The Internet Is Evil! WAKE UP!

[louise]

but honestly, if you really want to say 'fuck you' to the governments and corporate interests monitoring your internet usage, delete your social networking accounts and connect with your friends in real life instead. it is a much more satisfying experience to have an irl conversation with someone vs. a chat over instant messaging, let me tell you.

Come say that to my face :p

[pianoforte]

but honestly, if you really want to say 'fuck you' to the governments and corporate interests monitoring your internet usage, delete your social networking accounts and connect with your friends in real life instead. it is a much more satisfying experience to have an irl conversation with someone vs. a chat over instant messaging, let me tell you.

Come say that to my face :p

heh, twoism doesn't count

[pianoforte]

warning: lengthy-ish rant follows.

When the Internet was first created, it looked like it could well be a platform for world revolution. It was a decentralized, uncensored platform for anyone with a modem to spread thoughts, ideas, theories, news, or information of any kind. It was essentially a salon for the modern age.

Now we know we're being spied on. Certainly by the US government and corporations, and likely by any number of other governmnents and entities. The Common Man now realizes that what could very well have been a platform for the 'crowdsourced' betterment of humanity is now Big Brother on a massive scale. I know of many people who censored themselves from expressing some thought due to the knowledge that whatever they typed would be recorded and analyzed by entities that would not neccesarily take their opinion in the highest regard.

I do believe that there are limits to free speech - animal cruelty, especially, falls foul of my 'line in the sand' - but I believe that in order for any society to flourish the populus needs to feel that they can freely exchange ideas and information.

The NSA leaks have shown us something many have suspected for a very long time: corporations-governments-faceless entities are afraid of what Humanity is capable of. They know that if they stop spying on us that there is a very real possibility that we will come together and stop the injustices they have been perpetrating for so long.

I am very, very close to stashing my laptop under my bed and writing things I want to do online in the notebook I carry everywhere, and then - once a week - going to a coffeeshop or somewhere else with a public Internet connection to do them. My 'needs' are basic - email, twoism perusing. I do not use social networking services.

I have nothing to hide from the government. I do not consider myself right-leaning politically; in fact, I believe that government does have many positive attributes. That being said, I believe that the various three-letter agencies and corporations have gone too far. Enough is enough.

[clence]

The internet isn't the internet.

[Headphase]

The internet was created to escape the horrible real world, the internet was supposed to be a utopia

but now that EVERYONE is on the internet, the internet has basically become a dystopia

[fujee]

The internet was created to escape the horrible real world, the internet was supposed to be a utopia

but now that EVERYONE is on the internet, the internet has basically become a dystopia

The internet was actually made for Scientists initially, but was appropriated when everyone saw how amazing it could be. Tim Berners-Lee gave it to the world as a gift, he could literally be the richest man on the planet right now.. but he decided not to claim a patent.

[Radiobuzz]

There are many things to be said about all of this. Indeed the 'internet' has become a very different place these last 10 years, Google has become way too big and so did a couple more business. We have been brainwashed into believing the internet must not be regulated because that would mean the end of online freedom. It is quite clear however that IT SHOULD be regulated to prevent scenarios like the one we are now: Google and Facebook now own us, and even if you don't use those services you are still vulnerable to their claws because many of the sites you do browse depend of them or have some sort of connection. Thoughts are being created and manipulated on these social sites, even Reddit who prides itself of being an open ground is a huge trap because basically if you don't follow the line of thought of the site noone will ever read you. The internet has become a much smaller place and has in turn made the world much smaller, and we as humans have become desensitized to many aspects that made us human, even our history as a race has been completely digitalized when noone was watching.

On May my phone (a Nexus 4) got stolen. I loved my phone. I have still not bought a new phone and even though it leaves me out constantly, I'm still hesitant to get a new one. Being open to these kind of views is difficult because it forces you to live on the margin. I think this is the price we must pay even though many are not willing to do it. I'm just fucking tired of Google knowing where I am every second, what I like, what I write and what I think, it doesn't do any good to my mental health and it doesn't give me anything in return except for some sense of fitting which at this point I'm convinced it's complete and utter bullshit. As the great Terence McKenna used to say, culture is not your friend, and this last decade it has become crystal clear it is our worse enemy.

So yeah, count me in on whatever revolution you are about to start.

[Cupz]

Allot of great insights in this thread, yet no solution


Would it be possible to start a new "sub-internet" kind of like darkweb, but without the creeps and criminals?

[A_Northern_Soul]

Come on - the Internet isn't evil, Facebook & Google don't own you. Don't want governments or corporations to know something about you? Don't stick it online. Chances are the NSA or GCHQ couldn't give a monkeys about you.

Any medium of self-expression gets co-opted by commercial interests; always has, always will. No need to go off-grid, just go into things with your eyes open. I pay for the convenience and ease of communication of Facebook with an amount of my personal data. I'm really not that bothered that Facebook and their commercial partners know I like Guinness, Clarks' desert boots and Mercury Rev. Anything I don't want them to know, I keep off the net.

[Radiobuzz]

Don't want governments or corporations to know something about you? Don't stick it online.

Yes, that used to be how it went back in the day when your phone didn't reported back every single movement you made to Google which in turn is monitored by the NSA, alongside every single app you use including the dialer and the SMS apk. That particular line between your private life and your public line has been blurred considering how everything passes through the same channels. At this point you would have to be pretty short sighted to mantain such a positive view.

[zeitgeist]

or

[A_Northern_Soul]

Not short-sighted, just realistic. The government has had the ability to tap phones for decades, this doesn't stop you using the phone.

Sorry to burst anyone's bubbles, but I'd wager the NSA/ GCHQ isn't remotely interested in anyone here.

[naicob]

Not short-sighted, just realistic. The government has had the ability to tap phones for decades, this doesn't stop you using the phone.

Sorry to burst anyone's bubbles, but I'd wager the NSA/ GCHQ isn't remotely interested in anyone here.

They might not be interested today, but what about later on down the line? What if something happens and your character is questioned 10 years from now? What if your emails or posts (anywhere) are scrutinized, taken completely out of context, and then used against you simply to prove something you are entirely innocent of?

It used to much harder for any government to do this. It's much easier today because we willfully leave a good portion of our lives online. They don't even have to 'spy' on us, we do the job for them. Just think of all the info Google/Facebook has on every single one of us and how easy it is for the American government to take all of it. They have given themselves the right to assassinate or imprison anyone on the planet. What if they decide to take you out because a decade ago you searched for bomb making materials wanting to make a firecracker and made a sympathetic post somewhere about 'terrorists'?

[Jonse]

(Going to go with A Northern Soul here.)

[jcnporter]

Come on - the Internet isn't evil, Facebook & Google don't own you. Don't want governments or corporations to know something about you? Don't stick it online. Chances are the NSA or GCHQ couldn't give a monkeys about you.

Any medium of self-expression gets co-opted by commercial interests; always has, always will. No need to go off-grid, just go into things with your eyes open. I pay for the convenience and ease of communication of Facebook with an amount of my personal data. I'm really not that bothered that Facebook and their commercial partners know I like Guinness, Clarks' desert boots and Mercury Rev. Anything I don't want them to know, I keep off the net.

That's all very well and you're undoubtedly taking a sensible approach, however part of the problem is that it's not really possible to for you to determine what's 'innocent' and what's not in the future - this will be decided by the government and media and others as they see fit.
Nor is it necessarily the government you need to be concerned about. Mentioned a health problem or drug use in a passing comment online? Employers and insurance companies will pay someone to mine that information - let's see what that does to future insurance policies or mortgage or job applications. This is only one example.
Also, you'd better watch out for anyone with a camera phone. And what are your friends doing? You're a registered 'associate' of them on social media, even if it's just through a photo (which remember the social media providers own and can use for whatever they like in the future - advertising for example).
Maybe you've got rid of all your social media use as a precaution - unfortunately some employers are apparently seeing a lack of a Facebook account as something to suspicious of - what are you trying to hide?
I'm not saying we should all stop using the net, however it's easy for people to get complacent and they already have done.

[A_Northern_Soul]

^ fair point. It *is* genuinely fascinating the type of thing that is now being shared publicly; which just 5 years ago 9/10 people would never dream of sharing online (remember when having an online presence/blog was seen as something a bit odd?).

I suppose all I'm saying is be sensible, not paranoid. As a rule of thumb, no matter how tight your privacy settings, I believe if you post something online you can expect for it to be seen by more than your intended audience. No need to completely "go dark", just be sensible.

Some very valid points about how what we post online now may be used in 10-15 years time - I'm not shy about posting my political views, so maybe someone somewhere has already decided what colour boilersuit I'll be wearing in the camps ;)

I know enough about the way the British government can work to know that if the State wants to it can fuck you up well and truly - social media presence or no...

[jcnporter]

All true, I don't think paranoia helps, although being roughly generation X whose childhood, teenage years and much of my 20s were pre-internet I've found myself increasingly having 'there but for the grace of god go I...' moments when I read stories of what people have posted online about themselves that has already come back to haunt them.
The thing that freaks me out the most is the data mining stuff that already exists and how it will develop - I would not be surprised if there are consultants that will provide profiles of potential employees according to their internet usage and online purchases, for example. What if a consultant's data shows a correlation between a preference for electronic music and recreational drug use? I don't think that's particularly paranoid and an example of how seemingly innocent information could be used. To the employer who wants this information, the context or accuracy of it is irrelevant, it's another way of sorting through the hundreds of candidates in a global workplace with a surplus of labour.
I've also seen enough in the media to show how completely innocent stuff, when shown with a spin put on it and out of context can look to the average reader. Combine this with people's short attention spans and willingness to judge and condemn on mere hearsay and you have a pretty toxic mix for anyone who happens to come within the media's radar, for whatever reason.

Edit to add - I think the ultimate playing out of this is a lot of 'bots' making automated decisions about us using data, the fairness or accuracy of which is irrelevant because there is no human judgement behind them and apart from that, we will never know that these decisions or judgements have even been made.

[pianoforte]

http://mendmydresspress.bigcartel.com/p ... e-internet

[afflicted and conflicted]

I love and hate the internet in equal measures. Like most things, you need to keep firmly in control of your usage so it's not detrimental.

I really dislike Facebook because amongst many of my friends now it's the main way to communicate online. Like it's just assumed you'll be on there and see invites to events etc etc.

[zeitgeist]

Meh, your real friends will get over the fact that you're not on facebook anymore if you quit. And then they might also remember that that little device in their palm that they're browsing FB on doubles as a phone, and they'll actually call you. Or shit, they might actually come knock on your door. Remember how cool that was to see people in real life?