On Tue Nov 14 13:25:36 2023 Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeova...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 13, 2023, 12:35 PM <to...@tuxteam.de> wrote:
>
>> But yes, in a way convenience can drown out freedom. See that other
>> thread in this mailing list about mail providers. All people flocking
>> to gmail although it's clear that Google would like to kill mail
>> as we know it.
>
> But mail as "they" know it has nothing to do with transport or
> networking. They know it as a service not as anything else.
> Like electricity. The "freedom" to exchange email is what
> matters to them.
Especially if they can control that freedom.
> Just about everyone in the developed countries permits and is ok
> with their electric/telecom/heating service coming from a monopoly,
> oligoploy, or government-owned entity. So the same situation for
> email is ok with them as long as the cost is low.
The difference with utilities like electricity is that they are
_regulated_ monopolies. There is at least a bit of government
oversight to make sure the electricity provider doesn't gouge
its subscribers too badly. Tech giants like Google, etc. are
_unregulated_ monopolies, who can do whatever they want to us
without having the government come after them. In Canada they're
threatening to cut off news feeds in retaliation for the government's
attempts to make them pay news providers for the data they're
redistributing. Most people are too ignorant to realize that
this is an idle threat - there are plenty of other sources of
news - but they've already meekly accepted the tech corps. as
de facto monopolies.
"You get what you settle for."
-- Thelma and Louise
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | Apple is a cult.
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | Linux is anarchy.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | Pick your poison.
