Privacy, Free Trials, and Piracy as the Only Alternative - Hate Thread for The Enshittening of the Internet

[Black Man Underwear]

If you've used a VPN with YouTube recently, you've definitely seen this screen:


If you're not filling out a captcha, you're required to sign in. For most users, logging in is basically the same as sending a picture of your driver's license. You're not being blocked to stop DDOS attacks, Google has so much infrastructure it's impossible. Why do this? It's to track your data. What are you watching? Where is your home? Where are you watching from? What's your name? We know captchas are spyware by themselves as well:

https://www.techspot.com/news/106717-google-recaptcha-not-only-useless-also-basically-spyware.html

The technology doesn't even work. It's purely designed to dox you. I have to fill out a captcha when I use Google even without a VPN because my browser blocks too much. If you want to avoid this, you have to turn off your VPN and use a more cucked browser.

Official streaming platforms are degrading in different ways: Netflix has been taking measures against password sharing, an inverse of their previous position explicitly encouraging it. Amazon no longer has ad-free Prime movies, you have to pay extra-extra for that feature now. Privacy-wise, you doxed yourself by paying them money online. If I could pay in cash digitally, I would.

Another concerning area is the AI-sphere; this isn't isolated to videos and streaming. Go to any small AI-content site. What do they require?



Why does every "literally who" AI company have a login system with Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Discord, etc? Why does Suno need my phone number?

It's to dox you, plain and simple. They want you the person identified and prohibited from using their service if you make it say nigger.

Gradually every digital company is adopting some methodology to force you to link your real identity to their service while degrading the service itself. They do this either through transactions or bombarding you with sign-ins, captchas, and demands for your identity. This is becoming the entire internet.

When you make me dox myself to use your service, I'm not going to do it, I'm going to find a way to pirate the content or I'll just quit viewing it. You've made the free path the easiest and the only one that preserves my privacy. I trust my torrent client more than I trust Amazon or Google. My torrent client won't sell my credit card data to Indian scammers or the government, and it won't track my purchase history at Walmart. What reason have you given me to pull out my credit card?

 

[herefortheactualthreads]

lets hope the internet dies out so we can all touch grass again.

 

[Weapons Grade Autism]

Hello, fellow privacy schizo! may I interest you in some Email Forwarding so that you could anonymize more? That does not solve the phone number "question" or "#Q" as you have previously stated, but it is great for anywhere else that does NOT force a # or 2FA.

 

[moowatica]

Dude just use FOSS or FLOSS alternatives when you can. Solves most of this google bullshit

 

[Fcret]

Texas now requires you to show your driver's license to download apps on your phone.

 

[Combustion Engine]

Texas now requires you to show your driver's license to download apps on your phone.

• Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed the App Store Accountability Act, requiring app store operators like Google and Apple to verify the age of all users.
• The new law will prevent minors from downloading apps or making in-app purchases without verified parental consent.
• This legislation, which drew pushback from some tech companies like Apple citing privacy concerns, makes Texas the second state to pass such an age-verification law. (source)

That's insanely fucked. Land of the free (surveillance licenses for corporations). I don't think you can even side-load apps in Apple smartphones outside the EU, or install alternative stores. Google should take the hint and permanently enable Play Protect and disable arbitrary .apk installation from users in those states too.

 

[Grub]

Google should take the hint and permanently enable Play Protect and disable arbitrary .apk installation from users in those states too

Fuck play protect. I can't stand the way android constantly asks me to enable it any time I install an apk from outside the play store. No I don't need google to constantly monitor what apps I have installed on my phone. Android does not need to become even more limited. They've been trying their best to become like Apple for years now. Fuck that shit. I want a small computer not another fucking retarded useless appliance.

 

[Nitro!]

Email relays are an absolute must for your privacy because no one and nothing is unhackable. You can "delete" your account (sometimes) but these fuckers never discard your data, ever, even if compelled by privacy law. It's endless digital gold. Never give out your real phone number, either, it's the closest thing to a one-to-one, universal ID for a real person and they will never, ever stop calling and texting you.

Some places have started flagging accounts with relay emails for "security" reasons, but that's bullshit. They're always the worst offenders of filling inboxes with garbage, and it's just not worth it. Walk to the store, pay with cash. Try to avoid scowling at the cashier when she asks if you want to sign up for the rewards program.

 

[GeorgeFloydFentanylStash]

Texas now requires you to show your driver's license to download apps on your phone.

That’s absolutely retarded

 

[Black Man Underwear]

Texas now requires you to show your driver's license to download apps on your phone.

Greg Abbott once again proving he's a liberal by any other name.

 

[Nuclear Poisoning]

I made an anonymous e-mail with Protonmail, just so I could make some AI accounts (for Chatgpt etc) but now protonmail blocks the fucking activation e-mail sent by the AI site, unless I provide a phone number. I tried making several e-mail accounts (every time changing the VPN IP) but only managed to recieve one single activation e-mail (from Grok).

 

[Black Man Underwear]

I made an anonymous e-mail with Protonmail, just so I could make some AI accounts (for Chatgpt etc) but now protonmail blocks the fucking activation e-mail sent by the AI site, unless I provide a phone number. I tried making several e-mail accounts (every time changing the VPN IP) but only managed to recieve one single activation e-mail (from Grok).

Try using Outlook. For a week or so it won't require phone or anything.

 

[Hellwalker]

I don't think you can even side-load apps in Apple smartphones outside the EU, or install alternative stores.

What? Isn't it the other way around that the EU got cucked out of being able to sideload shit on IOS whereas anywhere else had been unaffected? I'm pretty sure that's the way it was until very recently. I believe that you even had to pay for Altstore if you were in the EU. Luckily, it looks like you don't have to anymore.

Personally, I prefer Sideloadly since I really don't need an entire app for my sideloading. I like doing all of that shit on my PC.

 

[Combustion Engine]

What? Isn't it the other way around that the EU got cucked out of being able to sideload shit on IOS whereas anywhere else had been unaffected? I'm pretty sure that's the way it was until very recently. I believe that you even had to pay for Altstore if you were in the EU. Luckily, it looks like you don't have to anymore.

Personally, I prefer Sideloadly since I really don't need an entire app for my sideloading. I like doing all of that shit on my PC.

Not up to date with it nor do I own one, I remember there being a lot of noise about it, but it does look like Apple went with the most devious "compliance" making it useless, so I was . Doesn't seem like there's any issue with using the normal sideloadly method anywhere including EU, but the user is still the cucked one. Maximum 3 apps without a paid dev account, that expire every 7 days unless signed (extending to 1 year)? Fucking lame, and they could pull the plug on it any time as it is intended for developers and not actual users.