Why we must demand free technology

There is so much spyware now it makes my head spin. The overwhelming majority of people do not seem to care that they are livestock for corporations and the government. They have absolutley no concerns about this, proudly proclaiming that they "have nothing to hide anyway", and thus do not need to care that they are under constant surveillance.

Technology exists to improve our lives, for our own good, we must insist on technology that respects us. Technology that doesn't treat the user as livestock. Technology that achieves a goal, rather than doing nothing except to make the 1% richer. Technology with sane limits, that does things because they are good. Technology that treats privacy as a basic human right, and is secure by design rather than by trust. In a way: Technology by the people, for the people, under God, indivisible, and with liberty and justice for all. Our rights to the source code shall not be infringed.

I'm talking tech that is designed in such a way that it doesn't do shady shit, not because we trust the developers to not do shady shit, but because it is designed in such a way that it can't do shady shit. You, as a user, should not have to be subjected to things that are not in your best interest. None of us should. This is why we must insist on free software, and free hardware, and free technology.

"I have nothing to hide" is a statement that is bullshit of the highest order, literally everyone has secrets. If you honestly believe you don't, then send me the password for your personal photo albums, I just want to look. How about the password for your email? I just want to read. While you're at it, put a camera in your bathroom for me. Oh, and in your bedroom, and your kids' bedrooms too. I just want to watch. Nothing to hide, right?

Sound creepy yet? It should. You might be saying "but you're just some random stranger!", to which I would reply, "And the staff that makes up the organizations you trust with your most intimate data are close friends?" Actually, you're safer trusting a nobody like me. Unlike big corporations and three letter agencies, if I did something nasty to you I would actually face consequences.

Your data is more valuable than you might be think. Where do you think Google and other "free" (as in beer) services make all their money? They don't make hundreds of billions of dollars every year just by serving up normal innocent little ads, they make that money because they can serve ads that are exactly tailored to you, because they know you better than you know yourself. Because they are constantly watching, listening, tracking, feeding everything you do into algorithms that are designed to compare every sound and movement you make with everyone else and effectively read your mind. They are predicting exactly what you are about to do before you even think of doing it, and they are so good at this that it becomes trivially easy to influence your behavior. You might be smugly thinking that advertising doesn't work on you because you never click ads, or you never watch commercials, this is simply not the case. The best advertising is that in which you are unaware it is advertising at all. This multi billion dollar industry exists because it works, and it works quietly, and well. The almightly algorithms silently control everything you see on the web, pushing certain results to the top of your search queries, filling your feed with news articles, reccomending inferior products, all because someone trying to get your dollar paid them to do so.

If this bothers you, you might be asking what you can do about it, or if there is even anything that can be done. There is. For starters, you can switch to free (as in freedom) tools. Yes, this will take some effort, and yes, it will take some time. Everything you have ever done has had a learning curve, and you pay for these tools not with money (although you should donate to the developers if you like them), but with your time. Wasted time that is currently spent scrolling through memes is a good place to draw from.

I consider learning technology these days to be absolutely paramount. And I don't just mean everyone needs to know how to plug in a WiFi router or how to attach a file to an email. I mean that that everyone, EVERYONE, should understand at least the core basics of how our technology works. You don't have to be a CompSci major, I most certainly am not, but understanding the key concepts behind binary logic, networking infrastructure, file storage, computer hardware, etc, these things are essential. Just like how every cowboy had to be able to ride a horse, and every Viking had to know how to swing a sword, these days everyone must know how their computers work. These devices are as much a part of our daily lives as wine was to the Romans.

Not knowing anything about how your computer (or smartphone) works nowadays is akin to being a pirate who doesn't know how to sail. It's knowledge you must have, or you will simply be left stranded at best, and vulnerable to attack at worst.

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