I am extremely concerned about the new laws that are going to require ID to use any operating system. I know there is an exception for FOSS at the moment, but the phase 2 plans to deny access to web services for unverified devices would essentially make that exception useless.
I’ve been thinking hard about everything my home server connects to, and it isn’t looking good. How will I pull containers from GitHub or DockerHub when those sites will undoubtedly be subject to the same verification rules? How is SearXNG going to work when my users searches are tied to my identity? Put simply, how are we going to get around this as a community?
Ideas I’ve had:
- Hire an anonymous person and use their identity. Problem: if they commit a crime, the authorities could think it was me, and if I’m suspected of a crime, they could be in trouble.
- Figure out a way to route services through a virtual Windows 95 machine since many ATM’s run on that and maybe there would be an exception for them. Problem: my gut tells me that they would also be blocked and that ATM’s make direct connections separate from traditional web services.
- VPN to the safest country possible during setup and pretend to be in a region that doesn’t require identification. Problem: even if the country doesn’t require it, it doesn’t mean that the OS company won’t require it.
- Move to a more reasonable country and go full FOSS for the rest of my life. Problem: leaving everything I know behind and still potentially have blocked access to some sites that deliver FOSS software.
That’s pretty much it. Moving seems like the option with the greatest possibility of success, but it comes at a huge cost. I’d need to change jobs and start my life all over, but on the other hand, my home server is the only thing that makes my poverty tolerable here. If I lose that, then I have literally nothing to do but read books and wait to die.
So, with humility and anxiety, I come to you, my friends with bigger brains than me. What are we going to do? How are we going to remain private and free? What is your personal plan because I’m drawing blanks and starting to feel like everything I’ve ever believed in is crumbling around me.
Thank you for any advice or theories on how to navigate this paradigm shift. I never would have thought, when I first fired up Netscape and got connected to the whole world, that it would come to this before the end of my lifetime.
I get the concern, especially since people who aren't tech savvy are pretty clueless when it comes to digital privacy, but I don't know if we're at the point where the ship has sailed on OS level age verification. At least in the US it seems like this is a fight that's still worth fighting especially since the majority of the political energy right now is directed towards the concurrent AI and affordability crises (and, on the right wing, toward stoking anti-immigrant and to a much lesser extent anti-trans sentiment). To be fair, I'm pessimistic too and realistically, yes, any sincere effort to upend the power structure will eventually need to take place offline.
I feel 100% activated over this. Those fools just radicalized me (more than I already was).
I made a recurring monthly donation to the EFF today, and I made it bigger than any other subscription in my budget.
I live next to a concentration camp for god’s sake. This can’t continue, and you’re right, we need to take it to the streets, but the planning and communication starts online. We need these tools to stay coordinated, and we need people at protests who are ready to take some risks to create change.
Eyes wide open over here. Sign me up. I’d rather go down trying than get slowly crushed under the wheels of capitalism.
I hear ya and obviously I see the value of coordinating online (we wouldn't be talking otherwise obviously) but many revolutions in history happened without the internet and they can (and likely will) happen again.
From your lips to the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s ears.