Exactly. I tell this story to remind people that cynics aren’t just old cranks on internet forums. They’re also salespeople that decided to make some cash on our way to (consumer) hell, and they’re entitled to a turn at holding the pitchfork.

Slow down there, Satan. I kid you not, I had someone approach me to help develop technology like this a long time ago. The idea was to break into video streams at the ISP and insert advertising on the fly w/o prior approval.

My reaction, after realizing this person wanted to turn the internet into an ad-encrusted wasteland*, was: “What happens when that video stream is something live with a LOT of money behind it, like the Superbowl?” The legal and professional ramifications didn’t even clock with this guy. It was squarely in the “not my problem” category.

(* More-so than it is now. I’m not saying we’re getting off light, but this guy was a-okay with making everything look like the hallway bulletin board in a college dorm.)

Nord VPN can protect you from 3rd parties* that spy on your activities and sell your data.

*Disclaimer: The Eye of Sauron does not apply. Offer not valid in Mordor.

Just don’t tell their investors who are clearly pushing to make it a social media hub.

Edit: it’s the second-to-last place I would ever consider for that purpose. Right after Venmo.

This is a good point. My interactions with the Fediverse over the last few months has been sublime. Maybe users here are just proportionally more active?

Numbers are nice, but they’re not everything. Yeah, we could onboard 2 billion lurkers, but how would that improve anything?