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Getting used to paying for internet services (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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We all know the saying of if you are not paying then you are the product, which again became relevant with how Reddit is dealing with its business model and trying to get everyone into their dataharvesting for more ads ecosystem. It is really sad how many of the worlds brightest techminds are building technologies that in the end all leads to show more ads.

I have been online for over 25 years, so it is a hard expectation to break that everything should be free. Free email, free search, free news, free social media etc.

Given how much time many of us spend using various online services, paying a little seems reasonable. Yet I often tend to think way too long on even smaller digital expenses, like an app for €2, but I will happily pay €10 for a coffee and a croissant at a train station like it is nothing.

I have seen many saying they wouldn't mind paying a bit for a good Reddit experience, and I think I could even be persuaded to pay for Facebook if it removed all the ads and let me control my feed again like we could in the beginning. Yet these companies don't really seem interested in providing that option.

What services do you find worth paying for - even though free alternatives exists?

I have a neutral email provider, a todo app (Todoist), a journal app (DayOne), a podcast app (PocketCast) - as well as the usual plethora of streaming services. I have considered trying Kagi for a paid search engine, though that is really a hard pill to swallow when good search have always been there freely available. Though Googles quality have really gone down in recent years.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I recently purchased an expensive samsung tv. There is no way to disable advertisements or data tracking... They're selling you an pricey piece of hardware and want to sell your data - double dipping at its finest.

(My solution has been not to agree to their tos, which means i can't use any of the apps on it. I just plug in a roku and use the tv as a monitor. Also looking at adblock/pihole once i get a proper firewall back up)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Wouldn’t it be better to simply never give the tv a wifi password? Or am I missing something here?

Also, Roku is also quite bad about data collection and selling, IIRC. ☹️ But the only real choice seems to be which company you’ll let collect the data, not whether they can.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

You're not wrong. I don't give it access to my lan. The roku, we've had for so long, I'm accepting the data collection from - but it's also not a 1500 dollar device....

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The problem I have is that you must use one of the terrible devices to view movies and shows at high quality. So far, pretty everything except Netflix doesn't offer higher than 1080p or even 720p on PC due to DRM. Netflix required the most expensive subscription for 4K and only works on Windows with their app. Even if you have the latest expensive hardware, you need to get a cheap Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV stick or Apple TV for DRM. That's for TVs, but none of those devices work on less common resolutions like 1440p or ultra wide resolutions. Which means the only way for me to watch those movies with a cinematic aspect ratio in high quality on my fancy monitor is either physical media or piracy.