Anti-drm tools are a big case in point. And so is Bypass Paywalls Clean Firefox plugin. All of these have been purged from the "Great American Corporate Firewall".

Russian people != Russian govt != Russian companies.

I just use the tools that work.

The Catholic Church has always had this go on.

They only had a joke of a payout, and no criminal charges? Thats the console youre using as an example???

If we actually had real jurisprudence for the Public, Sony execs would be in prison for felony hacking, and the payout would have been treble the cost of console payable to each owner. Then lawyer fees would be on top of that (not removed from treble damages).

Now, even Nintendo destroys your hardware if you do something they dont like.

Like every one of these terrible companies, Im 100% sure that if they could update the NES firmware to destroy the console or sabotage it, they would.

Until it dies due to unintentional software or hardware defect.

NOT when it is sabotaged by the manufacturer.

Instead, its negotiation and laughable settlements.

As someone who does work with FLOSS, if I violated their copyright/patent, theyd extract pounfs of flesh from me. Tit for tat.

Im done with nice. I want blood from corporations who wrong us.

But every one of these devices demands some Android/Apple app, and shipping all my health data to basically non-HIPAA data brokers.

Id be all over a local-only no-data-exfiltration health tracker. But the companies do NOT want to provide that.

I, uh, guess, "go surveillance capitalism", for more choices?

(Please note: im explicitly saying this about the governments. Not the people. The people, in most/all situations, have little to no power to remove this corruption, other than civil war.)

I really think its the mixture of the Global North, and along with the worst of the worst people is why there isnt an African Union, with African single currency.

Its also the reason im not (cant) buy African products locally. The supply chain is nearly non-existant. I couldnt buy even if I wanted to.

We've been in this for much longer, but its been unevenly distributed.

I seem to remember a certain Biden saying to his billionaire donors "Nothing fundamental would change".

I remember Obama saying "Hope and Change", when it was 'keep gitmo open', drone strikes, and destroying 1fa via Wikileaks.

I remember Bush's "Mission Accomplished", and 25 more years of war in the sandbox. Of course, weapons manufs got bank.

Now the corruption is just more brazen. Its in everyonea faces now, and not kind of hidden. I dunno, being in the sunlight just shows how much a farce this shithole of a country is. And yeah, most is. Drive in any rural states or areas, and the poverty will hit you hard.

We're a 3rd world kleptocracy with liberal 1st world sploches in major cities.

And naturally, nanoclaw openclaw etm make it easy-peasy to make instant botfarms.

I must have triggered the botfarm, like how that "MK Rathbun clawbot" attacked Scott Shambaugh. Now at -3.

If a ALPR search was gated by a search warrant, upon probable cause by witness and signed by judge, I would have much less concern. Its still surveillance capitalism, but that at least would be due process.

A group was working on Diebold voting insecurity, and foreign implant hacking. Gone.

If they are NOT acting as an impartial aggregator and only censoring/deleting when the law demands, then they should NOT be covered under Section 230.

Thats quite simple.

A corporate charter is granted at the BEHEST of the People and the Government.

They are at best an artificial entity, and should be an extension of the laws binding government.

Frankly, the current situation of "You can say whatever you want legally (well, not really), but your job will fire you for it and youll end up in a homeless encampment". Yeah, thats real freedom.

So basically its real freedom for the Musks and Trumps of the world to sieg heil on stage, but fuck the citizenry for their attempt at speaking out.

At first, its just unsolicited commercial crap.

Then its non-corporate allowed unsolicited commercial crap.

Then its 'hide commercial crap in posts to deceive'.

Then its 'fuck over screen readers by aligning everything weird like FB to prevent finding commercial crap'

Then its "hey we can add these other non-spam categories (like Palestine) to silence them".

Im forced to engage in this system of capitalism. I am not a capitalist. My political power is 1 vote, aka basically nothing.

Because Im forced to engage, Im somehow responsible for the horrors others do. I absolutely reject this absurd line of thought.

Do I try to limit damage on voluntary things I do? Absolutely. Do I also try to help where help is wanted? Yes, I do. Thats also being a good human to fellow humans.

You mention: arms trade, mining, mercenary armies.

Ive never traded weapons. I dont even own any guns.

Mining? Im in the process of rewilding my property back to more forest. Im also getting rid of invasives previous owners planted (english ivy, etm).

And thanfulky, Im not a mercernary army. Ffs, really?

I have absolutely 0 sway on any of these topics. And I wont ever. Im not a politician, whose votes really do count.

> Sure enough, if you close your eyes hard enough you can pretend your wealth is well earned and unrelated the ills of the world.

I guess youre one of those types that because I might identify as "white" thats im a millionaire or otherwise abuse people at scale to make billions.

Protip: im not. Most of the jobs I worked was in food service or factory work. And all your accusatory platitudes are as deep as a porta-potty.

And yeah, there is no ethical consumption in capitalism. Its all exploitation, at every scale and measure. Dont have a whole lot of choices about it. Cry harder.

I will not answer to idiocy like "your bloodline X generations back".

I am not feeling guilty simply because I am not guilty.

And I do not feel guilty about historical happenings I did not have a hand in. They are things to read about to understand how we got here. But caring? No. More like dispassionate historical context.

I fight against shit like "Collective Historical Guilt". Liberals here in the USA use this crap, like in worthless land akcnowldgements but do absolutely nothing.

Ive also seen a lot of republican and MAGA types also have their 'white' ethnicity weaponized. Its obvious when 1 side blames you on a demographic you cant change (skin color). You vote against them.

I will never support collective guilt/punishment. And I will not 'care' about some historical wrongs.

To hell with your historical collective guilt machine.

I honestly dont care what people did before I was born. I had absolutely no decision in anything of theirs. Had no choice in any of that. Nor did I enslave or torture or murder people. My parents didnt either. Their parents didnt either.

And somehow, Im responsible for shit that happened hundreds of years ago? Whatever.

I dont mind helping and working collectively for a human cause. But im also not going to be an emotional collective guilt tampon because people before I was born did bad things.

Id say "Take it up with them", but theyre dead. Thats why you flail at anybody and try to make them feel responsible.

Shit pay, no benefits, and managers who threaten to fire you if you dont show up. Sick? Puke in the bathroom.

Whys this the case? Cause we Americans have garbage for labor laws. You can be fired for pretty much any reason. And you are NOT protected if youre sick.

When I had to work food seevice, at starbucks, subway, random pizza chain, etc, I begrudgingly came in sick, infected LOADS of customers. My choice was to work, or get fired (or not fired but 0 hours for next 2 weeks on schedule as punishment).

Who knows how many I got sick and potentially killed due to compromised immune systems. Im sure I did.

This is the real, hidden external cost, of our unmitigated capitalism. People get sick and die for the reason of making the boss more money, and too fucking bad.