
Ask HN: Wouldn't it be best to just go all-in and embrace internet feudalism? - DiogenesBarrel
I have always been all aboard in the fight to keep the internet free and open. It always seemed like a life or death issue - like fighting against some new abstract form of colonialism. I have FOSS&#x27;ed up my digital life to the nines. I have ditched my smartphone for a flip phone. More recently, I have done the de-googled android experiment. I use an open source web browser, duck duck go, installed all the privacy add-ons in the entire universe. I returned the Alexa I got as a christmas present. There&#x27;s not a single social media account to my name. I have done everything short of building a cabin in the woods and living off the grid.<p>Ultimately, I have gone through all this struggle and stress for nothing. People will buy airpods and airglasses and airsocks and whatever else comes next. The tech industry will continue to disrespect people&#x27;s attention and privacy, because ultimately nobody really cares. And people like me who care are just spinning their wheels, swimming against the overwhelming current. I&#x27;m not much for Hegel but it is beginning to feel an awful lot like the next phase of history is here. You can get on the boat and take it easy, or you can waste your entire life stressing about it.<p>As for me, as soon as the US has a law equivalent to the GDPR, I am going to pledge allegiance to a feudal tech overload and never think about all this crap for the rest of my life. I have wasted too many hours and too much stress. I&#x27;m just going all in.<p>Typing this I kind of feel like one of the crazy people from Bird Box - just look at it!! But what&#x27;s worse, that or being Steinbeck&#x27;s poor Oklahoman farmer, throwing stones at a single tractor trying to take down the whole industrial agriculture machine?<p>Who cares? This fight has been lost a thousand times throughout history - it will always be lost. I am wondering whether it&#x27;s best to just shut up and get on board?
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ziddoap
>installed all the privacy add-ons in the entire universe

Slightly off-topic, but it is very likely this is a net decrease in privacy.

I know your hyperbolizing, but your unique combination of add-ons could very
well be used to fingerprint you with much more accuracy than someone solely
using only Privacy Badger + HTTPS Everywhere, for example.

Hiding info is good, but blending in is better.

\--

>The tech industry will continue to disrespect people's attention and privacy,
because ultimately nobody really cares.

I'm generally pessamistic as well. But, the signs lately have been good. It's
taking a long time for the non-tech savvy to catch up and realize what's
happening with their data (and what that actually means), but as they do, the
push will be stronger. We're seeing more lashback for privacy breaches now
than we have ever before. Keep the momentum going. If the people like you and
me quit out now, non-tech savvy or on-the-fencers will give up too. Then all
really is lost.

>Ultimately, I have gone through all this struggle and stress for nothing.

Not for nothing unless you are only considering a visible, external impact as
your metric. Realistically you've improved your life, reduced the amount of
your life others know about you, and are participating in a cause (even if you
don't feel like it's doing anything).

>This fight has been lost a thousand times throughout history - it will always
be lost. I am wondering whether it's best to just shut up and get on board?

Yes. With that attitude, it might just be.

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anigbrowl
There is a third path between helpless opposition and obsequious serfdom, more
stressful and dangerous than the first but infinitely more satisfying than the
latter.

