Yeah, journalistic integrity is important, and they shouldn’t slander Google, due diligence and what not.

But there wouldn’t even be a need for an article or any investigation if Google and other tech companies weren’t treating user data as something they have a god given right to.

That’s my point. It doesn’t matter what Google does or doesn’t do with the data. They shouldn’t collect it unless I tell them they can. It’s MY data. It’s MY right to keep it private or destroy it as I please. That’s the baseline all tech companies should adhere to.

Play Services does collect data it shouldn’t collect, by sending it back to Google.

Right. And my argument is that this shouldn’t happen without users opting in.

But the difference between “I am collecting your data” and “I wrote software you are running” is important and needs defending,

I don’t disagree. Not am I arguing the content of the article. I just disagree with your notion that we have to prove negligence or malfeasance to deserve privacy.

Your original post placed the burden on users to prove that Google mismanages the data they collect. That’s not how this should work. I should own that data, just as I own the text I write with a text editor. I shouldn’t have to prove that Google is mismanaging it in order to keep that data private. I shouldn’t need any other reason than “it’s my data and I don’t want to share it beyond what is necessary for this technology to operate.”

If you don’t collect the data in the first place, there’s nothing to mismanage.

Rather than users having to prove that Google is mismanaging OUR data, Google should prove it has a need to collect, aggregate, and sell access to that data beyond surveillance capitalism.

The default option should be that only fully anonymized data that is essential to device functions should be collected, and this should be validated through an independent audit. Everything else should be opt-in.

Imagine if angels performed a miracle that allowed a tater tot and a McDonald’s hashbrown to produce a child, after which someone found the least expensive way to replicate that product by mundane and industrial means.

Hearty, weighty, and substantial, yet still crispy on the outside while soft on the inside.

I like to use the sauce packets to draw little designs on them, elevating an already divine side dish into the perfect amuse-bouche.

Re: Regular vs. Curly fries.

Clearly, this debate sparks from a deep cultural ignorance of what it truly means to eat at an Arby’s.

Although this practice was interrupted for a while by an episode of sheer corporate madness, the only proper potato-based side dish are potato cakes that have been set upon the wrapper of a large beef and cheddar to catch the excess cheese and sauce that falls from the sandwich.

Only once they have been drizzled in a combo of surplus liquid cheddar, horsey, and Arby’s sauce can you truly appreciate what potatoes were meant to be.

Much like eating an Ortolan, it’s best to cover your head with a handkerchief while indulging, so as to hide the shame of such a decadent meal from God.

Have to agree. And this is pervasive enough that lazy articles about tweets are now a major percentage of online “news”. So-and-so destroys x-and-such on Twitter!" So what? It doesn’t change anything or anyone’s mind.

So… US History, I’ve got you:

Okay, in 1607 we started a colony in a place that would later be famous for having a lot of racists. For about a hundred years we were happy fucking over Native Americans, then people wanted to stop paying taxes, so we had a war with England. We won, with a lot of help from the French, but we don’t give them much credit. We spent another 3/4 of a century fucking over Native Americans, building shit, and importing slaves, mostly from Africa. Then we had a Civil War about the slaves, killed each other a bunch, and in a huge surprise that no one saw coming, the part of the country that had all the industry won. We set the slaves free, so we could continue to treat them like crap. Then we went back to fucking over Native Americans, built a bunch of stuff (some of it was pretty cool), and started fucking around with the rest of the world. We started bringing in immigrants when things got shitty in other parts of the world, because we needed people to expand and someone else to be prejudiced against. We had some economic issues because some people wanted to be really rich, I’m sure taxes factored in there somewhere, but we pulled ourselves out of that with a couple of big wars and then we sorta took over half the world. We went to the moon, and appointed ourselves as “all around cool guys”, although there were still a lot of issues with minorities and a big fracas about civil rights that some folks still haven’t gotten over. But we thought we had to be tough guys to keep the USSR from making communism a thing, so we kinda ignored all that and started spending money on nukes and proxy wars instead of going to the moon. Rich people decided they didn’t want to pay taxes again, and Reganomics mindfucked a generation of people into thinking you can run a country anywhere other than right into the fucking ground that way. After the Soviets made a mess of their half of the world and fucked off, we decided that things were too quiet and really started fucking stuff up in earnest. We pissed off a fresh batch of people in the middle east, because oil, and just kinda stirred the shit pot everywhere else because we were the biggest kid on the block. We also started the habit of surveilling everyone after some terrorists attacked us. Some of what we did might have been helpful, but there’s so much chaos and so many pissed off people now it’s hard to tell. Fast forward and some of us have figured out that we’re causing problems, but we’re neck deep in the sunk cost fallacy and busy letting people continue to promise us they can run the country better if rich folks pay less taxes.

TL;DR: It’s taxes all the way down.

It kinda looks like tennis for the unathletic, which means I should fit right in, but I have zero interest.

An optimist invents the airplane. A pessimist invents the parachute.

I like to point with both hands, and with my feet if I’m in a good mood.

Cut off internet for people who pirate… Those people are now unable to stream anything… Sacrifice thousands in potential revenue over an infringement that maybe cost them a few dollars, if that… Deter no one because everyone thinks they won’t get caught.

Good move. Smart guys.

Zuck’s eyes always look like they were cut out of his original body and hastily glued into his current one…

Also, fuck him and Meta for this bullshit. Greedy cowards.

It’s the memory hole. Except they don’t have to burn anything because it’s all digital.

That’s what we found out.

My wife enjoys her work, finds it rewarding, etc. etc. and has never been really content as a homemaker. My job is alright, but I don’t feel any real passion for it, and I don’t need a work atmosphere or to be around a lot of people to stay engaged. I’m happy just keeping things organized and running smoothly in my own little corner of the world.

I make just a little less than we need for her to stay home, and she makes peanuts in comparison.

It really hacks me off. She works in education, what she does is far more important to the well-being of society than what I do. If our paychecks were reversed, and they honestly should be reversed, I’d be happy to stay home or work part time but it’s just not financially feasible.

Dude, me too, and I would kill at it.

Sadly, based on skills and the job market where we’re at, I can make more working.

Wallace. Wallace probably doesn’t give a fuck anymore, and once you gain his trust, is going to say some hilarious shit as a result.

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A rather astute observation found in an unlikely place, and one of my favorite move lines of all times.

“The person in front of me looks innocent…”

Most of them do.

In the documentaries there’s always a neighbor saying “He was the nicest guy, we never suspected he could do something like this.”

He knows. He knows it’s bullshit. He doesn’t care that it’s bullshit. It gives him and people like him more power, and that’s all he cares about.