I think it’s completely insane to say that any of that is worse now than it ever was. Luckily you only meet pessimism like this in sheltered online echo chambers, so busy whining about Elon Musk or “Google bad” or other irrelevant bullshit, that they can’t see beyond their own bubble of ignorance.

The fact that Twitter is dying or websites are collecting more cookies is not a world crisis. The rest of these issues are just caused by USA’s capitalist greed, and no amount of activism is changing that, evidently.

The internet has endless quality content (including porn) for free and is still a place where you can have fun while being completely anonymous.

The world has never been more peaceful and prosperous.

I don’t get how either is worse than, say, 20 years ago. Stop being so fucking pessimistic all the time. It is what you make it.

Yes, it very much is.

I’m glad too

I have been on multiple computers. It hasn’t asked me on my phone.

I’m in Europe so it makes sense they can’t just enable it. We also don’t have Threads yet, for example.

So your region does not have laws prevent them from automatically enabling it.

No… It pops up and asks you very clearly if you want to enable it. It also shows what it is, what’s being tracked, and who the information is shared with.

No… Even if that was true, what you’re saying is “you’re right, but you might not be in a month, sooo Google bad”.

It won’t be opt-out because first of all, that’s against the law. And second you’re literally opting in by accepting their terms…

I disagree in that it’s misleading. But how dafuq du they have a monopoly on web browsers? That’s just stupid

I live in Europe, and it’s most definitely opt-in.

I’m just saying it’s opt-in, which it definitely is. It’s not “sneaky” if it’s literally clearly out in the open. They’re not “lying” and they are conforming to EU law which is quite strict on this topic.

You are choosing to accept their terms of service, and if you don’t like them, just use a different browser??

I live in Europe so maybe that’s why it asked me if I wanted to enable it.

Yes, and people are free to choose and think what they want. Everyone knows there can be shady things in ToS, they just don’t care, and that’s honestly fine.

A more serious issue, in my opinion, is sensitive personal data like government identification, medical and banking records, and of course date of birth, address, etc. that can be used to identify you and in worse cases, steal your identity.

Such data is not being handled well enough, for the vast majority of cases. I’m lucky to live in a country/region that does it well (better than most), with laws protecting individuals.

But honestly idgaf if ad trackers can see on my digital footprint that I just bought a bicycle. I also enjoy services like Google Maps very much, because it works scarily well, and I can choose when I want to be tracked or not.

Tracking cookies have been a thing for literally decades.

So if it’s opt-in, how is it sneaky?

It is most definitely opt-in for me. It popped up and said “would you like to enable this?”, explaining what would be shared and why. It was not enabled automatically. That’s opt-in if you ask me.

This is how the internet has worked since forever. At least for Chrome it’s opt-in, and they’re very clear about what is shared.

Edit: apparently it’s only opt-in in Europe so I offer my condolences

How is it sneaky? They’re very public about it, and the popup I got was opt-in, and clear about what would be shared if I agreed.

It’s opt-in and they’re very clear about that.

I don’t necessarily disagree, but your analogy of inviting someone into your home is flawed. You did agree to them collecting some anonymous data just by using it, and the browser history usage is opt-in.

Their products are not free, they just don’t cost money. If you don’t agree with that policy, don’t use their products. I would also add that this is their business model for most of their products (which are undeniably extremely popular, because they’re good).

Maps, Search, Chrome, YouTube, etc are all really good products that you pay for by letting them use some of your data, but not the more sensitive parts, in my opinion.

I disagree that their “raw database” should be public. That seems like a terrible idea. I would much rather share my clicks and geolocation than pay for the service (I don’t, but I would prefer that model).

I do however agree that data needs to be regulated, and that users solely own all their own data.