nixCraft 🐧Jul 1, 2025

Cloudflare introduces pay-per-crawl for AI bots https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-pay-per-crawl/

We don't need another technical solution to this madness. We need legislation that blocks all batshit crazy AI companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and others from stealing from artists & writers (I'm mean they are using pirated books and getting away with it, so what makes you think they will pay for that blog post or art?). This is like putting a Band-Aid on the problem. They stole everything, and got away with it.

Introducing pay per crawl: Enabling content owners to charge AI crawlers for access

Pay per crawl is a new feature to allow content creators to charge AI crawlers for access to their content.

The Cloudflare Blog
Show threadnixCraft 🐧
They stole all your codes, art, books, videos, and everything else out there. This solution doesn't fix anything. It might help newspaper sites where they write fresh news or detailed reports. But that will only be for the top 100 news sites. The rest of the artists and writers are doomed already because there is no law in place. I can't wait to retire, which is a few years away, and never have to look back again. But, it is the next generation of people who are going to struggle a lot :(
Jul 1, 2025 at 11:21amWeb
Show threadnixCraft 🐧Jul 1, 2025
A handful of billionaire brats created this mess so they can stop paying people salaries and increase their bottomline. Every job replaced by stupid AI must be compensated by paying taxes. While we're at it, take away all their billions too. They don't need it. The rule should be like you can hoard a maximum of $100 million (I'm being generous here), and the rest must go back to society to fix all other problems like climate, health, food and infrastructure. No human should hoard this much $$$s
Show threadShannon Quinn Jul 1, 2025
@nixCraft I’d personally be fine with allowing wealth up to $999 million. But every single red cent after that is taxed at 100%.
Show threadKaram AssanyJul 1, 2025
@magsol @nixCraft I'm not an economist but I believe this suggested upper bound will do nothing on the long term: It will solve the "billionaire problem" but practically it just shifts into "hundred-millionaire problem". Hundred-millionaires will still exercise (almost the same) power over the population, because they're naturally at the top of the hierarchy. We then will ask to lower the upper bound further, and people in power will adjust just fine.
Show threadKevin CaccamoJul 1, 2025
@nixCraft I personally think the maximum should be 10 million dollars. Any more money should be paid as taxes.
Show threadPasswordsarehard4Jul 1, 2025
@Talon1024 @nixCraft what happens to privately held companies? $10M is a lot for a worker but not that much for an owner.
Show threadDaughter of DiscordJul 1, 2025

@nixCraft

Nope. No one should be able to hoard more than a million dollars. Period. Anything beyond that can only be used to corrupt the system. And I feel I'm being generous.

Anytime I say this, someone always pipes in with "but a million dollars isn't even all that much money these days!"

To WHOM? A million dollars is LIFE-CHANGING MONEY to something like 95 percent of the planet.

Some other people pipe in with, "some houses cost more than a million dollars"

Well I guess you're gonna have to LOWER THE PRICE OF FUCKING HOUSES THEN, HUH?

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2017/06/its-basically-just-immoral-to-be-rich

It’s Basically Just Immoral To Be Rich

A reminder that people who possess great wealth in a time of poverty are directly causing that poverty…

Show threadPasswordsarehard4Jul 1, 2025
@CosmickTrigger @nixCraft how much do you earn per year? Take that times 20 years, how close are you to $1M? That’s a decent retirement account for a 64 year old. If you want to die at work go for it but I don’t plan on ending that way. I also don’t trust you to take care of me when I can’t work, because I know damn well you don’t plan on it.
Show threadCM ThiedeJul 1, 2025
@nixCraft Call it the hoarder tax. How can one be all in on growth while sitting atop a mountain of cash?
Show threadUrzlJul 1, 2025

@nixCraft 20:1 compensation ratio from top to bottom, by law. Tax all compensation in excess of the ratio at 100%. They can pay it pay it back as wages to their employees or as taxes to the state but they can't keep it to themselves.

See if we can temper their mania by forcing them to share with the guy who sweeps their offices, even if they fire some programmers in the meantime. They can have their automation if I can have a living wage regardless.

Show threadPasswordsarehard4Jul 1, 2025
@gooba42 @nixCraft make them add in subcontractors and you’ve got my vote. You don’t get to not count the guy who mops your floors because they work for sparkle janitorial instead of floor dirtier.
Show threadUrzlJul 1, 2025
@passwordsarehard4 @nixCraft I think that legislation is more complicated but I'm not against it by any means.
Show threadStuartBJul 1, 2025
@nixCraft I would also add that the less you pay your staff, and (in the US) the worse the medical benefits, the higher the tax rate should be.
The tech companies will point at their superstar coders and point out that they are paid squillions, but the back office staff, the cleaners and caterers, security, and everyone else will be closer to minimum wage than not.
Show threadharry_wwcJul 1, 2025

@nixCraft

they're not really interested in the money per se, but rather what it brings them. Power. Prestige. "authority". and $100M won't be enough to satisfy that.

in the words of the 20th century philosopher Freddie Mercury "I want it all... and I want it now!"

Show threadMy camera shoots fascistsJul 1, 2025

@nixCraft

First, fix the conditions that allow someone to even have that much wealth come their way in the first place. Break up monopolies, force them to pay living wages to all workers, enforce and improve environmental protection laws, and so on. There will be far fewer billionaires or $100-millionaires at that point. Then tax them till their ears bleed. Also tax the Wall Street casino-goers until their ears bleed too.

I don't care how much Bezos gets taxed as much as I don't want him to have that kind of monopoly power. And I want the employees to be paid well and not worked to death.

Show threadComunidad bahá´í de MexicaliJul 6, 2025
@Mikal @nixCraft didn't the top tax rate approx. 90%?
Show threadMy camera shoots fascistsJul 6, 2025

@Bahais_Mexicali @nixCraft

Pre-Ronald Reagan, yeah, it was something like that.

Show threadShannon Quinn Jul 1, 2025
@nixCraft Congrats on being near retirement! My plan is to win the lottery in the next few years and also retire 🫠
Show threaddavidhanzlikJul 1, 2025
@nixCraft P.S. totally agree, it would be closing the barn door after all the horses have already left... Current content is probably SoL no matter how you look at it 😢
Show threadTom DewarJul 1, 2025
@nixCraft I think it’s worse than that. Wonky autocomplete is so pervasive, its hallucinated citations are making it into Google Scholar and academic library listings, getting re-cited and lent undeserved credibility. It is basically polluting and degrading the world’s scientific body of knowledge.
Show threadDjumakaJul 1, 2025
@nixCraft Be gentle to me but I'm a bit in the middle here as I believe it "depends". First book stealing is not nice on any purpose. But if an article is publicly available what is the moral/philosophical difference who/what reads it? I can read an article to get news or I can read a book to learn to write in the same style. Who am I , a student or AI? What's the difference? If I'm a student - may I make money with what I've learned? Yes, with very few rules, of course. So why AI can't?
Show threadDjumakaJul 1, 2025
@nixCraft of course the big BUTT here is - I am not allowed to SELL art that you created, visual or etc that is sooooo close to yours if you own the rights :) Both Human and AI :)