'Love without trust is the definition of an abusive relationship.'

That resonat with me—and it might explain why I stopped using smartphones.

I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why they made me feel uneasy, but I think I understand now. Years ago, I carried a work phone in a corporate environment where it had to be always on. The constant external pressure was exhausting. When I finally abandoned mobile phones altogether, I felt relieved. But comparing smartphones to abusive relationships crystallized something I’d been struggling to articulate: the erosion of autonomy, the constant surveillance, the feeling of being controlled.

Phones are addictive, creepy, and surprisingly political. Thanks to @pluralistic, I came across a brilliant feminist analysis by @mariafarrell that connected surveillance capitalism to gendered power dynamics—showing how these systems target and manipulate users in ways similar to how patriarchy itself operates. It’s a reminder that feminism offers practical insight into broader societal problems, but it can be extremely illuminating when applied to technology—and one day, maybe even help us build tech we can actually trust.

https://conversationalist.org/2019/09/13/feminism-explains-our-toxic-relationships-with-our-smartphones/ It’s worth reading.

#TechAbuse #DigitalRights #FeministAnalysis #SurveillanceCapitalism #DigitalAutonomy #TechAndGend #FeministTech #DigitalWellbeing

"In the sense that they're not firing me from Facebook". Brilliant.

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/surveil

#comics #humor #SurveillanceCapitalism

The #Liberal Party of Canada broke their promise. Before last year's election, they promised us no age verification. Now, they plan to introduce mandatory ID age verification for social media: https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/45-1/bill/C-34/first-reading.

#cdnpoli #canpoli #privacy #socialmedia #LPC #carney #IDageverification #surveillancecapitalism #socialmediaban #BillC34

Whoops.

"Automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company Flock exposed the reasons cops conducted searches, and sometimes the specific searched license plates, in common search engines like DuckDuckGo and Bing, according to tests by privacy advocates and 404 Media and a statement from the company."

https://www.404media.co/flock-leaked-cops-license-plate-searches-via-duckduckgo-bing/

#privacy #surveillancecapitalism

https://blog.rebeltechalliance.org/rta-workshop-13-june-edinburgh/

If you're in #Edinburgh on Saturday, come to this great anti-big tech event. We're giving a talk there 😃

#privacy #bigtech #events #surveillance #surveillancecapitalism