[GTALUG] Surveillance Capitalism [was another thread]

Sat Apr 3 16:00:37 EDT 2021

On Sat, Apr 3, 2021 at 3:24 PM Evan Leibovitch <evan at telly.org> wrote:

> Out of all the rationales for malice out there, hypocrisy is among the
> weakest. Because a person/corporation did bad thing A does not silence them
> when speaking out against unrelated bad thing B. Compounding this with
> guilt-by-association -- of Red Hat bearing the weight of all IBM's past
> (and very real) sins -- makes such accusations even weaker.
>

You were the one who associated Stallman the person with incel. Google
fills in the rest of what the public knows ... terrorisim. That's a far cry
from being just an asshole. That was associating the man with some of the
most abhorrent news items of our times. You did this instead of the
rational constructive criticism reasonable people would expect.

As for the rest of guilt by association IBM, Red Hat or any other thing or
person; How much trading in past and present terrorisim as opposed to
assholeisim is allowed in a free and democratic society. Those corporate
ideologies of the big multinational corporations who fully believe it is
only illegal when you get caught, are the mainstay propagandists of our
time.

>
> SUSE also withdrew their FSF funding. Anyone care to draw a link between
> that and the fact that its HQ is in Nuremberg? And what dirt are we going
> to dig up about the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose position on the
> FSF is well more extreme than Red Hat's?
>

I'm not diggin up dirt on anyone or anything. I am pointing out similar
facts of how economic weight has grown to the point that the truth is no
longer just out there, it is hidden in the bowels and recesses of private
dealings of corporations and their allies and spokespersons.  Associative
facts work both ways, not just one way.

In fact history has always been written by the victors, and in some cases
rewritten in the context of assimilation of the good facts and purging the
bad facts as in what is good for us and what is bad for us.

>
> In any case, let's remember that the actions taken are against the FSF,
> not Stallman himself who has not been muzzled at all (last I checked his
> blog is unaffected by all the commotion). It is the FSF that is being
> rightfully being punished for bringing him back to leadership when what is
> needed is diplomacy and allies, and there are so many good software freedom
> advocates out there who are not divisive assholes. It is telling that the
> loudest voices against the FSF are those who have actually interacted with
> Stallman (including those who have shared his ideology for decades), while
> most of his defenders have never met him.
>

> Maybe RMS spoke out against surveillance capitalism. So what? Who cares?
> He's spoken about a bunch of stuff unrelated to what he's best known for,
> which is trying to re-invent Unix and promoting software freedom. He's a
> seminal speaker on those two issues, but far from expert in the others.
> Indeed, it's largely regarding his stances on issues far removed from
> software freedom that RMS finds himself banished from MIT and in this
> current mess.
>
> As for me, when I think of people I want to follow on the issue of
> corporate surveillance, there are many better versed and articulate
> commentators on the issue than Stallman. Zuboff. Snowden. Braxman. Orwell!
> Many others. Indeed, it's *good* that these others are *not* funded by
> orgs involved in surveillance (or even supposed countermeasures such as
> VPNs) because that would clearly suggest conflicts of interest.
>
> Sure, IBM's interests and agendas are suspect. Ditto Microsoft, Oracle and
> many others. But these days I prefer vigilance and skepticism over
> conspiratorial thinking.
>

If it's an actual plan then it's not just a theory any longer.

https://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-a-conspiracy-theory-when-you-see-one-133574

>
> Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada
> @evanleibovitch / @el56
>
>
> On Fri, 2 Apr 2021 at 14:30, Russell Reiter via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Red Hat has just dropped its Free Software Foundation funding and
>> support.
>>
>> Now that Red Hat is pretty well owned by IBM, wouldn't you like to ask
>> all those people, how far back in IBM's own history of misdeeds;
>> notwithstanding rumors, innuendo and just plain gossip; the rest of us
>> should look when judging the actions of  others.
>>
>> I sure would.
>>
>> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
>>
>> Stallman was outspoken about surveillance capitalisim and WSL. Those are
>> big cages to rattle with one tiny tin cup.
>>
>> Just in case you don't think an NGO is capable of such insider
>> machinations. I highly recommend the following book which has a pretty good
>> evaluation of how the powers that be; leveraged trends, NGO (charity)
>> connections and industry (read IBM) influences which gave Bill Gates his
>> silver spoon running head start with MS DOS.
>>
>> https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2760759-the-making-of-microsoft
>>
>> Don't even get me started on WSL as an organized plan to disrupt linux
>> freedom.
>>
>> Engage Encompass and Eradicate are proven techniques of imperialism and
>> capitalisim.
>>
>> I think Red Hats "Woke Spoke" is Broke on this one, but with all that IBM
>> money behind them, they will break this one guy out of the big picture,
>> just because they can.
>>
>>
>> Russell
>>
>

-- 
Russell
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