cabbage

Though leather belts stretch over time, the only belt I ever had that actually broke did so after more than a decade of heavy use when the metal buckle eventually gave in.

I have a textile hiking belt (Fjellräven) that I am not particularly happy with. It doesn’t really stay firm over time when walking for hours and hours, and adjusting it underneath the backpack is a pain. An elastic belt with a normal buckle would probably have been better.

Here we very much disagree in our understanding of American history, but that’s another debate. :)

I care more about privacy and security than I do about throwing a few bucks at Google’s hardware division.

And I’m more worried about surveillance capitalism, the rise of fascism, attacks on software freedom, the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, and modern day slavery than I am about extremely targeted local security threats. But I also respect that others have different threat models. Some journalists and community organizers in [aspiring] dictatorships need higher security standards than I do, and they are only able to meet these standards because enthusiasts choose to make it a priority.

I live in Europe, and I don’t find it very difficult to avoid overly evil shit. I wouldn’t travel to the US, and if I did I wouldn’t want to bring any personal electronics with me.

And yet they have the entire industry in the palm of their hand.

For me it’s a no-brainer. I don’t buy products from Google, Amazon, Musk, Zuckerberg, or anyone else who obviously want to do me harm. Any path towards a better world sold to me by the people who are busy destroying the current one will be treated with immense scepticism.

I don’t see much point arguing further why I wouldn’t buy my privacy respecting hardware from Google or de facto Flock. We probably have different priorities.

I use a degoogled Fairphone. No money going to Google when I bought it, no data going to Google while I use it. You can also buy Fairphones new without Google Android.

more harmful than even throwing a couple bucks back at Google directly for hardware that will probably end up costing them more money than it makes them when you remove all their spyware.

This seems delusional. Even if they don’t run on huge profits from selling their devices you end up supporting their market dominance.

While there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism yadda yadda there’s still degrees of bad. I would not buy from a company who is actively building the infrastructure of the fascist surveillance state. By Google phone here I meant a Google brand phone, not a phone that comes with Google Android. Buying a Google Pixel second hand is obviously better than buying anything new.

Basically I think it’s worth trying to avoid buying things from people who want to do you harm, and when compromises have to be made it’s still worth settling for less evil. Motorola and Google are not that.

Motorola is also involved in the surveillance industry, both with their own direct competitors to Flock cameras and as the owners of a company named Avigilon. 404media has reported on how both contibuted to surveillance in Alabama.

I wouldn’t buy a Google phone in pursuit of privacy, and I wouldn’t buy a Motorola one either. Sending money that direction defeats the purpose.

For fucks sake. A big tent is nice and all, but I am not entering any tent that has fucking fascists in it.

Very happy with my Framework 13. I hope I can keep recommending it to people without feeling it’s at odds with my values.

It’s not like other producers are realistically better, but I kinda expect Framework to be good.