Ecco the dolphin

Tbh I’m not even sure the app is breaking any laws at all. Reporting on the presence of law enforcement is (not always but sometimes) protected speech here. I don’t use the app, and I haven’t heard that they are trying to arrest anyone in regards to it.

Honestly though… Have you thought through everything you’re saying? Sheltering Jewish people during the holocaust was illegal in Germany.

Anyway, have a nice day, those are my thoughts.

I don’t want to drag this conversation into American politics, but I will say ICE has been doing things against USA law. Things are not great here. Even noncitizens have rights that need to be respected, and ICE is failing to do that. They have also arrested lawful residents, citizens too, in their sweeps.

The ICE tracker app is a protest app/ direct action sort of thing, not a tool for criminality. Surely you can see the value of being able to use technology to resist a tyrannical government?

By the way, do you want the USA government to potentially control which software can be installed on your phone? Google is an American company. USA courts could decide (international company) is violating (American IP law or something else) and instruct Google to disallow their app from being installed entirely.

They can pull apps off the app store now, and they do that, but currently you can still side load stuff.

I think that other guy’s comment about the ICE tracker app really highlights the most important problem: If only signed apps can run, governments can pressure companies to remove access to certain apps. Even if Google allowed posting the app, the author would have to de-anonymize himself, and Google would have to comply with the law if they were subpoenaed. They would definitely give up the author’s name. It is an issue of freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to do with your device what you choose to do with it. You might not have a use for it (right now) but it’s not necessarily something you’d want to give up.

And, honestly, I would personally be affected by this, eventually. I use an app called NewPipe to watch youtube. It already isn’t available on the app store (violates google’s ToS), and I doubt they’d let people install this even if the author properly identified themselves, because I use it to avoid watching adds and to be able to “subscribe” to channels without an account. I could just borrow my husband’s premium subscription, I guess, but I really only use NewPipe to watch certain things, and it lacks the algorithmically driven feed (which I am actively avoiding, Google tends to suggest things that make you angry for clicks).

As a user, you should be upset that a private company is controlling how you are allowed to use your device that you paid for with your money.

This would be like if Microsoft decided you could only run Microsoft-approved code on a computer you purchased, in some cases with a locked bootloader so you can’t even change your OS.

Also, Google is (imho) already operating unethically when it comes to the app store (See Google v. Epic). I don’t care about Fortnite, but Google really shouldn’t be able to take a cut of random services just because it’s running on Android.

I bought a refirb Chromebook with an Intel CPU for $150 and put Debian on it.

Its a piece of shit, but I feel like a technology racoon. Its also lightweight. I do my homework on it.

Speakers don’t work tho, but it’s OK thats what headphones are for.

You could just go cheap until u find something perfect.

Prentending to be hackerman is a legit usecase IMHO. They do seem like fun, but I personally can’t justify the cost.

I would definitely play with one if I had one

I refuse to believe this title is anything other than engagement-bait, personally.

I think it’s notable what they didn’t find. No guns, weapons. No plane tickets. No bombs or bomb making equipment. No actual real plans, just aimless searches. This guy is young. You can find a picture of this guy online (I’m not going to link it. I think these sorts of sites should be illegal tbh).

My guess:

• Mentally ill, possibly mentally disabled
• Lives with mom/dad etc, probably unemployed or unable to find a “good” job (Not a moral failing. American society is not giving many options for young adults to live “complete” lives).
• Mom/dad/whoever notices how angry he is and installs a keylogger, because they don’t want him to become a mass shooter, and he’s a grown man still on Roblox.
• Immediately confesses everything to FBI

This guy needs a mental health intervention, not jail time. I have a hard time believing he is much of a public threat since they listed all the cool stuff they found in his house in the FBI charging documents but no guns/etc. This guy didn’t have a plan.

Highly recommend this podcast episode from Reveal: Lessons From a Mass Shooter’s Mother

Idk man, having down syndrome also gives you a much greater chance of things like heart defects. Life expectancy has improved recently to 50-60yrs old for them according to a quick search. I don’t think there’s a dilemma here at all. I wouldn’t want a disease that decreases my lifespan.

These folks are standing up against a great wrong and you’re just going to assume they’ll go back on their values later?

What makes you so confident they’d change their minds later and go against those values? Do you know them personally? Do you have a crystal ball to gaze into the future?

Friend, the magazine this article is from is named Jacobin, after that political movement.

It is a US-based magazine, and it’s not very popular, so it’s understandable that you haven’t heard of it. But it does pay to read the article before commenting.

Jacobin (magazine, wikipedia link)

Errr… am I mistaken? This is the first time I’m hearing about nationalizing SpaceX and it’s from Jacobin…

Does Jacobin make a habit of calling people communists? Pretty sure they advocate for socialist positions usually…

big spiderman pointing at spiderman vibes if true

I’m not coming to argue you on your main point. As a Communist, I think communism would be great in Japan, and a lot of other places.

However, you are completely wrong about the USA not defending Japan. Unlike taiwain there are several large american military bases in Japan, and actually Japan is not allowed to have a large military of its own through its constitution (I edited this, corrected)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Mutual_Cooperation_and_Security_between_the_United_States_and_Japan

article 9 of Japanese constitution involving its military

Okinawa is one base a lot of people have heard of, but there’s like 20 american military bases there. Japan depends on the USA for its foreign defense.

Since Japan is the largest foreign holder of american government debt (bonds) it might be appropriate to call them a vassal state.

I guess I will over-explain my snarky comment.

I’m making an analogy with robbing a bank, something that everyone would agree is a criminal activity because:

1. Bill Gates is a billionaire. Billionaires hoard wealth that they cannot possibly spend in their lifetimes and use that excess wealth to influence our political processes to get what they want. The existence of billionaires is violence, just not the sort of direct violence we all recognize.

If you don’t find that point convincing:

2. The only reason Bill Gates is as wealthy as he is is due to Microsoft being so profitable. I think it’s funny how quickly everyone has forgotten how anti-competitive and scummy Microsoft was during the 1990-2010s (and even today), and they definitely wouldn’t be where they are today without those practices. If you believe in free markets, this should make you angry, because competition is good for the consumer. Anti-competitive practices could be seen as a type of theft here.

A great deal of his wealth is unearned and comes at a cost to society in the form of an unfair technology market. He is the benefactor of a system who rewards those who have the most already, a system that allows your neighbors be homeless, sick and/or without basic necessities.

Kind of like a bank robber has unearned wealth. A bank robber (who got away with it!) giving away their unearned wealth to their favored charities doesn’t really belong in Uplifting News.

Bank Robber vows to give away his stolen funds by 20 years from now to charities of his choosing. He’s one of the good ones! So uplifting!

Which, in an ideal world, is why AI generated comments should be labeled.

I always break when I see a deer at the side of the road.

(Yes people can lie on the Internet. If you funded an army of propagandists to convince people by any means necessary I think you would find it expensive. People generally find lying like this to feel bad. It would take a mental toll. With AI, this looks possible for cheaper.)

In addition to the replies you got already, discord has screen sharing/streaming. An experience kind of like zoom (I don’t use it and dont see the appeal but maybe someone who does can elaborate more. My partner uses this feature sometimes).

R

We can reject the null hypothesis that you are not a nerd at significance $\alpha < 0.001$.

oh wait, shit let me run that again, my data frame is full of NA somehow, again.

deleted by creator

I’ve lost patience with my species

I hate that this is what I’ve become

Why should anyone value what you have to say? Are you just here to expose us to your misanthrope?

Human life is not more inherently valuable than the cow

Become vegan, you’ll feel better