Great ~3 minute video which explains nicely why I focus so much on #privacy as it shows the dangers of #surveillance #capitalism.
Viewpoint_ ‘We’re living in an age of surveillance capitalism’ _ BBC Ideas
https://peertube.mastodon.host/videos/watch/e0737406-9c87-41dd-bda9-5b927474a73e

h/t [email protected]

#panopticon

I just realized that the above video was @aral speaking 👌

And I recently found https://video.lqdn.fr/videos/watch/861c07f7-7e9b-4e64-9765-cf1de592c8a0 in which Aral explains the problem to the European Parliament.
I couldn't agree more with what he said.

I wish I could explain it so clearly and concisely.
I recently tried to explain centralized vs decentralized to a friend after mentioning Mastodon as being some kind of decentralized Twitter.
I'm doubtful whether that person understood it enough to explain it to someone else.

@FreePietje
I had difficulties explaining federation today to someone who uses e-mail as one of their main communication channels. I don't understand what makes it so hard to understand, but it's a recurring issue.

Of course it's simpler to have Company X own protocol X, run the exclusive server for X, and thus handle all users of X -- but people do know e-mail, so why is this so hard, even to those who know a world before Gmail?
@aral

@Mr_Teatime
I think that most people aren't interested in how technology works, but do ofc use it.
Likewise, most ppl use email but have no idea how it works and can only configure an email client by following a detailed step-by-step guide, with pictures.

The person I explained it to doesn't care about tech, so I kept it strictly to centralized vs decentralized as that was the core of the issue I tried to explain. No further details (federated vs p2p) as that would only be confusing.

@aral

@FreePietje @aral
Oh sure, and I get that (and why) people don't like having to configure their e-mail client (and choose a provider...).

What I meant is that just the concept of a federated service itself, which predates Facebook or Google and is still used by more people than Facebook ... there's something about it which seems to turn people off, long before it gets to the actual doing.

@Mr_Teatime
Note that it very much depends on the person you're talking to.

I actually meant that it's not "don't like to", but "don't know/understand how to". For many people tech is like magic.

~ related: https://x0f.org/@FreePietje/104687084180771828
I love the whole episode, but the interaction between Oliver and Snowden was illuminating for me.
Around 24min: "Don't teach me anything. I don't want to learn. You smell like canned soup"
I've gotten the impression that it applies to a LOT of people wrt IT.

@aral