this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026
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To be fair, decades ago the hardware hasn't been doing these things, and people have been far more optimistic in general regarding the behavior of companies. Maybe it was bad that people (including me) kept warning our surroundings about the possible consequences - It for sure caused some type of warning fatigue and made us look paranoid. Saying "We told ya so" might be satisfying, but not very productive.
Louis Rossmann keeps saying that we are moving rapidly from a high-trust to a low-trust-society. If companies can change contracts, behavior and features regarding products arbitrarily with no recourse for the clients (except fucking forced arbitration ofc), there is no reason for costumers to believe that their issues and complaints are heard. The more trust deteriorates, the more often these things happen, there might be people applying violence instead of lawsuits. It is in the best interest of companies to don't fuck over their clients too long; If the laws do not protect people, people might decide that these laws do not bind them either.
The hardware has been collecting private data since atleast the internet got popular. I've lived through half a dozen momentary concerns over some data collection in yet another device, articles are written and people moan then they buy the product and give up a little more privacy. Its been an incremental increase up until we have microphones and cameras in our homes. Even those warranted a slight public disturbance before people quickly relented and bought them. The "I don't care if they know..." people helping fascism make it no longer a choice.
Given some of the decisions of the administration I'm concerned about what I can and can't trust. I'm supposed to believe Hegseth about war and RFK about health, the antivaxer? Not companies get less red tape, less safety and health standards and I gotta be concerned about which company do and don't make safe products. Its insane.
Ok, i was thinking more about the 80s and 90s when i said decades. And even at the turn of the century data collection still was limited to mostly diagnostic data and "always online" devices and software only really started getting traction later - i can remember the uproar when Simcity needed a permanent internet connection or when the xbox one required the same. But after that things went downhill real fast.
I would not trust any member of the current US admin further than i could throw them. They are fascists or opportunists who have no qualms working with fascists, and they are largely incompetent in their jobs too with very questionable world views (looking primarily at Trump, Hegseth, RFK and Patel here, but the rest of the bunch isn't much better). But they are only a symptom of the rot that has taken root in the US at least since the 60s.
The signs were there with Nixon getting off the hook and Reagans Contra affair having no repercussions for him. But there was no push to change anything substantially. I personally blame the civic religion the US has adopted; if you say state and religion are to be separate, but at the same time make the country itself a religion, changing anything basic becomes akin to blasphemy (or "communism" it this specific case.
And the people having no issue with bending the rules of course have no issue bending them when it comes to the relationship between companies and their costumers. The regulatory capture is insane in the US, and forced arbitration should be illegal in a country that believes in the rule of law. Contract law also should not allow one-sided changing of contracts regarding removal of features, privacy and cost structure - slapping a subscription fee on something that already has been sold without subscription should not be a thing at all, unless they also allow costumers to return the product for the full price they paid, and the privacy policy should be fixed in its essence (changing some minor wording is fine).
If you can't be sure that whatever you buy today will work the same way in a few weeks or that it won't just start selling your data because contracts can change whenever, then you also can't trust e-commerce at all, which is an essential way of doing business today - being able to buy something online and transferring money to an unknown party does not work in a low-trust society. The companies behaving that way are sawing on the branch they are sitting on because they don't give a shit about rules.
And we're staring down the barrel of a low trust society because the GOP is reshaping the economy in their image and they are the least trustworthy people in politics. Every corrupt thing they do undermines that trust, every institution they corrupt undermines that trust, every like they tell and regulation they repeal, every law they refuse to enforce, everything they do is low- trust. The longer they are in power, the worse it will get.