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Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

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Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#131

Post by SanjayMehta »

literalAardvark wrote: post #79
malfist wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's ming boggling just how....cringe... these billionaires that want to run the world are. Makes you wonder if the personas that seek billions are correlated strongly with mental illnesses.

I think they are, and strongly. The drive to achieve that level of success often comes from weaponized poor self esteem. Well adjusted individuals just chill out after a few million and work on whatever is fun/important for them. Only rarely does this also happen to be something that can take you from 10M to 1B. (and if it can it would take a lot of work you can't be bothered to do unless it's some core value like he…

> core value like helping the poor beat malaria)

Gates just doesn't want to be remembered for Windows. Much like Nobel didn't want to be remembered only for dynamite.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#132

Post by dwd »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #105
john_strinlai wrote: post #5

> This thing also has a "Text the President" button that auto-fills your message with "Greatest President Ever!" and then collects your name and phone number. when is the onion going to go bankrupt? it has to be soon, i imagine. no way it can compete with reality at this point. (the rest of the article is a bit too depressing for me to comment on at the moment, other than saying "wow, gross")

I remember when I was young seeing videos of North Korea, of audiences always giving rapt standing ovations and many people fake fainting, and I always thought "How dumb and stupid does everyone have to be to carry on this absurd, ridiculous charade." I don't wonder anymore.

Not that dumb and stupid. You don't want to be the guy NOT frantically scribbling the Dear Leader's every word into your notebook.

The fake fainting might be an easy get out of having to cheer and bounce for ages.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#133

Post by SanjayMehta »

flir wrote: post #125
jakeydus wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who would, shouldn't. The people who should, won't.

There's an old SF short where one of the people who won't gets forced to. Battery of psychological tests followed by "you're one of the rulers now, and you're going to hate every minute of it, but we enslave you so the rest of us have a peaceful, prosperous planet." Wish I could remember the name/author.

Isaac Asimov had a story where one voter was selected by Multivac to pick the leader of the world.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#134

Post by renewiltord »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #110
john_strinlai wrote: post #5

> This thing also has a "Text the President" button that auto-fills your message with "Greatest President Ever!" and then collects your name and phone number. when is the onion going to go bankrupt? it has to be soon, i imagine. no way it can compete with reality at this point. (the rest of the article is a bit too depressing for me to comment on at the moment, other than saying "wow, gross")

How can people see the propaganda that happens in, say, North Korea, but fail to see what is happening in their own country? It boggles. It truly does.

[flagged]

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#135

Post by flir »

SanjayMehta wrote: post #133
flir wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an old SF short where one of the people who won't gets forced to. Battery of psychological tests followed by "you're one of the rulers now, and you're going to hate every minute of it, but we enslave you so the rest of us have a peaceful, prosperous planet." Wish I could remember the name/author.

Isaac Asimov had a story where one voter was selected by Multivac to pick the leader of the world.

Thanks. Franchise. Not that one...

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#136

Post by tjpnz »

mulmen wrote: post #129
SequoiaHope wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks very different from the outside than it does from the inside. We are all subject to this.

No. We aren’t all subject to this. MAGA isn’t even logically consistent. You don’t even need fact checking to spot the bullshit. And miss me with the inevitable both sides response.

Weren't they all anti war a few months ago and anti pedo before that?

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#138

Post by gzread »

john_strinlai wrote: post #5

> This thing also has a "Text the President" button that auto-fills your message with "Greatest President Ever!" and then collects your name and phone number. when is the onion going to go bankrupt? it has to be soon, i imagine. no way it can compete with reality at this point. (the rest of the article is a bit too depressing for me to comment on at the moment, other than saying "wow, gross")

The Onion is actually making great money on its print edition. Having a real newspaper is a novelty these days, almost like it's part of the joke, and you should subscribe.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#139

Post by gzread »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #110
john_strinlai wrote: post #5

> This thing also has a "Text the President" button that auto-fills your message with "Greatest President Ever!" and then collects your name and phone number. when is the onion going to go bankrupt? it has to be soon, i imagine. no way it can compete with reality at this point. (the rest of the article is a bit too depressing for me to comment on at the moment, other than saying "wow, gross")

How can people see the propaganda that happens in, say, North Korea, but fail to see what is happening in their own country? It boggles. It truly does.

A Russian and an American get on a plane in Moscow and get to talking.

The Russian says he works for the Kremlin and he's on his way to go learn American propaganda techniques.

"What American propaganda techniques?" asks the American.

"Exactly," the Russian replies.

Re: Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

#140

Post by gzread »

nostrademons wrote: post #92
conception wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaron Swartz had a good take on this - http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/handwritingwall

I remember wrestling with this in my therapist's office when Aaron died. I had known him tangentially - we hung out in the same IRC channels, and had several mutual friends in the Cambridge/Somerville techie crowd that he would hang out in person with. As a college student and young adult I had always envied his fame, his intelligence, his money (post-Reddit acquisition), and the strength of his convictions. And yet,…

Game theory is the most dangerous force in the universe.
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