Thank you for that! Turns out this organization received a $5 million+ grant from Google, after operating under $5000 for like 4ish year.
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/300100369
The image can be found in the filings…
I wonder what the organization did so successfully in their first few years to warrant Google giving them $5 million.
For something as sensitive as typing in a license plate that can be identified to you, and potentially label you as a domestic terrorist, this article is garbage.
The lazy reporter did not do any research or reporting on who funds the website.
Have no fear, I’m pooping at work and have time, as I am more curious than journalist hack Matthew Benton.
HaveIbeenflocked.com appears to be funded by an organization called:
https://altnewsfoundation.org/
They fund quite a few smaller local publications, with a focus on LatinX publications. Notably they do not fund any queer focused publications.
Their board appears to be 3/4 white. And their directors appears to be 50% white.
I cannot find where most of their funding comes from, the average, or the median donation size.
HaveIbeenflocked.com does claim they get their data from public access requests, which I find to be believable. They do not make clear that they dont save who has searched for a license plate number. They also don’t share how they save any search history.
My assumption is that they are saving every license plate search on their servers unencrpyted. Even if they aren’t malicious actors, they are not protecting your data from malicious actors.
Tl;Dr: Use this site with caution. Maybe dont use it at all. I don’t think I will.
DAMION: Security via obsolescence
Shit article. Doesn’t even explain what data collectives and cooperatives look like.
But sure theyll save the world.
I’d understand your argument more if it was an American company.
How? The opinion portion of the comment youre replying to is perfectly valid. It’s why any time there’s looting (BLM protests, Katrina, etc) the foil to the argument about lawlessness/looting is that the looting is almost always necessities (food, bedding, etc)
If you think the commenter is wrong for having stated that it wasn’t a mistake by Trump to pocket the tariff money, then youre wrong.
To make us enter a digital dark ages that is way more than just a digital one!
He’ll probably get a couple bucks per day he was in jail.
What’s Ecosia and noai.ddg?
The article talks a lot about how the modern movement isn’t an outright rejection of tech. Rather, it’s a rejection of Big Tech. Which is a really nuanced approach.
The fediverse is equally a rejection of Big Tech, but not a rejection of tech.
The Fediverse, as far as I’ve seen does not have any localized communities, and whatever it does have, its not like reddit where every town over 50,000 people has a sub reddit that gets posted to at least monthly.
The article talks about the Luddite club in NYC, and it mentions one of the goals of the movement as creating a channel for people to be able to find in-person events, without needing to go on [Big Tech owned] social media. In NYC, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, it absolutely makes sense that traditional marketing materials will go further than trying to get people to join non-Big Tech social media, and then also want them to show up in person.
The author highlights the good of early social media, as well. One of the examples they specifically cited was that it connected queer kids living in rural, conservative areas to other queer kids living in similarly dangerous areas. It allowed movements to happen. It is quite apparent that the Luddite Club of NYC is not serving this group of people (nor am I arguing that they should be). They are primarily focused on improving commonality within their community (which is NYC).
After making my initial comment, I did find the Luddite club website, and found that branches exist outside of NYC, but they are primarily found on college campuses. Which makes sense - college campuses are micro-cities with high levels of walk ability and public transit access, and they’re communities that most exemplify the spirit of the Luddite club of NYC. They are full of social clubs that have weekly newsletters (via email), they have lots of networking events, in-person connections, and flyers are everywhere on a college campus. The reason I no longer do medical studies isn’t because I wanted to stop doing them, its because since college, I have not encountered a flyer with the tabs that you pull off to get a phone number.
A more difficult place to start a Luddite club is in a shithole small town in bumblefuck USA. Why? Well, first things are more spread out, there aren’t as many 3rd spaces, and then there’s the small town everyone knows everyone bullshit rumor mills. Townies don’t like different or new groups of weird groups or whatever. I believe it’d cause a stir on a Shithole Midwest Town People in the Know Facebook page if 20 people showed up to a park wearing gnome hats. And it might grow in popularity. But very quickly it would devolve into some Christian cult lady shouting about how gnome hats are actually a sign of the Antichrist, and they’d start showing up to city council looking to ban it. If you lived in that town, every time you went on social media, you’d hear about the devil worshipping gnome hatters. Eventually, the Luddite club would get the reputation of being a group that antagonizes the fragile Christian community, and they’d start to lose support from the centrists that truly don’t care about gnome hats, but they’re just sick of the complaining. The centrists, being the cancer they are on society would see the easy solution as wanting the Luddite club to not exist, not because they think its morally wrong, but because they want to be able to enjoy their town without having a holier than thou Christian fucker bitch about gnome hats.
There are of course the places in between God’s country and NYC. But there are still challenges. In smaller cities and suburbs, the lack of walkability leads to less effective means of communication. And a whole slew of other issues that anyone with have a brain can come up with on their own for why starting a local Luddite chapter would be more difficult than doing so in NYC. Of course, there might be some points where its easier to start a Luddite Club in smaller towns/cities too. I’d be surprised if it was easier to create a Luddite club in a smaller town or city than NYC though.
The Luddite movement would do more for more people with an online presence. A queer kid being able to find Luddism online, is a good thing. And you can reject Big Tech online. That’s why we’re here.
From an organizational standpoint, its also easier to locally organize when you have feedback from communities trying similar things. That’s why trade shows exist - get people in the same industry in the same room to talk and your industry will improve. Using social media to talk about how you organized in a Luddite manner can improve the Luddite cause. From reading the article, I gather that it would be possible to find the Luddite club organizers online, just maybe not on Facebook or Reddit. I don’t see their mission as saying people/businesses shouldn’t use the internet. I see their mission as people/businesses should have the autonomy to be able to not use Big Tech. Further, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d be supportive of a coffee shop that exclusively advertises their events on their own website. I think their biggest complaint for that would be that individuals would be tied to a Big Tech device to even access the website in the first place.
The Fediverse is, in my opinion, part of the Luddite movement, even if the connection isn’t explicit.
But, I can see why you’d be confused, and make the comment you did, if you didn’t read the article…
??? Care to explain?
Oh dip. I’m sold on Luddism. Is there a Luddite community on the fediverse or to I need to start one locally?
Hold up.
You stated that Musk’s bastardization of the greatest electrical engineering to ever live’s legacy is untrustworthy.
You then stated that the driver could have made a mistake.
You then reason that both things voild he true at the same time.
Your conclusion is that we shouldn’t talk about this specific incident of the unreliable narrator, because we just don’t know.
Why?
Is it because we don’t have this conversation when other automakers have issues?
The reason we don’t is because the other automakers DO have the man stakes but they generally aren’t unreliable narrators.
Why? Because at some point the people said, “hey, no it’s pretty fucked up what these companies are doing. We should demand more transparency and laws to hold these companies accountable.”
It worked so well that legacy companies like Honda recall their products when they’re defective, 100k cars recalled this month.
Consumers don’t consistently question these companies because they generally do what’s expected of them.
Don’t let a shady Nazi run company off the hook because other companies hold themselves to higher standards.
Yea, honestly this pencil (and eventually a metal version of this) was like the BIFL of all my school supplies.
I’d get one, maybe a 2 pack, at most once a year. College, I had a metal version that lasted me all 4 years.
Give a kid one nice pencil or 2 pencils, and they won’t lose it. Give em an abundance and they’ll most definitely lose em.
Maybe. It’s been done to a degree, 1971, 4 years ago.
https://www.wired.com/story/22-year-old-builds-chips-parents-garage/
Wasn’t sure how much the hobby evolved since then. I asked hobbyist level as the lowest barrier to entry, but even wondering if something at a lighter scale than Intel could repurpose old CPUs or other ICs.
I’m in too. No bishop making rules without elections though. But we should definitely learn the pretzel recipe.
Adaptive cruise control generally sucks, it slams on the brakes when someone merges.into your lane and gets you going 20 under regularly. I’m shocked by the claim that 75% of people use it.
Lane assist is great though.