Contra big techs, pesquisadores lançam carta pela soberania digital

https://www.intercept.com.br/2022/08/17/contra-big-techs-carta-soberania-digital/

A mensagem, assinada por mais de 90 pessoas, critica o modelo de concentração de mercado em que gigantes transnacionais extraem dados sensíveis e de grande valor econômico da população brasileira para alimentar seus sistemas algorítmicos – e, assim, venderem produtos em “condições assimétricas e abusivas”.

(...) Como exemplo, os pesquisadores citam o caso das universidades públicas brasileiras, que adotaram docilmente o Google Workspace for Education, pacote oferecido pelo Google como “gratuito e ilimitado”, e acabaram reféns quando a big tech resolveu começar a limitar e cobrar pelo serviço.

Wondering what #CCIA is?

Computer and Communications Industries Association

Wikipedia has the following:
"Membership
CCIA members include a range of internet services companies to software to telecom companies such as Amazon, Apple Inc., BT Group, Cloudflare, Dish Network, eBay, Facebook, Google, Intel, Intuit, Mozilla, NordVPN, Rakuten, Red Hat, Samsung, Twitter, Uber, and Yahoo!."

Compare that to #FranchescaAlbanese' s list of #BigTech complicit in #Genocide?
https://afsc.org/gaza-genocide-companies

Denk je dat jij je telefoon gebruikt?
Of gebruikt hij eigenlijk jou?

Op Netflix staat de docu *The Social Dilemma* — oud-medewerkers van Big Tech leggen uit hoe sociale media ons gedrag sturen, democratieën ontwrichten en verslaving veroorzaken.
Verontrustend én onmisbaar.

#Netflix
#BigTech
#SocialMedia
#TheSocialDilemma

https://www.netflix.com/nl-en/title/81254224

Amazon and McKinsey Lead US Tech Retreat from China’s AI Scene

#AI #China #BigTech #Geopolitics #TechDecoupling #Amazon #Microsoft #McKinsey

https://winbuzzer.com/2025/07/23/amazon-and-mckinsey-lead-us-tech-retreat-from-chinas-ai-scene-xcxwbn

"Wir haben es leider verlernt, uns zuvorstellen, dass demokratische Infrastrukturen im digitalen Raum möglich sind, weil wir uns abgefunden haben, dass digitale Infrastrukturen Gott gegeben von irgendwelchen Unternehmen kommen, in denen einzelne Personen einfach kontrollieren und entscheiden können, wie wir uns dort fortbewegen dürfen, wie wir darüber kommunizieren und uns informieren können. Das ist eine riesige Herausforderung. Andererseits ist es machbar, sich um Alternativen zu kümmern. Aber das ist nichts, wo man denken sollte, das macht schon der freie Markt," sagt @markus_netzpolitik.

"Der freie Markt hat gar mehr nicht die Möglichkeiten diese Alternativen zu bauen."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k04dm5KT64

Jetzt auch bei Peertube: https://peertube.heise.de/w/oC16Quad6wX1Ehmx3SM68Y

»The Future is Federated: Year 2«

@_elena looks back at her Fediverse journey so far:

»My goals now are more modest: planting seeds in people's minds that another way to interact online is possible.

And when people ARE READY and willing, help them set up an account on the Fediverse software best suited for their needs...«

And she's doing well. Her »Fediverse Introduction« video surely helps to plant seeds in people's minds

#SocialMedia #Fediverse #BigTech

https://news.elenarossini.com/the-future-is-federated-year-2/

Som det er typisk for en #BigTech virksomhed, der ulovligt opbevarer brugerdata, har Meta nægtet at underskrive EU's frivillige #AI Code of Practice-retningslinjer

... kommer helt ærligt aldrig til at forstå, hvorfor denne virksomhed overhovedet får lov til at operere i EU, da den aldrig har overholdt nogen lokale regler
https://www.theverge.com/news/710576/meta-eu-ai-act-code-of-practice-agreement

#BigTech’s “#SovereignCloud” promises just collapsed — in their own words

https://nextcloud.com/blog/big-techs-sovereign-cloud-promises-just-collapsed-in-their-own-words/

"We are ONLY in it for the clicks"

"Now, we can go into a meritocracy future where you only get things if you can compete at a very high level, according to rules created by these Silicon Valley guys. I think that a big part of the problem is who is creating this technology and who are they creating it for? I don’t necessarily buy the hype on AGI and AI, but the CEOs are pushing this idea that they’re about to massively transform and disrupt the world in a way that sounds like it’s going to maybe harm the majority of people to benefit a small number of people.

Why is that the case? Why are they designing it in that way? Why aren’t they trying to find ways to create technologies that can solve the problems we have, rather than create new, worse problems? I think a fundamental problem is that these technologies are now being designed by people in the private sector with nothing more than a profit motive. Whereas in the past, some of the biggest, most transformative technologies we have come out of government for the public good, for national security, for some other incentive, to try to solve the problem in a different way. So, I don’t know how you can fix that problem as long as we’re going to let a handful of extremely wealthy megalomaniacs guide the progress."

https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/707010/gil-duran-the-nerd-reich-tech-billionaires-authoritarianism-dictator

"Economic inequality has reached a staggering milestone in Silicon Valley: just nine households hold 15% of the region’s wealth, according to new research from San Jose State University. A mere 0.1% of residents hold 71% of the tech hub’s wealth.

The findings come from the 2025 “Silicon Valley Pain Index”, a report published by SJSU’s Human Rights Institute each year since 2020. The report aims to quantify “structured inequalities” in Silicon Valley, and measures “pain” as “both personal and community distress or suffering”.

This year’s index reports that the wealth divide has widened in Silicon Valley at double the rate of the whole United States over the past decade. The nine wealthiest households in the valley control $683.2bn – a $136bn increase over the past year.

At the same time, 110,000 households reported nearly none or no assets.

The cost of living in Silicon Valley has risen as well: renters must earn $136,532 to afford an apartment – the highest in the nation.

The report ranked San Jose No 4 in “impossibly unaffordable” cities worldwide (after Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver). Yet, no cities in Silicon Valley have raised the minimum wage in the past three years. The report finds that 54,582 low-income households do not have access to an affordable home in San Jose and that homelessness grew 8.2% from 2023."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/21/silicon-valley-income-wealth-gap

@europarl_en threatens wider ban on lobbyists as #Amazon spat deepens

All tech lobbies associated with the e-commerce giant — including @DigitalEurope, @CCIAeurope and @ITI — could be barred from Parliament in major escalation of fight over warehouse working conditions. #EU #BigTech

https://www.politico.eu/article/parliament-weighs-larger-lobbying-ban-for-amazon/

2025 summed up in one headline…

𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝘼𝙄-𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣

https://www.404media.co/spotify-publishes-ai-generated-songs-from-dead-artists-without-permission

"We're making some changes to our {legal agreements, privacy policy} and wanted you to know. Click here to see how we're going to screw you over even more."

Looking forward to my last event before summer recess

https://visegradinsight.eu/online-event-how-can-we-build-resilience-against-disinformation-in-the-deepfake-era/

New on #TheFutureIsFederated

"The Future is Federated: Year 2" - where I take a look back at a year of posts (and some cringy early ones), argue that the #Fediverse is collectivist in nature (as opposed to the individualism of Big Tech platforms) and discuss my plans for the future of this blog series... and what success for the Fediverse looks like to me (spoiler alert: slow organic growth and sustainability)

: https://news.elenarossini.com/the-future-is-federated-year-2/

Just fought for an hour on a big mega-shopping site trying to get the free shipping they were offering. Tried everything, but after going to round 15, gave up and cancelled the order.

#Enshittification is about to chase me off the f*cking internet for good. Trying to determine if I can live without it (I cannot, nobody can any more).

The idea of becoming a hermit in the woods totally off grid - on days like this - sounds appealing.

The #BigTech Bros can kiss my ass. That is all.

“Israel’s genocide is big business – and the face of the future”

by Jonathan Cook on Substack

@palestine
@israel

“US corporations and military planners welcome the ‘legal maneuver space’ Israel has opened up for them to profit from warfare that slaughters civilians”

https://open.substack.com/pub/jonathancook/p/israels-genocide-is-big-business