I across another terrible news but not at all unexpected news. The government of USSA is going to wiretap Facebook Messenger. Unlike Apple, Inc Facebook doesn't have a history of fighting for consumer privacy. This HuffPost article has the following quote from Zuckerberg.
A lot of companies would be trapped by the conventions and their legacies of what they’ve built, doing a privacy change - doing a privacy change for 350 million users is not the kind of thing that a lot of companies would do. But we viewed that as a really important thing, to always keep a beginner’s mind and what would we do if we were starting the company now and we decided that these would be the social norms now and we just went for it.
Telegram Gets Banned in Russia After After 18-Minute Hearing
Telegram ICO made over a billion dollars and I didn't even know about it until it ended. Telegram is huge and they have funding. So if you are still using FB related services like Messenger and WhatsApp, you better switch.
The Financial Aspect
Even after the dip, the company is doing well. The most critical part is this:
That's a lot of profit. Since the website can collect a great deal of personal data and due to high engagement and lots of psychological hooks the advertisers have to pay massive sums to FB. But making a profit is good in a capitalist system, right?
Yes, But only if NAP is Preserved.
So What Does These Social Media Actually Spread?
Here is a comment on the video:
I lived in USA for 6.5 years, I was educated in the states and was employed as a computer scientist. However, the lottery based work visa system put my odds of getting selected at around 20% (it is not a merit based system).
So, my company sent me to Paris. I have seen more of these socialist paradise than most leftists in America. I can tell you right now it is a disaster. Young people could not get jobs, and rampant youth unemployment forced the government to subsidize cost of living for young people until the age of 25. Tax is so high that most wouldn't think about starting businesses, normal working people barely even have any savings. The regulations so stringent that employers are very selective when they hire because it is very difficult to fire someone. Don't get me started on the migrant crisis, it is real.. Even in the capital of France, the northeastern districts and suburbs are so dangerous that locals would avoid during day time. It is even worse in smaller cities overcrowded by migrants who has no education and language skill to gain employment in their host country.
The US is more vibrant, innovative, and productive. Why would Sanders and his supporters want to turn it into the dystopian society that the Europeans are living in right now? I would give anything to live my American Dream.
- Concerned Citizen
Basically we have a war waged on property rights on these platforms. Ideas spread by demagogues can easily bring down civilizations. Throughout the times it has happened. Bread & Circuses is one such example and and AFAIK the tax rates never exceeded single digits even during the worst of the worst times. For the most part it was just a 1% tax on wealth. We are living under much more severe circumstances and we have more people asking for more; just because.
Is It A War: NO!
FB is a private company. Terrorists are using Telegram and it's not right to go to war against Telegram. Then the same principles should apply to Fakebook. So what do we do?
We need to spread sensibilities and build more intelligent communities. Evil cannot sustain itself. Evil has to leech on the goodness of the world and good stuff runs out fast when there are no producers. Facebook has enough engagement to rake in massive profits. Every minute you spend on FB doing something good and worthwhile is directly or indirectly helping that bottom line. The long term result is that majority liberal/alt-right platform gains funding and sustenance. Then these Bernie Sander-esque movements can continue and thrive.
Imagine Commies on STEEM
I know that there are several in STEEM already. But they are not popular and @steembasicincome is a sustainable project that is not built on economic delusions. Bernie Sanders free stuff crowds would be soon discouraged on a platform like STEEM. They will have very hard time thriving here.
Every Daily Active User taken out of using Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp means less profit for FB and it will be harder for them to continue their privacy invasions. So the next time somebody is "wrong" on FB, don'try to correct it. Invite the good minds to STEEM and similar platforms and reduce your engagement on FB as much as possible.
Sometimes The Best Thing To Do Is Disengage
I really wish I bought that facebook at $19
Don't worry. Crypto will be much more than a simple 10 bagger.
Fakebook is just as much a private company as was Evergreen International, the infamous CIA front aviation company that reportedly moved tons of cocaine, heroin, and weapons with impunity for decades.
The Alphabet Agencies like CIA, NSA, NGA, etc., use covert funding mechanisms, as well as publicly acknowledged arrangements to create control mechanisms over ostensibly private companies, and the number of examples of such corruption is beyond my present knowledge. Evergreen International, BCCI, Dyncorp, Halliburton, Rand, Bechtel... the list is interminable, and includes various enemedia such as CNN, the NYT, WaPo, and more.
Granting such power to pretense to a mantle of privacy to USG controlled entities enables government to blatantly undertake acts the Constitution specifically does not grant it authority to do, such as censorship, surveillance, and other depredations on it's citizens. While that may not be the worst horror fascist and corrupt police states undertake, it's one we shouldn't fail to opppose.
I wouldn't go that far. Being on the bed with government and being a front is 2 different things. The problem is that the government hijacked into a private company and both parties had the incentive to go along with it. There is nothing that can fix FB. I mean you could come up with some regulations but that's just covering a wound with shards still deep in the skin which would actually make things worse on the long run.
It's the government that has to go along with most of its "regulation".
If you talk any of these things on FB, then you are deeding the beast. Each DAU and each minute you spend on FB is statistics on FB that they can use to claim more revenue from ads. That's the primary message of this article.
Thanks for visiting!
I haven't used other social media platforms since I found Steemit.
Thanks!
I wouldn't call Sanders or any US politician "socialist". Wanting universal healthcare is as far as I'm aware on both sides of the spectrum, right and left. Having lived in an African country myself with healthcare, and having experienced a bit of the UK's NHS, I can't say it raised my taxes any further. We can afford it because we're also not participating in any foreign wars, so we have enough money spent on the people unlike the US. Now onto free education and minimum wage, I'm not necessarily a free education guy for the tertiary level, but I'm ok with primary and secondary level. We did indeed implement minimum wage just recently here, and we didn't have it before. I heard good things from the people who benefited from it so far.
I guess I'm a supporter of gov healthcare, and I wouldn't call myself a socialist, the label you are using for Sanders, which is pretty much the same thing.
Also, France isn't exactly a well implemented social democracy with the constant strikes, think more China, which is authoritarian leftism, or Finland, libertarian leftism. They both do pretty well for themselves, with some welfare. China especially is innovating super fast too.
According to Bernie's own words he is a "democratic Socialist with a simple d". The problem isn't the outcomes but how we get their and their long term effects. Those who first came to America and Australia drove away the natives and claimed their resources. The end results are good. But the methods are not. Same goes with animal testing.
But it the case of the economic stuff, not just methods but also the long term consequences are also terrible. Even cocaine is amazing in the short term. The housing bubble was awesome too. But at the end it all popped and everything got worse at the end.
Personally I'm extremely against government funded education with a passion. I have nothing but contempt for it: https://steemit.com/informationwar/@vimukthi/i-m-a-genius-and-a-star-student-this-is-why-i-think-going-to-school-was-the-worst-thing-to-happen-to-my-life
As for healthcare I prefer a hybrid system: https://steemit.com/familyprotection/@vimukthi/investigation-into-canadian-healthcare-system-how-one-gynecologist-made-millions-while-mistreating-patients-for-years-while
Historical speaking there is no such thing as well implemented social democracy.
The Scandinavian system basically comes down to let the markets be free + tax half of what they they make which is more sustainable than any other welfare model I know of.
The current Chinese system isn't that different from the feudal system they had centuries ago. Their success is mostly thanks to long term planning, protectionism and copying what's working in other countries + arbitrage.
There is going to be individuals who benefit from practically every single policy. But it is the long term economic effects we should be concerned of. Most of the rapidly developed nations of the post world war has no minimum wage. Eg: Singapore, UAE, Taiwan, Monaco, Qatar, Liechtenstein
Yes, and Bernie is misusing it. Rather, democratic socialism has come to mean social democracy. It's an important distinction, because as far as I know, no one actually wants socialism like the Soviet Union or Cuba. You had terrible experiences with public education, but this is why the government should pump more money into it, and they didn't, leading to unqualified teachers.
Look, I went to a private school myself, sure it's better than public, but I also know people who went to public schools, and they turned out fine. If we didn't have the public education system, majority of the people here would still be uneducated. The education may not be the greatest, but my fucking god, public education here is the greatest thing that could have happened to us. I couldn't imagine living in a place full of ignorant people who couldn't tell left from right.
What do you mean by hybrid system? Do you mean both? Because that too we have. You can either choose public or private. Private is better, but for those without cash, they go public which is completely free. Of course long wait times are a given, but it's really better than no healthcare at all.
By social democracy, I meant countries with strong capitalist values, but with a good social welfare so both China and Scandinavia fit the bill. From what I understand, the US doesn't cover everyone, hence why people like Sanders want to bring it to them.
If the lack of choice is the problem, as I've said, here, you always had a choice between both.
As for the minimum wage, you speak of UAE, but also know that they have labour violations there. It's not the kind of country I like to support.
Exactly this. It is having the choice that matters. The "public" doesn't even have to be state funded. It could be funded by a church or some other charity.
The entire middle east have labor violation problems with the low skilled foreign workforce. Most of these workers are actually coming from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh from what I know. The most ironic thing is that these workers would still be worse off if they remained in the countries. So it has become sort of a serve in heaven kind of tragedy. From what I've learned from People who worked in Dubai, the skilled workers have a great time there. They all spoke very highly of Dubai. I know a person who quit being a teacher to work as a supervisor for a cleaning company in Dubai.
Nobody would be able to live in modern days like this. I see lots of middle aged and old people having trouble learning to use smartphones but kids have zero trouble with learning. The environmental conditions of our time would prevent anyone being close to illiterate except in a place like Somalia.
Will not make a significant change. Even if you give a champion an old Toyota for a race and pay a million dollars per race, you still won't have a winning race. A broken system can't be fixed by throwing money at it.
Scandinavia: Yes
China: No!
HK/Macau (special administrative regions of China): Yes but they have more in common with Singapore and UAE than China
Social welfare is great as long as it doesn't come from the government. I'm willing to bet that Sweden would actually loose its 1st world status within 25 years.
The government is making some changes to education here with attendance etc. The money does help, helping kids who are too poor to buy books, or even repairing the school buildings from time to time. Like I said, without public government education, we would be highly screwed in my opinion. I guess China isn't a democracy, yeah but it has welfare.
As for healthcare, I guess we'll just have to disagree. I see no problem with government run healthcares. But even then, the plan that Sanders is proposing isn't even government run, it's more government insured, not quite the same. I've seen quite a number of studies, looked at my own country and the average salary, looked at Scandinavia. I'm generally sold on the system. There is success without screwing the regular patient with a huge medical bill. As I said, if you want to go to a private doctor, you still can.
Supporting government healthcare is the definition of socialism. How do you define socialism?
Good question. It's actually not socialism. Perhaps I should refer you to this video which does a better job of explaining than myself, specifically 5:17.
I fall in the green side of capitalism.
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