use anything like that, you're using Google and they pretty much still got you.  I'm not tech savvy and don't remember the details, but essentially they were saying that unless you totally disengage yourself from the internet you're still being monitored like crazy. 

Perhaps.  I'm just trying to wean myself off from using Google as much as I can.  Hard to do since I've got an android device and any app I use has to come from their Play Store.   I'm not totally wedded to my phone like some are and will often just turn it off when I'm at home.  I also disable the GPS tracking when I'm out & about -- only using it to find a new address I'm unfamiliar with.    

[Shoney'sPonyBoy 350]

2 hours ago, AUloggerhead said:

Perhaps.  I'm just trying to wean myself off from using Google as much as I can.  Hard to do since I've got an android device and any app I use has to come from their Play Store.   I'm not totally wedded to my phone like some are and will often just turn it off when I'm at home.  I also disable the GPS tracking when I'm out & about -- only using it to find a new address I'm unfamiliar with.    

I understand.

Frankly, I could get off the online grid and it wouldn't bother me much except that I cant for work reasons.

I think people would be better off without the constant access to information and Andy Warhol "15 minutes of fame" social media presence (boy was that statement prophetic).  I think 3 cable network channels with a relatively unbiased media, wall phones with answering machines, road atlases, physical copies of music and movies, etc...basically, the way I grew up in the 70s and 80s, was a better balance of real life and virtual life.  Enough connection to communicate with each other effectively and share a common national experience, but not too connected like we are today.  I think people were more reasonable with each other, more civil, communicated better, were less selfish and self-centered, emotionally healthier, had better social skills, were more outwardly focused than inwardly focused, etc.

[AURex 2,019]

I use DuckDuckGo as well for my homepage and for most searches. Why? It uses the Google database of sites, but has its own search engine and none of the Google tracking and invasive capturing of all my online activities.

I never stay logged in at Google, Facebook, Amazon or other surveillance/tracking sites. I always log out everywhere I go.

I use Firefox web browser -- never Chrome or Edge -- because they capture everything you do.

I use Adblock Plus and Ublock Origin to block all Ads and pop-ups (because they are often planting cookies and tracking you).

I'm careful about what I write in emails, because email "services" like Gmail, YahooMail, Hotmail, etc -- all scan every word in emails and sell your content to advertisers and identity theft outfits.

When you say "I don't care, I got nothing to hide" you are basically saying, "yeah, I don't care if my identity gets grabbed or my accounts get stolen."

My brother had his Amazon account grabbed. The perp charged $4,000 of stuff from Amazon, all charged to the card my brother had on file with Amazon. Everything was sent to a different address. He contacted his credit card company and blocked the charges. But Amazon was uncooperative. They demanded he pay the $4,000. He refused. They cancelled his account. He can never use Amazon again and they are still harassing him about the $4,000.

Protect your identity, use available apps to block invaders and use a secure browser like Firefox rather than a tracker/scraper like Chrome and Edge.

 

[Dwayne Pride 379]

9 hours ago, AURex said:

I use DuckDuckGo as well for my homepage and for most searches. Why? It uses the Google database of sites, but has its own search engine and none of the Google tracking and invasive capturing of all my online activities.

I never stay logged in at Google, Facebook, Amazon or other surveillance/tracking sites. I always log out everywhere I go.

I use Firefox web browser -- never Chrome or Edge -- because they capture everything you do.

I use Adblock Plus and Ublock Origin to block all Ads and pop-ups (because they are often planting cookies and tracking you).

I'm careful about what I write in emails, because email "services" like Gmail, YahooMail, Hotmail, etc -- all scan every word in emails and sell your content to advertisers and identity theft outfits.

When you say "I don't care, I got nothing to hide" you are basically saying, "yeah, I don't care if my identity gets grabbed or my accounts get stolen."

My brother had his Amazon account grabbed. The perp charged $4,000 of stuff from Amazon, all charged to the card my brother had on file with Amazon. Everything was sent to a different address. He contacted his credit card company and blocked the charges. But Amazon was uncooperative. They demanded he pay the $4,000. He refused. They cancelled his account. He can never use Amazon again and they are still harassing him about the $4,000.

Protect your identity, use available apps to block invaders and use a secure browser like Firefox rather than a tracker/scraper like Chrome and Edge.

 

I am all for you getting off the internet completely.