cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/513993
So today I clicked a twitter link because companies like to use it for official announcements, only to be greeted with a login page. Was annoyed then I remembered nitter exists. It just prompted me to install Privacy Redirect which I should have done ages ago.
Github: https://github.com/SimonBrazell/privacy-redirect
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/privacy-redirect/pmcmeagblkinmogikoikkdjiligflglb/related
Firefox Browser Add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-redirect/
Looks like twitter waited for the reddit API changes to do push this change to try to do it under the radar.
While corporate greed has been a problem since the Reagan administration, we're seeing an unprecedented jump in greed these past couple of years by companies all suddenly trying to squeeze out every last drop from people. Netflix with it's disabling of user password sharing, Twitter and all it's checkmark BS (with this login wall being the latest example), Reddit and it's API changes, and YouTube experimenting with blocking people who use adblockers. All to name a few. It really is spiraling out of control and unchecked, but sadly we lack a proper government (at least in the US, though there may still be some hope in the EU) to stand up to them.
@ColonelSanders
@Martineski
The era of easy VC money is over. All these companies that exploded with growth on low-interest-rate-investor-cash are having to show profitability to shareholders.
I've seen this before. Been involved in tech since the mid 90's. During the Dot Com boom of the late 90s it was NUTS what some of the companies would provide for employees. I worked for a place that basically provided free food for employees. I literally didn't shop for groceries for a few months, I'd just bring some of it home with me.
When the "Dot Bomb" exploded in the early 00's it was an abrupt shift and it happened so quickly I remember everyone being shocked and upset.
I remember feeling real lucky to have a job in '08 and '09 when the recession got bad. However, things got better and you began to see more perks from tech companies.
Now it's cycling back again. It's only a matter of time before someone from the government says "recession". In the meanwhile, a lot of these tech companies are acting like any other big business and they're squeezing what they can out of users to be more profitable in the short term.
While I definitely think there are issues with federation, it couldn't have become popular at a better time. IMO while most users will put up with what these companies are doing, you're going to see more tech orientated people migrating to federation in some flavor or another. Eventually, it or something akin to it will get more polished and the mainstream will follow. And the cycle repeats.
I have a feeling that Meta getting involved in Federation is going to be the doorway for a lot more people to figuring this out.
This is sort of the final stage of endless growth capitalism. Once you have reached the max saturation of your potential user base with an attractive product, you sell that product for a huge payout and the next CEO comes in with a mandate to squeeze the orange for all its juice.
Inevitably this leaves the market ripe for the next disruptor to come in with a more enticing offer and the cycle repeats. With market consolidation however this is becoming harder and harder to do with every second comapny owned by Disney or Microsoft or Haliburton etc.
Which begs the questions: What comes next? How does late stage capitalism "end"? Will it collapse in on itself? What will replace it? I don't know the answers to these, but it certainly feels like we're entering (or about to enter) the "find out" phase.
how does it end
Seeing the environmental disruptions of the last decade, I'd say extinction of human life.