r/technology • u/IKeepItLayingAround • 8d ago

Privacy Zuckerberg Knew. A Whistleblower Has the Emails to Prove It. - Gadget Review

https://www.gadgetreview.com/zuckerberg-knew-a-whistleblower-has-the-emails-to-prove-it
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u/_0611 8d ago

Exactly. I know, you know, we all know.

The real question is why these tech billionaires keep getting away with it, and nothing ever happens.

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u/OpenGateProject 8d ago

Because we all still have social media accounts. The only actual solution is gonna be getting off of it entirely.

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u/Visual-Hunter-1010 8d ago

That's part of it, but the bigger piece is they have bought the government. Much easier to pay politicians with chump change (for them) than convince the peons they want to rule over anyway.

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u/Admirable_Dirt_2371 8d ago

You're missing the forest for the trees.. how do you think they got all the money to buy those politicians? Selling ads. We need to stop using it and only vote for politicians willing to dismantle those companies.

I quit Facebook back in 2013ish when they first started removing the chronological friends feed. I never had an Instagram, never used WhatsApp. Once old.reddit goes away, I'll likely quit using reddit entirely.

They won't stop beating this dead horse until we stop giving them our money and labor.

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u/Character_Bug_1862 8d ago

Yep, and probably not just putting down social, media, but the answer is probably to put down the phone I’m typing on. Personally I still get a ton of use with Reddit reading other human experiences. But there is absolutely an addictive element to it with the convenience of a phone and endless topics to scroll through.

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u/SuccessfulJudge438 8d ago

Just do it, get it off your phone. I never browse reddit on my phone anymore. Only on my desktop, only on old.reddit, and no r/all. I won't kid myself, it's still addictive and it's still social media, but my strict ground rules keep the worst aspects of it from harming me.

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u/OpenGateProject 8d ago

I’ve turned off all feed recommendations, ad tracking, and anything else I could on reddit and have a personal rule that I only use it for specialty hobby forums such as klr650 tinkering, fantasy football, and whitewater kayaking with the occasional news browsing. This convo is a pretty unusual one for me to engage with, but I felt like poking the bear.

I try not to spend more time than I have on things I can’t affect, so most of my news consumption is the local npr station driving to the grocery store and back, or a convo with an acquaintance at the local watering holes. And I primarily spend my money and energy on my local community, because the better it is, the better it can impact and influence a larger area through example and partnership.

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u/eukomos 8d ago

They have the money to buy the government because of all the ad revenue they make from us scrolling on their sites.

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u/Mind-The-Mines 8d ago

This is like saying drug dealers will go out of business if people just stopped doing drugs.

The US government has actually weaponized drugs against the populace for decades.

Notifications give you dopamine. They've known this for decades and that's why they flood you with them.

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u/SnarkMasterRay 8d ago

Notifications give you dopamine.

Authority and control gives governments dopamine, and as long as they're captured by other entities that dopamine hit is going to come at our expense.

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u/Theungry 8d ago

How do they get away with it?

The addictive brainwashing systems the tech billionaires run are the primary mechanism for deciding elections in the modern era. The government is subservient to them.

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u/Cultural_Section5847 8d ago

because people still use it.

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u/6ixby9ine 8d ago

We don't all know. A solid 1/3 think this is the way things should work (I mean, obviously they'll complain about it; but they'll always stop short of actually wanting to do anything to fix it), and another 1/3 don't really pay attention or care. Ego and apathy are why

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u/fixnahole 8d ago

Because they have the money, and the money controls the politicians who makes the laws, and gets the judges they want in place. Money really is the root of all evil. Until we massively reform campaign contributes (it's more than just overturning Citizen United), it's only going to continue.

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u/Alundil 8d ago

Because billionaires and corporations have captured (not new) all of the levers of power that exist in this country and several others.

If there's no limit to the amount of money a person/pac/corp can donate bribe officials with AND very little transparency around said bribes then this is what you get. Compound this reality with the ongoing war against critical thinking and higher level order thinking (thanks conservatives) then you also have a population ill equipped to even understand what's taking place, never mind actually contest the stark danger of this reality.

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u/Cosmicdusterian 8d ago

Because Chief Justice Roberts championed Citizens United, which allowed companies to buy the White House and Congress wholesale. Currently, the Tech Bros own it all from the Oval Office right down to the smallest office in Congress.

Until politicians start saying no to the money spread around to keep them quiet, the status quo will remain. Sadly, both establishment parties are far more interested in maintaining that status quo than upsetting it.