Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- gafam [2023/08/26 13:59] – add Microsoft + links pfm
+++ gafam [2025/02/15 18:11] (current) – link to repository behind DaysSinceLastFacebookScandal pfm
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 //Privacy International// (a British NGO), has created a [[https://privacyinternational.org/corporateabusetimeline|timeline of corporate abuse]], a relatively small collection of evidence that these companies are up to no good.
+===== Google =====
+Google started as one of several search engines. It grew over the years, finally becoming the giant it is now.
+Further reading:
+  * [[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/google-testing-its-controversial-new-ad-targeting-tech-millions-browsers-heres|Google Is Testing Its Controversial New Ad Targeting Tech in Millions of Browsers. Here’s What We Know]]
+  * [[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/google-contributions-climate-change-deniers|Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers]]
+  * [[https://nitter.nixnet.services/element_hq/status/1355290296947499013|Google have suspended Element in the Play Store without notifying us]]
+  * [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveillance-toddler-photo.html|A Dad Took Photos of His Naked Toddler for the Doctor. Google Flagged Him as a Criminal]]
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(search_engine)|Project Dragonfly]]
+  * [[https://fuckoffgoogle.de/google-is-evil/|Google is Evil]]
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google|Criticism of Google]]
+==== Alternatives ====
+  * Install [[https://lineageos.org/|LineageOS]] on your Android phone and be free from "Google Apps" that you can never trust with your data.
+  * Use different search engines, never get used to just one of them.
+    * [[https://duckduckgo.com/|DuckDuckGo]],
+    * [[https://qwant.com/|Qwant]],
+    * [[https://searx.space/|SearXNG]].
+  * Consider searching directly where you expect to find the information. For example, you wouldn't search for recipes in a movie database.
+    * It makes sense to just go to your movie database of choice and search for the movie title, instead of asking Google to do the same for you.
+    * Many websites offer their own search engines. Some of them even use [[https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSearch|OpenSearch]] to make it easier to add them to your browser! It's very comfortable and easy to use.
+  * Register a mail account with a [[https://www.privacytools.io/privacy-email|privacy-respecting provider]].
+===== Amazon =====
+This large company is well known for:
+  * treating its workers terribly:
+    *  [[wp>Amazon worker organization]];
+  * avoiding paying taxes
+    * [[https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/15/tech/amazon-federal-income-tax/index.html|Despite record profits, Amazon didn’t pay any federal income tax in 2017 or 2018]],
+    * [[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/02/new-study-deems-amazon-worst-for-aggressive-tax-avoidance|New study deems Amazon worst for 'aggressive' tax avoidance]];
+  * shady practices, see [[reading:2023:w26#pluralistictiktok_s_enshittification_21_jan_2023|Cory Doctorow's essay about "Enshittification"]].
 ===== Facebook =====
-[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica|Cambridge Analytica scandal]] was particularly well covered by the mainstream media. But it wasn’t the only one --- there’s even a page called [[https://dayssincelastfacebookscandal.com/|days since last Facebook scandal]] that records evidence of Facebook’s wrongdoings.
+[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica|Cambridge Analytica scandal]] was particularly well covered by the mainstream media. But it wasn’t the only one --- there was even a page called [[https://dayssincelastfacebookscandal.com/|days since last Facebook scandal]] that recorded evidence of Facebook’s wrongdoings, but it went offline. However, there's still the [[https://framagit.org/pksl/dayssincelastfacebookscandal.com|repository]] that was used to document those scandals.
 At the time of writing (2021-04-11), most recent Facebook scandal was data of 530 million Facebook users had been made publicly available. A company that encourages people to share this information should process it responsibly, right? Well, Facebook doesn’t think so. According to their [[https://about.fb.com/news/2021/04/facts-on-news-reports-about-facebook-data/|statement]], everything is fine because the data wasn’t stolen by hackers --- it was merely collected by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping|scraping]].
@@ Line 47: / Line 84: @@
   * **monitor interesting websites** --- sometimes, there won’t be an RSS feed or any other way to find out about interesting events happening nearby. But that doesn’t have to be a problem. Your friends or news portals may be writing about them, so you can open up local news websites and search for interesting stuff.
-===== Google =====
+===== Apple =====
-Google started as one of several search engines. It grew over the years, finally becoming the giant it is now.
+Company known to drive the lust for eye-candy gadgets sold at insane prices produces them in factory that needs "suicide nets", to prevent workers from jumping out of windows.
-Further reading:
+At the same time, the company prevents its devices from interoperating seamlessly with other devices, e.g. using non-standard cable sockets.
-  * [[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/google-testing-its-controversial-new-ad-targeting-tech-millions-browsers-heres|Google Is Testing Its Controversial New Ad Targeting Tech in Millions of Browsers. Here’s What We Know]]
+References:
-  * [[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/google-contributions-climate-change-deniers|Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers]]
-  * [[https://nitter.nixnet.services/element_hq/status/1355290296947499013|Google have suspended Element in the Play Store without notifying us]]
-  * [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveillance-toddler-photo.html|A Dad Took Photos of His Naked Toddler for the Doctor. Google Flagged Him as a Criminal]]
-  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(search_engine)|Project Dragonfly]]
-  * [[https://fuckoffgoogle.de/google-is-evil/|Google is Evil]]
-  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google|Criticism of Google]]
-===== Amazon =====
+  * [[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-life-death-forbidden-city-longhua-suicide-apple-iphone-brian-merchant-one-device-extract|Life and death in Apple’s forbidden city]]
+  * [[https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-factorys-wall-e-robots-and-suicide-nets-revealed/|Apple factory's Wall-E robots and suicide nets revealed]]
+  * [[https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/19/23924549/jon-stewart-apple-ai-china-cancel|Jon Stewart’s Apple TV Plus show ends, reportedly over coverage of AI and China]]
-This large company is well known for:
+==== Alternatives ====
-  * treating its workers terribly:
+Instead of buying another fancy gadget from this greedy corporation, consider:
-    *  [[wp>Amazon worker organization]];
-  * avoiding paying taxes
+  * Extending the lifetime of the devices you've already got. (For example, you can [[https://minutestomidnight.co.uk/blog/degrowth/#see-what-corporations-are-really-doing-and-act-upon-it|downgrade your macOS]].)
-    * [[https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/15/tech/amazon-federal-income-tax/index.html|Despite record profits, Amazon didn’t pay any federal income tax in 2017 or 2018]],
+  * Buying [[https://www.fairphone.com/|FairPhone]], a phone that's designed with sustainability in mind. (Many of the components it's built of can be replaced, so you can fix your device instead of buying a new one, leaving less waste.)
-    * [[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/02/new-study-deems-amazon-worst-for-aggressive-tax-avoidance|New study deems Amazon worst for 'aggressive' tax avoidance]];
-  * shady practices, see [[reading:2023:w26#pluralistictiktok_s_enshittification_21_jan_2023|Cory Doctorow's essay about "Enshittification"]].
 ===== Microsoft =====
-Microsoft has been long enough in the business to learn avoiding spotlights. But they've done their share. They've developed strategy known as [[wpen>Embrace, extend, and extinguish]] (of course now followed by others).
+Microsoft has been long enough in the business to learn avoiding spotlights. But they've done their share. They've developed strategy known as [[wp>Embrace, extend, and extinguish]] (of course now followed by others).
 References:
@@ Line 81: / Line 112: @@
   - [[https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-us-state-department-told-microsoft-that-emails-in-its-cloud-were-hacked-last-month|The US State Department told Microsoft that emails in its cloud were hacked last month]]
   - [[https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/21/microsoft_key_skeleton/|Stolen Microsoft key may have opened up a lot more than US govt email inboxes]]
-  - [[wpen>Criticism of Microsoft]]
+  - [[wp>Criticism of Microsoft]]
+==== Alternatives ====
+  * **use free operating system** --- depending on your experience with computers, you can choose either **Linux** or something more advanced (like a flavour of BSD),
+  * announce looking for a job on fediverse,
+  * register a mail account with a [[https://www.privacytools.io/privacy-email|privacy-respecting provider]].