I think Linus is right. It's a bit ironic, though, him calling Facebook a 'disease' when Steven Balmer famously called Linux a 'cancer'.
It's a cancer. It now has its own subsystem in windows.
Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
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Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#32The link should be changed to the original interview: https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/25-years-later-intervie... Very recent discussion: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19559970 296 points by axiomdata316 5 days ago | 145 comments
Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#33"Add in anonymity, and it's just disgusting," Torvalds said. "When you don't even put your real name on your garbage (or the garbage you share or like), it really doesn't help." Except when you see people you knew and respected before social media existed posting and "liking" the same garbage. They either just do not care or they do not know any better. The lack of anonymity lends itself to the emergence of countless…
Anonymity made for a healthier internet in my opinion. Nobody cared if xXNinja_420Xx said he was going to kill you or that all left-handed people deserve to be in concentration camps. Everyone still runs their fool mouth same as they used to except now you know it's your cousin Drew or Samantha from accounting saying it. Putting a name and a face on internet bullshit was a horrible development.
All left-handed people deserve to be in concentration camps.
Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#34Are they a disease, or are they symptoms?
Neither. They are an infection vector.
Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#35"Add in anonymity, and it's just disgusting," Torvalds said. "When you don't even put your real name on your garbage (or the garbage you share or like), it really doesn't help." Except when you see people you knew and respected before social media existed posting and "liking" the same garbage. They either just do not care or they do not know any better. The lack of anonymity lends itself to the emergence of countless…
It is interesting stance given: https://medium.com/@pjbgf/spoofing-git-commits-7bef357d72f0
Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#36Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#37Not that I disagree with the idea, but aren't these communication tools highlighting or magnifying some basic human behavior traits? I would imagine this happens on a smaller scale through face to face interaction. Is it just the scale of it all that is the issue?
Yes and basic humans are abhorrent
Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anonymity made for a healthier internet in my opinion. Nobody cared if xXNinja_420Xx said he was going to kill you or that all left-handed people deserve to be in concentration camps. Everyone still runs their fool mouth same as they used to except now you know it's your cousin Drew or Samantha from accounting saying it. Putting a name and a face on internet bullshit was a horrible development.
Given today's culture anonymity is even more important than it ever was. Someone across the world can boycott your place of work and get you sacked for voicing unfashionable opinions. Who will provide for your family then? Don't expect to lean on your partner either, they'll probably push to get her/him sacked too for associating with you.
True. Look at the blowback from Beto's writing from his childhood and how he had to apologise for it[0], some twenty or thirty years later.
[0] - https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/03/16/beto-orourke-poems-ch...
Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#39"Add in anonymity, and it's just disgusting," Torvalds said. "When you don't even put your real name on your garbage (or the garbage you share or like), it really doesn't help." Except when you see people you knew and respected before social media existed posting and "liking" the same garbage. They either just do not care or they do not know any better. The lack of anonymity lends itself to the emergence of countless…
Without anonymity, one risks real-world harassment, stalking, and political, social, or economic consequences for saying things one's society, government, or maybe even employer doesn't like.
Journalists have been murdered for reporting the actions of gangs and corrupt governments. Had they been anonymous, perhaps they'd still be alive.
LGBT people risk being attacked when their identities are revealed online. Many other groups throughout history have been targeted because of their identity -- a prime example being Jews during the Holocaust, when census data was used to find them an round them up.
People will also be hesitant about speaking about wrongs committed by police, corrupt governments, or their employer when they believe their identity is known, for fear of reprisal.
As the ACLU points out: "The right to remain anonymous is a fundamental component of our right to free speech, and it applies every bit as much in the digital world as it does in the physical one."
https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/internet-speech/onli...
Re: Linus: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Are “A Disease”
#40"Add in anonymity, and it's just disgusting," Torvalds said. "When you don't even put your real name on your garbage (or the garbage you share or like), it really doesn't help." Except when you see people you knew and respected before social media existed posting and "liking" the same garbage. They either just do not care or they do not know any better. The lack of anonymity lends itself to the emergence of countless…
Anonymity made for a healthier internet in my opinion. Nobody cared if xXNinja_420Xx said he was going to kill you or that all left-handed people deserve to be in concentration camps. Everyone still runs their fool mouth same as they used to except now you know it's your cousin Drew or Samantha from accounting saying it. Putting a name and a face on internet bullshit was a horrible development.
> Everyone still runs their fool mouth same as they used to
I very much doubt this is true. Yes, people run their mouth on FB and other real-name / real-identity accounts, but not to the same extent as with anonymous profiles. What you see on real name accounts should be assumed to be the tip of the iceberg.