• Re: Facebook still sucks

    From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Friday, February 07, 2025 07:27:48
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    They still serve 1 good purpose: they teach kids about Jesus.

    It depends. They usually teach a very warped sense of Jesus. But the upside is that many people actually live their lives according to what Jesus taught, so they can serve as good role models. But too many others are "do as I say, not as I do."

    I just
    need to get out of the Roman Catholic church and probably into the Orthodox Catholic church instead (they are not affiliated with Catholic Charities.)

    All churches are suspect. I recently went to a service at a very large church near by and, I swear, I thought I was at some sort of variety show. It was the biggest joke of a "service" that I ever saw.

    It's true. And being vigilant is what I do all day every day. But I'm a slave to the left due to their association with all these institutions.

    I think you missed my point: Yes, we need to build new institutions. But we also need to build in vigilance to prevent the Elitists from infiltrating them and wrecking them just like they did to the old institutions.


    ... If it's obvious, it's obviously wrong.
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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Friday, February 07, 2025 08:24:28
    All churches are suspect. I recently went to a service at a very large church near by and, I swear, I thought I was at some sort of variety
    show. It was the biggest joke of a "service" that I ever saw.

    I used to think that church is good because you can get a large quantity of people praying for common goals, but in reality church goers don't all have the same goals, and besides, it only takes one person's prayer to trigger a response from God.

    It's true. And being vigilant is what I do all day every day. But I'm slave to the left due to their association with all these institution

    I think you missed my point: Yes, we need to build new institutions.
    But we also need to build in vigilance to prevent the Elitists from infiltrating them and wrecking them just like they did to the old institutions.

    We need some federal legislation. We "scored" a federal court win when a judge ruled against Google in an antitrust case last year, but it's been 7 months since the ruling and Google is still the default search engine on phones, Chrome is still the default browser, and Android is still the default OS.

    The problem with that probably lies in the fact that Google has enough money to pay congress to stay quiet.

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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Saturday, February 08, 2025 08:32:21
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    I think you missed my point: Yes, we need to build new institutions.
    But we also need to build in vigilance to prevent the Elitists from infiltrating them and wrecking them just like they did to the old institutions.

    We need some federal legislation.

    We already had that with the old institutions. Remember that Elitists don't believe laws apply to them, so they just ignore them. So to use the law 1) someone must bring suit and 2) we need to get a judge that isn't in the Elitist's pocket.

    We "scored" a federal court win when
    a judge ruled against Google in an antitrust case last year, but it's
    been 7 months since the ruling and Google is still the default search engine on phones, Chrome is still the default browser, and Android is still the default OS.

    But most of those decisions are made by the phone company, who makes the Android build for the phone. So not much of a win. Google simply doesn't bundle Chrome into Android anymore, but then the phone companies put it back in their builds.

    The problem with that probably lies in the fact that Google has enough money to pay congress to stay quiet.

    Well, that's changing. As more and more people opt for alternatives, Google product range decreases. And others are actively poisoning Google's data.


    ... The man who dies with the most toys is dead..
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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Saturday, February 08, 2025 13:09:34
    We "scored" a federal court win when
    a judge ruled against Google in an antitrust case last year, but it's been 7 months since the ruling and Google is still the default search engine on phones, Chrome is still the default browser, and Android is still the default OS.

    But most of those decisions are made by the phone company, who makes the Android build for the phone. So not much of a win. Google simply
    doesn't bundle Chrome into Android anymore, but then the phone companies put it back in their builds.

    I understand. It sounds like Google can pass the blame to the phone companies, but the phone companies can pass the blame to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers can can pass the blame on "the phones need an OS in order to
    function." My assumption is that there's no blaming anybody but ourselves until we start manufacturing our own phones.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Windows/64)
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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Sunday, February 09, 2025 09:16:17
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    I understand. It sounds like Google can pass the blame to the phone companies, but the phone companies can pass the blame to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers can can pass the blame on "the
    phones need an OS in order to function."

    It's not so much of a blame game here. Companies are going to do what their customers ask. Until we start telling companies like Verizon that their products are unacceptable and stop buying them, they will keep installing spyware.

    I just had to delete AndroidSystemSafetyCore that Google dropped on my phone without my knowledge or consent. It's a client-side "scanner" (i.e. it's spying on what you are doing). I've already sent a note to Verizon that this is unacceptable and their Android build should not have allowed that to be installed "behind the scenes." But I've already decided that I won't be going back to them when I'm ready to get a new phone.

    My assumption is that there's
    no blaming anybody but ourselves until we start manufacturing our own phones.

    That's already been happening. There's GrapheneOS - which is Android compatible without the spying. The problem is getting a phone carrier to offer a phone with it.


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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Sunday, February 09, 2025 10:04:06
    companies, but the phone companies can pass the blame to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers can can pass the blame on "the phones need an OS in order to function."

    It's not so much of a blame game here. Companies are going to do what their customers ask. Until we start telling companies like Verizon that their products are unacceptable and stop buying them, they will keep installing spyware.

    I doubt that will ever happen. There might be a complaint here and there but the sheeple love Verizon and they trust them more than they'd trust you or me if we tried to tell them about the evil that's inside their beloved smartphones.

    I just had to delete AndroidSystemSafetyCore that Google dropped on my phone without my knowledge or consent. It's a client-side "scanner"
    (i.e. it's spying on what you are doing). I've already sent a note to Verizon that this is unacceptable and their Android build should not
    have allowed that to be installed "behind the scenes." But I've already decided that I won't be going back to them when I'm ready to get a new phone.

    It's hard to tell which programs or processes are necessary and which ones aren't. I try not to remove too much stuff because I've learned that later on the device will want that crap back.

    That's already been happening. There's GrapheneOS - which is Android compatible without the spying. The problem is getting a phone carrier
    to offer a phone with it.

    We need someone we trust to literally manufacture a phone, but show me a guy who knows how to do that who isn't an attendee at the WEF.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Windows/64)
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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Monday, February 10, 2025 07:24:39
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    I doubt that will ever happen. There might be a complaint here and
    there but the sheeple love Verizon and they trust them more than they'd trust you or me if we tried to tell them about the evil that's inside their beloved smartphones.

    Yup. And what happens over time is that they start having interesting things happen to them. When they talk about it, we just say "That's interesting. I use XXXX and I don't seem to have those issues." It takes time.

    Apple still exists because there's a portion of the population that simply doesn't want to understand technology and doesn't mind paying someone else to "just fix it". But, over time, that population gets smaller and smaller.

    It's hard to tell which programs or processes are necessary and which
    ones aren't. I try not to remove too much stuff because I've learned
    that later on the device will want that crap back.

    Same here. I'll go through my phone periodically (or if I get an "update" from Verizon) and clean out the trash. If I don't know what something is, a quick web search usually tells me. And sometimes I make a mistake but that's easily fixed. Some work, but at the end of the day, I'm more secure than most.

    Remember the old saying: I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.

    We need someone we trust to literally manufacture a phone, but show me
    a guy who knows how to do that who isn't an attendee at the WEF.

    Like I said, there are vendors out there who can do that. That's not the problem. The problem is getting those phones on the cell networks.


    ... Why can't women put the toilet seat back up?
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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Monday, February 10, 2025 06:59:30
    I doubt that will ever happen. There might be a complaint here and there but the sheeple love Verizon and they trust them more than they trust you or me if we tried to tell them about the evil that's inside their beloved smartphones.

    Yup. And what happens over time is that they start having interesting things happen to them. When they talk about it, we just say "That's interesting. I use XXXX and I don't seem to have those issues." It
    takes time.

    Most smartphone users don't think about the fact that apps communicate with databases around the world. Websites can do it too, but with apps it becomes even more difficult to control (China probably loves apps.)

    We need someone we trust to literally manufacture a phone, but show m a guy who knows how to do that who isn't an attendee at the WEF.

    Like I said, there are vendors out there who can do that. That's not the problem. The problem is getting those phones on the cell networks.

    For me it's not worth the trouble to obtain a custom device. I rarely use mine, and I hardly take it with me anywhere.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Windows/64)
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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 07:24:06
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    Most smartphone users don't think about the fact that apps communicate with databases around the world. Websites can do it too, but with apps
    it becomes even more difficult to control (China probably loves apps.)

    Most smartphone users today don't think about it. But people are waking up. There will always be ignorant users, but that's their problem.

    For me it's not worth the trouble to obtain a custom device. I rarely
    use mine, and I hardly take it with me anywhere.

    Which is why people tolerate this right now. They want the benefits, so they put up with the drawbacks.

    Now, if a company were to provide a device with the benefits but no (or at least fewer) drawbacks, that would drive the market toward more a more secure device.


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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 14:43:20
    For me it's not worth the trouble to obtain a custom device. I rarely use mine, and I hardly take it with me anywhere.

    Which is why people tolerate this right now. They want the benefits, so they put up with the drawbacks.

    Now, if a company were to provide a device with the benefits but no (or
    at least fewer) drawbacks, that would drive the market toward more a
    more secure device.

    That sounds like it could catch on. Even people who don't understand or care about privacy concerns would potentially want to switch to "the device that's more private."

    Anything that takes power away from Google/Apple would be a good cause.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Windows/64)
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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 07:25:45
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    That sounds like it could catch on. Even people who don't understand or care about privacy concerns would potentially want to switch to "the device that's more private."

    Anything that takes power away from Google/Apple would be a good cause.

    But it takes effort too because more private also means "less convienent".


    ... Do radioactive cats have eighteen half-lives?
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