[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

No shade to Gnome, because there is a place for them in the ecosystem, but this is why I moved from Gnome 2 to KDE (with a few stops along the way). One size will not fit all.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

KDE for the desktop and xfce for the laptop

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

Also, how many of you have ridden in the car with someone who experienced or witnessed too many accidents? Some of those people would pogo stick 2 miles to the nearest store rather than sit next to you while you back a car out of the garage. I think a lot of people who have experienced the downside of cars have sympathy for the idea that it doesn't have to be like this. We could have... options!

18

I have a

Beelink Ser5 Pro Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 7 5850U(8C/16T, Up to 4.4GHz), 32GB DDR4 RAM 1TB PCIe3.0 x4 SSD Running Spiral Linux (Debian w/ BTRFS Snapshots in GRUB and some other optimizations)

I've been using it as a server with mostly docker containers, rarely taxing it's abilities in any meaningful way. It's a playground that also runs a few serious/useful apps. Storage is largely on my Synology NAS.

My question is this. I hesitate to store data on the minipc as I seem to be ending up with a broken system fairly frequently when upgrading. NAS seem to be more expensive now and I want to add more storage for Tube Archivist. Are there DAS, Raid Enclosures, USB3 disk enclosures that I can plug in that will manage the disks and such, but don't pose a challenge to remount if I destroy and reimage the MiniPC?

36
submitted 1 month ago by njordomir@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

[Wall of Text]

Hello Fellow Lemmings,

I've been on a 2+ year long digital hygiene project involving moving to various self-hosted services, tidying up my backup procedures, cancelling underutilized subscriptions, streamlining my task management and calendaring, purging corporate evil from my phone, etc.

Recently, I made a big spreadsheet of my apps including their licenses, whether they're FOSS, whether they have cloud dependencies, where I'm sourcing them from, and whether I think they are sketchy. I hope to share this eventually once I have worked out what to do about a few of the remaining proprietary gremlins lurking on my silicon. I would love some input on how to deal with the apps I'd like to quit, minimize using, replace with FOSS alternatives, etc. The phone in question is an Android device running GrapheneOS.

I view my adversaries as follows:

  • First and foremost, I hate advertising, personalized tracking, intrusive notifications, etc. Corporate America/ Big Tech is my arch nemesis. I also feel an ethical obligation to move away from these solutions. I would also like to have control over my own data where possible and when it's within my skill level
  • I want my phone to be secure. I don't need to show up on in some scammer or spammer's list because some sketchy app stole my credit card or personal info. Same goes for physical security, I don't want anyone unlocking it unless I've given them permission to use it.
  • I'm least worried about state actors. Anything they want to know about me they could buy off Google, Amazon, etc. I really doubt I'm much of a target except the way they target all of us by piggybacking on corporate tracking. I know there are people on here who don't have the privilege of ranking this so low on the list and count myself lucky that this is >>currently<< not a bigger issue.

I'm approaching this from a practical point of view, unfortunately I do have some proprietary software I haven't found a suitable alternative to. I will probably still have a few of them, even after my purge is complete. Having said that, I'm a firm believer in risk reduction. I'd appreciate your insights, I've numbered them as that may help keep the conversation from becoming too chaotic.

  1. Discord Not sure what to do about this other than say "I told you so, we should have never left mumble!" I have communities on here I can't get elsewhere and always accessing via the desktop website is impractical when I'm actively involved in planning a surprise Minecraft raid.

  2. eeero If they get their act together, we're due to get fiber in the next year or so. They seem to install with eeero routers, but I would prefer to get rid of amazon, I really like the gli router I have for travel. Does anyone have experience with their router offerings? I'd like to have Wireguard access back to the home and network ad-blocking on a per-device basis is desirable. I've been using a drop in gateway to provide adblocking for my phone and laptop while I'm at home.

  3. Google Lens Some features can be replaced with TinEye or imgops, but the main thing I need is the augmented reality integration with google translate where you can point the camera at text to have it translated live on the screen. Do any FOSS translator apps include AR translation?

  4. Google Maps I'm surprised at how reliant I've become on this for opening/closing times, browsing satellite maps for fun, browsing satellite maps to find parking garage entrances, checking busy times, viewing menus, etc. I like Organic Maps for its simplicity and impressive ease of use. OSMand has an awesomely absurd amount of detail. For some reason I keep opening google maps, and it's more than just the menus and phone numbers. What map app(s) do you use for driving, biking, exploring? Do any FOSS map apps provide phone numbers, opening hours, and menus reliably?

  5. Google Translate I need the conversation translate feature where you can talk back and forth and have it live translate like an interpreter would. I can put it in its own profile to isolate it, but I'm still giving it a lot of info just by using it. What's my best FOSS or even reduced-harm alternative?

  6. Lyft & Uber & Southwest I may just disable these except for the rare occasion where I need them. What's the risk of enabling, using, then immediately disabling?

  7. Ring It seems like the big players are Amazon and Google. Can you recommend any privacy respecting doorbells that are relatively easy to set up? I need the ease of use because due to current life events my Home Assistant project is progressing very slowly. I failed at the VM install and don't want to screw up the system with a bare metal install as I have frequently used docker images running on it (data backed up though!). My Linux knowledge is begintermediate/intermediate with a weakness in networking.

  8. Youtube I have Thorium installed to access Peertube and ween myself off YouTube. This is a long term project. Short term, I have Tubular, a newpipe fork with sponsorblock baked in whic accesses youtube okay. I do have the official youtube app because I like being able to line up videos on the TV via chromecast. Tubular doesn't seem to cast. What do you do to get video/audio to your external screens?

  9. X-plore File Manager There is no alternative that I have found that does so much so well. This program is God-tier. I can do SSH, access network shares, set up sync jobs to backup folders, access nextcloud, and so much more. Possibly the most important app on my phone, but it's proprietary.

  10. F-Stop Photo Gallery I haven't found a gallery that works as well as this one. I also like that it can access network shares though it doesn't seem to include them in the favorites and ratings tabs, so there must be some sort of limitation with the metadata or something. I use it for basic photo management on my phone while I use a different app to view my old vacation photos and stuff like that. But it's proprietary. :'''-(

  11. Tody Keeps track of repeating chores by room and changes color from green to red based off of how long it's been since it was done. This works better for my brain than due dates because sometimes I can only keep everything in the yellow, but that looks like chaos with overdue everything when done in a traditional task management app. I know there is at least one other proprietary app that does this. Does anyone know of a FOSS app or better option?

  12. Nova Launcher I have an extreme aversion to clutter, unwanted notifications, bad spacing. I'm hard to please. Nova Launcher has scratched my itch for home screen customization for years and years. I think they recently got bought out or something, but people didn't panic terribly. I'm fairly certain there is no alternative that will meet my needs, so what can I do to limit my exposure? Can I use an app like Hypatia to see what URLs it reaches out to and block any telemetry and phoning home via DNS or something like that?

  13. Futo vs Transcribro The GrapheneOS default keyboard is fine but doesn't have voice input. I tried Transcribebro and recently stumbled across the source available Futo which has the source published, but is under some sort of non-commercial license. I'm not a company and I'm not so keen on the corporate grift to begin with. I care more about replacing google voice typing with something less malicious. Futo seems better integrated, but I'm torn about whether I should use/support Transcribro simply on account of it being open-source. Thoughts and experiences?

  14. Whatsapp I prefer Signal, but there are places I visit where Whatsapp has a majority share of users for any communication. Can I do anything to stop all the spam and idiotic crypto group invites and junk that comes along with this app? It's totally true to what I think of when I hear the "Meta experience", clutter and bullshit.

  15. Strava Is anyone hosting Wander? I've seen it posted on here and maybe on Mastodon but the installation process intimidated me a little bit. If I'm uploading my rides at all and I'm tracking on my cycle computer rather than with my phone, is there any additional privacy lost from installing the app? I use it for the heatmaps and people on here previously shared a number of useful alternative tools for making personal heatmaps overlaying map data. It's too much work without automating it somehow. I would like to reduce my exposure and understand the risks better though. Any ideas or experiences?

  16. Final question, for those of you using GrapheneOS, do you isolate apps in profiles or use the private space/work profile feature? How do you split up your apps. I've been running 2 profiles with one being Financial and Medical apps and one being everything else. Is this separation even necessary with the app sandboxing? I've been reading their forums, but it's an absurd amount of information to digest.

Thank you for any insights, experiences, recommendations you may share. I'm sure I will annoy the FOSS brigade (which I would like to eventually 100% join), the power users who answer these questions a dozen times a month, and the nihilists who think privacy is already a lost cause. Having said that, I appreciate your assistance as I have come a long way to get to this point and my proprietary dependencies are lower than they've been and more contained than they've been in a very long time.

3
submitted 3 months ago by njordomir@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

I recently found an unopened HP PhotoSmart 6520 in my mother in law's closet. She had it prepared for when her workhorse gave out. I've needed a scanner downstairs and want to figure out if I can safely connect this thing to the network without it bricking itself. You all probably already know HPs reputation and how they do sketchy things like blocking third party ink with firmware updates after the consumer has already purchased the product, or making it so you can't scan if the ink is out. Right now, all I want to do is scan some docs to linux, likely over USB, maybe over the network if I can get it to work. I don't want to rule out that my partner may want to print something.

What is the best way to go about this? Can I block the printer from accessing the internet on my router, but still have devices on the local network print to it? Should I? Can I see somewhere if updates are reported as safe and only then unblock the internet access so it can update?

Problem is, as usual, Google is less than helpful. Does anyone know where I can find a list of which printers were affected and which are still affected?

39

I'm down to the last few hours of discounts here. I need to get my NAS and my server onto a UPS months ago. Both are already set to come back on when power restores. We rarely have power outages and have solar panels (no house battery though), so a full outage is even rarer.

I understand that a UPS can send a shutdown signal when power is lost. Is this a universal standard or format for this? If so, what keywords should i use when searching for compatible products? My father told me to look for one with Ethernet ports. I just want to make sure everything is compatible. I go out of town occasionally and as well as preventing data loss, I also need everything to go down and come back up automatically so I don't have to call a friend, neighbor, or my spouse to go mess with stuff for me.

UPS brands considered (alternatives welcome): APC, Cyberpower

Systems protected, Synology DS 220+ & BeeLink MiniPC running Debian 12.


Also, for anyone who has helped me out previously in my self-hosted journey, thank you! Things are going great and I have a few useful docker images running various services and have set up grub btrfs snapshots to easily fix my screwups. This community has been incredibly helpful.

3
submitted 4 months ago by njordomir@lemmy.world to c/android@lemmy.world

Hi folks, I just picked up a Pixel 8 Pro on an early black Friday deal. I've had my previous OnePlus 9 for way longer than the average timeframe and the same with my Oneplus 6 before that.

Looking at cases, I noticed I recognize very few of the manufacturers, basically just Otterbox and Spigen.

If you gravitate towards a particular case manufacturer, I would love to know:

Who makes the best phone cases in 2024?

No limits on style or form, but I don't need rhinestone bling or anything like that.

31

Hi folks,

You all have been instrumental to my self-hosting journey, both as inspiration and as a knowledge base when I'm stumped despite my research.

I am finding various different opinions on this and I'm curious what folks here have to say.

I'm running a Debian server accessible only within the home with a number of docker images like paperless-ngx, jellyfin, focalboard, etc. Most of the data actually resides on my NAS via NFS.

  1. Is /mnt or /media the correct place to mount the directories. Is mounting it on the host and mapping the mount point to docker with a bind the best path here?

  2. Additionally, where is the best place to keep my docker-compose? I understand that things will work even if I pick weird locations, but I also believe in the importance of convention. Should this be in the home directory of the server user? I've seen a number of locations mentioned in search results.

  3. Do I have to change the file perms in the locations where I store the docker compose or any config files that don't sit on the other end of NFS?

Any other resources you wish to share are appreciated. I appreciate the helpfulness of this community.

59
submitted 5 months ago by njordomir@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

Hello fellow lemmings,

I was a wiz at google in the early 2000s. I would find obscure forums for every interest and usually get some pretty good info. My research skills haven't aged well, and I'd like to get a bit more with it.

I use:

  • Rtings, for TVs and monitors
  • Consumer reports, for <500
  • Sites like scamreport where people rant about shitty companies not living up to their promises
  • glassdoor, to see what a company's employees think and how they are treated

How do you research your purchases when there is so much AI slop out there and google doesn't really work right anymore. Duck duck go and bing are marginally better. Are there trusted impartial review sites?

37

Hi folks, I know many of you are elite system admins running custom built NAS solutions networked together with servers tucked in every spare closet and space in your home, which is awesome. Having said that, I am still newer in my self hosted journey and my existing knowledge is more from running Linux as an daily driver OS since 2005 rather than actually hosting anything. For this reason, even though it's not ideologically pure, I opted for a SynologyNAS for simplicity of management. This was the next step for me after dipping my toes into self hosting after messing around with some VMs and an old laptop.

With the new DSM update, Synology removes several apps and codec support, most notably h.256. I experienced something similar on Linux where I cannot view videos recorded on my action cam. I don't know how many of these photos and videos I have in my file system, but my NAS is local network only and basically contains my photos, videos, ebooks, documents, etc. in separate shares containing a hierarchical folder structure.

My questions:

  1. How can I most easily search my NAS for files needing the removed codecs so I can gauge how much this will actually effect me? I want to approach the problem in a simple way that I can understand.
  2. With Linux and Synology DSM both dropping codecs, I am considering just taking the storage hit to convert to h.264 or another format. What would you recommend? I havent recoded video in ages so I'm learning from scratch, but I do have a desktop with dual 1080s that should be up to the task.
  3. I access my shares via dolphin on KDE. When it comes to thumbnails for a remote filesystem like this are they generated and stored on my PC or will the PC save them to the folder on the NAS where other programs could use them. I just want to make sure I can visually browse the videos and photos on my NAS and have them show up appropriately.

I'm a bit frustrated and kind of favoring just moving things to a different format. I bought a Synology device for an easier experience, and having said that, even if I built a custom solution, didn't Debian remove h.265 as well? I will probably do a TrueNAS or whatever at some point, but I've had way to many family events in the last few years and have to take an easier path right now.

My Linux knowledge is intermediate and my self-hosting knowledge is still fairly basic.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 58 points 5 months ago

I don't like using cashless anything because I know part of the cost is my privacy. Having said that, convenience is a powerful draw and cash can be a pain, especially when you have to find a spot for small coins.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 62 points 5 months ago

I had a Google GSuite account from back when they advertised it as a free for life solution for families who wanted to use their own domain. They stopped offering this a long time ago, but kept us around. A few years ago, they tried to end it, but walked that back after facing resistance. We were among the earliest adopters and many of us shilled pretty hard for gmail over the years. Not only would they have gone back on their word, but my app and media purchases would be tied to a crippled no-email account (identity only) because they didn't have a migration path to normal gmail. That means multiple logins. Also, the gsuite inbox doesn't have the inline ads or anything while the regular one does. I've been working to move away from google because I imagine they'll try to end this again later, but also just because we understand better who google really is.

The site the greedy little pigboy runs was instrumental to the resistance but since it's enshittified, we may not be able to resist again. Its fine to say something is for a lifetime, but you have to honor that or you've been dishonest and no one can trusts thing you say.

The only reason I still have google around is android. When we finally get a linux daily driver phone that meets my minimum needs, I'm migrating the remainder of my stuff. I'll happily give up some functionality to do it. I just hope they can keep their free for life promise until then.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 33 points 5 months ago

At one point in the pandemic I worked for a sizeable tech company that was similar. They sent out an Zionism apologist email about how much the company supports Israel. STFU! We are the company, you wouldn't have shit if we didn't come to work. I know my colleagues well enough to know they are mostly NOT Neocons and Zionists. I was pretty pissed that they would say something political because it throws me into the position of having to address it because the "we" they used in the email makes it sound like I'm involved. I just work here. I don't want any part of your corporate politics and I want you to know that when we seize the means of production (and your ill-begotton fruits of others labor) we're gonna donate your yachts and bank accounts to help victims of Zionism and Imperialism.

42

Hi folks,

About a month ago, I posted the thread at the shared link because my phone keeps spontaneously rebooting at my local Safeway store. I found several other people with similar issues online, but no one who has discovered the actual cause. I also haven't fully understood why, but I have a few updates to share since visiting the store a few more times.

  • Scanned subGhz (w/ flipperzero) and Bluetooth frequencies. Lots of interesting things. Something bluetooth or bluetooth LE keeps popping up on the logs on my phone before the phone crashes, probably a beacon
  • Turning off Bluetooth does not stop the behavior
  • Pulled the log from the phone post-crash and it has some interesting things in it. I don't understand it fully, but it reads like the whole system is dying due to something happening in the wifi manager?

Can anyone glean any additional information from this:

time: 1727914596869
msg: android.os.DeadSystemException: android.os.DeadSystemException
stacktrace: android.os.DeadSystemRuntimeException: android.os.DeadSystemException
	at android.net.wifi.WifiManager.getScanResults(WifiManager.java:4451)
	at com.android.systemui.statusbar.pipeline.wifi.data.repository.prod.WifiRepositoryHelper$createNetworkScanFlow$1$callback$1.onScanResultsAvailable(WifiRepositoryHelper.kt:88)
	at android.net.wifi.WifiManager$ScanResultsCallback$ScanResultsCallbackProxy$$ExternalSyntheticLambda0.run(D8$$SyntheticClass:0)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.internal.LimitedDispatcher$Worker.run(LimitedDispatcher.kt:115)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.TaskImpl.run(Tasks.kt:103)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler.runSafely(CoroutineScheduler.kt:584)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.executeTask(CoroutineScheduler.kt:793)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.runWorker(CoroutineScheduler.kt:697)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.run(CoroutineScheduler.kt:684)
	Suppressed: kotlinx.coroutines.internal.DiagnosticCoroutineContextException: EmptyCoroutineContext
Caused by: android.os.DeadSystemException
	... 9 more

I think what's happening is the phone is trying to take some kind of action based on a beacon and is crashing, but I don't have any loyalty apps installed. Does anyone have a better understanding of how this stuff works?

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 36 points 5 months ago

Good luck to the creator. Pixelfed works well for me, despite being a bit empty, both on my instance and globally. The bones are there though and I personally prefer the way it works over Mastadon's Twitterish format. I wish I could use Mastadon more because that's where the mist fediverse users seem to be, but even decades later, Twitter style interfaces do not make sense to me. I'm a smart, nerdy, millennial, who grew up with computers. I can make sense of the IRS's 1040 form without using turbo tax, but for some reason I can't make sense of this horrible illogical interface that millions of people love.

In regards to the tiktok tok style app, I think it'll have a good chance of success simply because it is TikTok's less assholey cousin and even though many people will trade privacy for functionality, tiktok is about due to become a lame, cringe app for old folks.

56

I'm looking for 3rd parties who watch and report on developments in these large "world-shaping" corporations. Like a watchdog or a canary when they get into lawsuits or get caught doing bad things. Investigative reporting whether IRL or thorough internet documentarian style is ideal.

I've been thinking a lot about how google's algorithm changes have contributed to the web becoming the shit show it is now and what the alternatives could be. I do want to make sure I have a clear understanding of as much of the history as I can.

I tried searching "who watches google" and obviously just got advertised pages of Android Wear spy bracelets.

Is there a good old-fashioned directory page (or Community) for these anti-Web 2.0 resources?

Your help is appreciated!

20
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by njordomir@lemmy.world to c/android@lemmy.world

Howdy fellow lemmings,

I know your collective knowledge is greater than mine, so I have come to you for your wisdom.

My OnePlus 9 is nearing the end of it's life. The power button doesn't work or registers a double press (I use tap2wake and tap2sleep instead) and some other parts are hinting that they're starting to die. Also, something in 915Mhz or 925Mhz seems to be causing random UI reboots at the grocery store. Might be hardware or custom rom related.

I'm looking for something with:

  1. Unlockable bootloader with option for root. I may or may not root this time around, depends on how tailscale to my pihole at home works. I absolutely must be able to strip out the bloat and preferably the google apps as well (though I'd like to keep the option for play store), I'm extremely ad-phobic.
  2. Open hardware that third party developers can properly use. I'm running CrDroid on my OP9 and it's ridiculously great, but cannot make good use of my camera. There are quality issues, cropping issues, and functionality issues and I've experienced similar with other phones I had in the past. Are there manufacturers who publish specs resulting in better 3rd party camera implementations? I would be fine with a more midrange phone, as I don't play many games, but I need the camera to work well.
  3. A large/active modding scene is appreciated
  4. Bonus points if they don't advertise a bunch of AI bs that I don't want or need
  5. Location is USA, though phone can be from anywhere as long as it works. I need at least a few bands to be able to use the phone in Germany.

Can anyone advise on which manufacturers meet my requirements?

My understanding is: OnePlus - unlockable, rootable, custom ROM cameras suck unless the rom uses default op9 camera and it seems that this doesn't work well with more AOSP-y ROMS

Pixel - varies by manufacturer

ASUS - I'm seeing concerns about unlocking and Roms though it seems they have been good in the past

Nothing Phone - unlockable/rootable

Fairphone - seems ideologically pure, but performance, camera, and battery life may not be awesome

Suggestions and insights are appreciated.

36
submitted 6 months ago by njordomir@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Hi folks, I'm in a bit of a personal crisis currently and need to quickly find a piece of speech transcription software that works on Linux and does not require a significant time investment to set up and can help me transcribe a number of audio clips <15 min. each.

  • Can someone recommend a program that can transcribe some audio recordings for me and is relatively simple to set up and use?
  • Do such programs need a GPU to run effectively? I'm running a Dell XPS 9370 laptop which only has internal graphics.

My backup plan is to listen and transcribe by hand, so recommendations of a program that will allow me to self-transcribe by typing while listening at a reduced rate are also appreciated.

  • If any experienced transcribers are reading this, have you found that your pedals worked well with Linux?

Normally I would try out all the different programs and do more than the small number of searches I've done, but my timeline doesn't allow time for to build a cluster of custom-coded transcription bots running gentoo on hand-soldered hardware.

My environment is EndeavorOS running on a Dell XPS 9370,internet is over Wifi, with no external dongles or anything currently hooked up.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 42 points 11 months ago

Every time I see that stupid little alien, I change my mind about visiting. I see Spez's smug grin on that stupid little goo blob avatar and it just makes me want to find my info anywhere else.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 113 points 1 year ago

With MS enshitifying Windows at an ever increasing pace and the hard work of open source developers, volunteers, advocates, to make Linux better and more approachable, I won't be surprised at all to see that percentage move up.

"You mean its free and doesn't try to sell me other products the whole time I'm using it?"

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 59 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So sick of all the feedback, rate us, try this feature, what's new, turn on feature x, etc. that seems to be a part of everything nowadays, even Linux apps. Linux wasn't this bad only a few years ago and mobile OSs cranked this up to 10.

  • If I want to rate an app, I'll look under feedback in the help menu.
  • If I want to see what's new, show me the changelog...once, right after I update.
  • If I want to turn a feature on/off put descriptive toggles in the settings menu.

Everything that can be seen from the default view should 100% revolve around fulfilling the function of the app for the user. Human attention is a finite thing and we shouldn't be wasting it on shit like this.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 32 points 2 years ago

My 2015 Subaru Impreza has a shitty entertainment system. At least it still connects via BT, but they removed the screen mirroring really early on and the app had ~1 star on Google Play for a long time (probably still does). Thankfully it's not integrated with the features of the car in any meaningful way. I could swap it for any other head unit. No sure how that will work with modern cars where the AC, lane departure, and everything else goes to the stereo.

The real issue, as you point out, is there is nothing to force them to continue supporting it or maintain its features once us poor suckers have bought it.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 86 points 2 years ago

I'm late to comment, so I may be typing into the void.

I understand the admin's decision to limit their exposure to legal risk. I had similar experiences as a small business owner and you would be surprised how quickly most people's idealism is tempered by the risk of potential legal action. It's totally possible to believe strongly in the legality of something and its benefit to society (in this case piracy) and still choose to limit your own legal exposure. As far as I know, none of us paid to be here, so the polite thing to do is say "thank you for hosting us" and move on if it's not your thing (or just make a second account).

I believe our current copyright/intellectual property scheme is broken at best, and designed to fuck us out of every bit of culture that has ever existed, at worst. Piracy exists because the system is broken and the industry is entrenched and refuses to adapt to customer demands. It screws music fans, artists, and probably the individual low-level employees of many music industry companies and organizations.

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njordomir

joined 2 years ago