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People have always been baffled as to why I refuse to get a Google account or a Discord account, or want programs I actually run locally, subscription-free. @pluralistic explains why:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/22/degoogled/#kafka-as-a-service

https://locusmag.com/2024/07/cory-doctorow-unpersoned/

And no, I don't buy into the "if you're innocent you have nothing to fear" attitude about things like this, or privacy, or the like. I have plenty of experience with authority figures or people in positions of even petty power being arbitrary and untrustworthy.


Cory Doctorow: Unpersoned

AT THE END OF MARCH 2024, the romance writer K. Renee discovered that she had been locked out of her Google Docs account, for posting “inappropriate” content in her private files. Renee…
Locus Online
@Cory Doctorow
in reply to Pteryx the Puzzle Secretary

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
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I have co-member on a committee I serve on who's trying to set up the org's digitized "bible" on Google docs—fine so far. Except what happens when Google randomly decides to shut down its "Folders" feature for some arbitrary reason?
in reply to Cavyherd

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
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I'm really grateful to Cory for this article, because now I can just point Committee Member to it, instead of trying to blather out my inarticulate understanding of the concern.
in reply to Cavyherd

Pteryx the Puzzle Secretary
Pteryx the Puzzle Secretary
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@cavyherd While I was never involved with Google+, as a TTRPG fan I am aware of how that community embraced that platform only to be screwed over and have years of its history disappear.

Though Google's general unreliability is a bit of a different issue than the one brought up in these articles.

@Cavyherd
in reply to Pteryx the Puzzle Secretary

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •
Digital stability is a general problem. I am a daily user of the Mac graphics app Pixelmator, which can do damn near everything Photoshop can do, at an actual reasonal price (& it's a download & NOT a subscription). But I resisted moving from Classic to Pro (UI stability is Yet Another issue) until the upgrade to Sonoma spiked Classic. >
in reply to Cavyherd

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •

But oh wait—there's something about the files I created in Classic before I bought my current Mac that makes Pro barf when I try to open them. So now recovering all that data has become a Project—that's not even guaranteed to be *possible.* And this wasn't even a case of some platform randomly deciding to slice off a userbase.

It's maddening.

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