merc

Meanwhile, in the US:

• The unions fought for and obtained substantial protections during the great depression / new deal era, many of those are still around in the 1960s
• The US recently came out of a world war that destroyed the industrial infrastructure of just about every other country in the world, leaving the US untouched, meaning that US factories can now supply the whole world, and meaning workers are in high demand

And the American “influencers” of the era were telling Americans that it was all great because of capitalism. The truth was that American workers were in an amazing position because of the left-over socialism from the 1930s, and because the US came out of WWII undamaged, unlike every other major country.

The first part isn’t true. We evolved to do whatever’s necessary to survive and pass on our genes. Whether that’s living in small societies and foraging (and fucking), or farming, or hunting, or living in big cities going out to night clubs so we can get laid. Our bodies haven’t changed too much from those of apes who live in small societies and hunt and forage. But, evolution gave us a huge brain and doesn’t take millennia of evolution to adapt.

Even though are brains are adaptable, there are limits. In many ways the brain processes the world in a way that’s useful for a primate living in a small group in a savanna surrounded by possible threats. For example, if the grass is moving in a certain way, a brain that interprets that as having meaning might survive better than one that doesn’t. Maybe there’s a lion approaching in a stealthy way. That way of assuming there’s a brain behind a pattern leads humans to believe in gods, or to think that ChatGPT is their girlfriend. That’s something that might be a maladaptive trait in the modern world, but not enough for evolution to strongly select against it.

As for hunter gatherers, they didn’t have exercise regimens, or form into regiments.

Right. Something being illegal can put additional pressure on someone to keep it quiet. But, blackmail is more often about shame than about something being illegal.

Some things should probably stay illegal: paedophilia, bestiality, cannibalism, etc. In that case, the comic is wrong. Despite the fact they could be used to blackmail someone, they should remain illegal. Even if someone has no shame in engaging in one of those things, it’s better that it remains a potential source of blackmail than that society allow people to do it.

Blackmail is more often about shame than about law. Even when it’s legal, people are blackmailed about sexual things because it’s embarrassing.

So, in addition to making it legal, you’d also want to make it something people weren’t ashamed about. The more open a society is, the less shame people have in being themselves, and the less susceptible they are to blackmail.

k

This is why lawyers advise clients to use a PIN instead of face ID or fingerprints

That’s because cops don’t need a warrant if you use a face or fingerprints, but they do if you use a PIN. What you’re talking about is for protection against casual, warrantless searches.

What I’m talking about is a subpoena where you’re required to present evidence. The fact that it’s encrypted is irrelevant. If the data is subject to a subpoena it doesn’t matter if you store it encrypted or unencrypted, you’re still required to present it to the court.

If you keep you stuff updated

Keeping stuff updated is a chore, and it can take hours out of your week, often when you don’t expect it or don’t have time. When that’s someone’s full time job and they’re updating it for hundreds, thousands or millions or people, there’s a better chance they do it right, and a much better chance that they do it in a timely fashion.

I am not your lawyer and this is not legal advice for you or anyone who reads this.

I hope you’re not anybody’s lawyer, with your lack of knowledge of the law. Did you graduate from Dunning-Kruger law school?

Communication that can’t be shut down: Matrix, Mastodon, email servers you control

Uh, those can all be shut down. You may control the server but you don’t control the datacenter the email server lives in, unless you’re hosting out of your house, which is a bad idea. You also don’t control the pipes to and from these servers. There have been many plans over the years requiring that ISPs ban users who are accused of copyright infringement. And, even if you don’t infringe copyrights, we all know about how the DMCA can be weaponized against people who have done nothing wrong.

File storage that can’t be subpoenaed: Nextcloud, Syncthing

Sorry, your own file storage can be subpoenaed, you just don’t have a lawyer on call to help you through the process. If you think “haha, I’ll just delete the data”, you can be in much worse trouble. AFAIK in some cases the judge / jury are allowed to assume that evidence that you deleted was incriminating.

I self-host things and think it’s a good idea. But, don’t go overboard with how good it is. It’s still vulnerable to government and corporate actions. in many cases you’re more vulnerable because you’re on your own, you probably don’t have a lawyer on retainer, etc.