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I'm seeing the same, not even using a VPN.
They just don’t want to spend the money (that the government gave them years ago to do specifically that)
There was a great talk about this at a hacker convention a few years back. Infuriating, but great.
The Circle of HOPE (2018): $500 Billion Broadband Scandal: It’s Time to Break Up AT&T... Again
Molly White also wrote about this in the context of open access on the web and people being concerned about how their works are being used.
“Wait, not like that”: Free and open access in the age of generative AI
The same thing happened again with the explosion of generative AI companies training models on CC-licensed works, and some were disappointed to see the group take the stance that, not only do CC licenses not prohibit AI training wholesale, AI training should be considered non-infringing by default from a copyright perspective.
If you don't want to host your own data, take a look at TarSnap
One thing I've been doing is doing random online classes instead of doom scrolling. There's a ton of free ones that you can do at your own pace and spend an hour or two each day learning new stuff. Just generally being more mindful and curating my media inputs and replacing algorithmic rage inducement with better stuff. Here's a few examples, but there's tons all over the web:
grumuk
joined 3 weeks ago
That might be a big scope increase compared to the type of software it is currently, but what a great idea. Maybe file a feature request in their github project?