Need to break up these monopolies. Really the root of all bad about capitalism.
The “root of bad” is capitalism itself, the logic of the system tends to create monopolies over time, as demonstrated in the game ‘Monopoly’
Regulations used to exist to break that that behavior. But they were either removed over time or not enforced. It can be done. It used to be. It wasn’t flawless but it wasn’t what we have today either.
Capitalism is fine small scale, most systems are. Humans are just wired for efficiency and so with every player on the same board the most ruthless player wins.
There’s no small scale capitalism as the Capital needs to expand more and more. Political Economy 101.
Ah yes, the mythical small business capitalism we all hear about. I will agree it sounds good on paper and also seems to distribute money in a somewhat efficient manner.
Unfortunately there has never been a government able to regulate and keep capitalism this way. Other people have said it is simply not possible due to the nature of capitalism.
I think there is a worthwhile debate here around systems and culture. Perhaps capitalism could work if people were not inherently so greedy. I tend to believe that culture is the deciding factor which is a little disheartening honestly.
It’s not just culture. Most people value community and the well-being of others above amassing wealth (provided their needs are met). The problem is that capitalism indoctrinates us against those values, and even more that it rewards and empowers those who don’t share them at all.
Unfortunately there has never been a government able to regulate and keep capitalism this way. Other people have said it is simply not possible due to the nature of capitalism.
the primary “authoritarian” government of the world has proven that it is possible and that keeping them under a tight leash is the only way to prevent them from indoctrinating the masses; that’s why the number of billions and the wealth of the its millionaires have been steadily declining for the last decade or so, while simultaneously continuing to improve the quality of life for its citizens; meanwhile while the united states is poised to get its first trillionaire class very soon.
I sure hope you are not talking about China as they have produced more billionaires than the US for the last two years dramatically increasing their income gap. If you think they have capitalism in check I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
you’re not wrong – china’s billionaire count is up. but here’s the cycle that people in the west miss: a new crop of billionaires come along (eg. tech, evs, ai) and they replace the old crop (eg. real estate & manufacturing) that the chinese gov’t already short-leashed, and boom, numbers jumped.
that new crop will experience their own slowdown too once they get their own short-leashes like the previous crop did. it happened around 2018-2024, and it’ll happen again and again. china’s churn is fast, but the pattern’s the same every time: rise, stall, replace; no permanent footing/beachhead for a billionaire class from which to capture the system or spread misinformation like it is in the united states.
Capitalism does not work because companies will always seek to grow more and more and more. It’s the core of capitalism. You need anti-capitalist policies to keep companies small.
I wont visit a website if they require my identity. Other options out there.
Most goonings sites don’t use recaptcha
This is just ID verification in another guise. The second I see one of these, I’ll stop using the website I see it on.
Google reducing traffic for websites worldwide.
I doubt OP cares, but I use GrapheneOS with Google Play services. It’s still better than regular Android. Don’t give up because you can’t get 100%
Which websites does this actually affect? I use GrapheneOS and I’ve yet to be affected by this, granted I don’t use many mainstream services.
I dont think its been rolled out quite yet.
Off subject a bit, what is the cheapest option for a graphene phone?
The most dead cheap supported option would be the Pixel 6, which looks like it sells starting at about $130 on Swappa. The security recommended minimum from Graphene team would be the Pixel 8, which lists starting at $220.
Thanks for the reply, that is doable, the 220, or even a little better.
the oldest pixel that they support.
We seriously need to ask Valve to make SteamOS phones.
Not only will they be good for gaming but imagine being able to put other OS’es on it like PC’s. Bazzite, PostmarketOS, etc. Plus Valve will still get revenue from people using the upcoming Steam ARM Game Store, and the current Bannerhub/Gamenative community android apps that enable playing PC games they own from Steam/GOG on Phones
Its such a huge opportunity that we all should be encouraging then to pursue now and after they release their current 3 big projects: Steam Controllers, Steam Machines, Steam Frames
Let’s give the billionaire more capitalism. Yea that’s it. He needs more.
I get where you are coming from. Out of all of the billionaires he is one that is one of the least bad out of the rest of them, and is doing plenty of good things himself. He got that wealth from Steam doing so well over the years co.pared to other billionaires that did the shadiest things imaginable
I don’t agree with his yachts business yet I agree with his side project of making boats specifically for ocean research. I don’t agree with him still getting paid so much today, yet I agree that he pays and treats his employees and customers well
End of the day it’s another option to get open phones that can have bootloader unlocked to change OS, and not be locked down. It is good to have more options currently where there are few.
Many online PC gamers have this opinion too so overall its more so a matter of time and comes down to if Valve really wants to then they will.
Yeah he’s the kind of wealth that helps you realize why people ever supported the wealthy. They used to actually have an understanding that keeping their wealth meant keeping employees, customers, and people at large happy and safe – and they’d be willing to put in the effort (or rather, money) to ensure it.
Most of the time, my phone’s browser is disabled. It keeps me from using my phone too much. I understand not everyone is in a position where they can do that though.
That’s a raid!
Stand your ground.
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So i just checked back a day later after posting this and it blew up more than i expected. I’ve gotten some comments suggesting its not really preventing GrapheneOS from being usable, so this might need more context. Do your own research and testing on this one for sure, as with most things. Sorry for not answering comments, quite busy right now.
I mean when you’re paying $260 to $300+ for even a used Pixel (8 is the oldest one supported till 2029 I think), that can be a hell of an investment to make if the thing is nerfed from alternate OSs.
Exactly why i posted this, i figured i was probably not the only one wanting to protect my privacy in this age of surveillance nightmare.
I’m not a security guy, what is the problem that this is supposed to be fixing? Like I guess you wouldn’t be able to use a virtuallised os to visit your banking website? Like I understand if you work for a bank you should only be able to access some things from specific computers, but normal people?
It’s intended to be a successor to the current reCAPTCHA, sold as harder to spoof than current picture-based versions. Now, almost from its start, CAPTCHA existed to train AI vision models. So Google basically painted themselves into a corner using free labor to train models good enough to recognize images, now they are switching to device signals.
That said, they’re going to have to provide a compatibility layer for iOS which AFAIK doesn’t come with Google Play Services right now. So I have some faith in the smart folks who make these de-shittified OSes working something out via microG or the like.
iOS has their own attestation/anti-tamper api similar to google’s integrity api so that’s going to be used instead. the only difference is that on iOS you’ll need to download extra software specifically for this.
graphene devs said you can do it with their sandboxed version of gms but as far as i know that still involves having an account and handing over all your personal info to google.
The benefit is for Google to make more profits if people are locked into their “ecosystem” without competition driving the prices down.
graphene can have the play service, but in a sandbox. anything other than that uses microg so its emulated. probably needs some time to get up to speed. if not, just use the desktop site instead of mobile. i dont really see this as much of a threat to any of us.
Desktop site is going to require QR scan.
I don’t know what they are going to do about “I don’t have a phone” / “I only have a dumb phone” population. I suspect that sometime soon I’ll have to buy a stay-at-home Google certified device, to bridge the locked down features and services.this is such a weird idea to me. why do i need a phone to browse on my pc? what if my phone is not charged, what if the camera is broken or simply covered due to work regulations. such a dumbass idea.
Don’t give money to google by buying Pixel phones. Even buying used, creates demand as people are more likely to keep upgrading every year as they know it will be easy to sell their used Pixels for a good price.
There is and there never will be a perfect solution and you shouldn’t let an imperfect solution stop you from using the best one of these just because buying a used pixel MIGHT urge somebody to buy another new one. You may not want to do that, but it is silly and way too idealistic and impractical to demand others not to switch to Graphene because of that.
Buying a used pixel to degoogle and make your phone more secure and less likely to spy on you more than balances out the potential for there being one more new pixel on the future. There will never be a perfect solution and this one is fine enough for most. You may disagree and that’s ok.
There are other ROMs with other hardware that provide a similar level of privacy and more than enough security without giving money to google.
Yes they are also not perfect solutions, but they give you flexibility to support better phone manufacturers
What’s the alternative?
e/os, lineageOS, iodeOS
First off, that’s software when the user asked for an alternative to the Pixel, which is hardware.
Secondly, I don’t see how those are an alternative. It’s websites locking you out unless you run Google Play Services. LineageOS etc doesn’t run the official PlayServices which is what this requires.
I took the question as an alternative to Grapheme, but perhaps you are correct.
And all those OSes you could install. Google Play Services if you want, even sandbox them like Graphene.
How is that an alternative? You still have to buy Android phones and they’re wayyyy less secure
There are mch more ethical companies than google to buy phones from, like Fairphone.
And “wayyy” less secure is very debatable. There a some security features missing, but still more than secure enough for the vast majority of users.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism
Also I don’t give a shit about ethics if being ethical means a cop can get into my phone
That’s such a cop out. Good luck to a cop trying to get into my phone. Grapheme is not the only ROM that prevents this.
And as the other comment said, there are companies that are way more ethical. Not perfect due to the system but way better.
And this mubd set of not giving a shit about ethics as long as things work well for you, is what enables companies to be shit and exploit the world.
If you’re serious about it probably worth just using an old phone as an Auth device and only switch it on for that and still use graphene as your daily driver.
