Just read this post from @Rymden, lamenting the difficulty of buying a small smartphone with modern features:
gemini://rymden.no/tx/2026-03-07.gmi
Rymden (IIUC) would prefer less Google surveillance, but it might be inconvenient:
> ..I might even have to trade my digital public transit ticket for a physical card. So I end up with a smaller, less annoying and surveilled phone, but have to carry a bunch of other crap with me instead. I'm just not convinced it's worth it.
Personally, I'm willing to endure a _lot_ of friction, to be free of surveillance capitalism. It's an uncommon opinion in society at large, but I wonder if folks around here are more sympathetic?
Mar 08 · 2 months ago
10 Comments ↓
maahn, how many time we gotta say proprietaty software bad for it to sink in, every time we get a new name for it, every time it's the same thing
linux: says tivoization is good
everyone: *crickets*
google: puts proprietary software in all phones
everyone: *crickets*
google: starts using the proprietary software backed by proprietary firmware
everyone: *surprised pikachu face* *gears turning* ah! I figured it out, surveilance capitalism is the problem!
yer bank wants google play services not because it needs google play services, but because eveyone and their granpapa's happily gobbled up google play services and the bank is just going with the flow, exact same way microsoft got into all schools and governments
there is no dilemma between using modern tech and giving up your privacy to big corpo, you CAN have your cake and eat it too, if you just stop puttin asbestos in it every freakin time
so yeah you gotta atone for your past sins and carry these burdens, go demand a keyfob from the bank, go demand the card from watchamacallit, to make it clear to them you are not ok with their new cost cutting measures (cause that's all it is from their point of view)
and, omg help meh, imma gonna go supercritical over the bank keyfob thing in particular, cause it's not like you need to be some sort of a haxor coding genius to get it, it's literally better, it's more secure, getting rid of it is not an advancement it's a degradation
👻 darkghost · Mar 08 at 11:29:
There is a lot of convenience to carrying around what is basically an entire RadioShack store of gadgets in your pocket. I think things like Graphene OS are reasonable compromises. You're given the *choice* for how much surveillance you want to endure vs convenience. It's also an acknowledgement of an uncomfortable truth: it's getting harder to exist in a society without one.
It takes knowledge of tools available to you, such as browsers that block tracking, advertising, etc. Keeping your location off. Being judicious with what you install and from where for apps.
Directed at the post, I still carry a key fob because some single use items will always be more convenient to me. Fumbling with an app and enduring a delay to get in the door at work? I need to access the lab a gazillion times a day, this adds up fast to being a massive PITA (while also being pretty unsanitary.) No need for any app to turn on my lights.
I don't bank on my phone. It's too risky to be in a place where strangers can see me, on a strange network that could be compromised, using a device I will never entirely trust. I'm privileged to have "enough" that I don't need to sweat small purchases and keep a hawk eye on my finances.
🚀 lars_the_bear [OP] · Mar 08 at 11:57:
@namark : you don't have to convince me -- I am already 100% Google-free (so far as I know). I'm curious about whether attitudes among small web/net users are different from the "give me convenience or give me death" view of the rest of the workd.
I'd expect there to be some difference, because I would expect that users of Gemini, etc., are already prepared to accept some technological friction in their lives.
👻 darkghost · Mar 08 at 12:00:
I'm seeing that key fob is a Euro bank thing now. Cash is another thing that's endangered.
I try to pay cash when it's reasonable to do so. some cashiers seem annoyed.
I'm curious about whether attitudes among small web/net users are different
so I have some radical attudues see alright
"give me convenience or give me death" view of the rest of the workd
you don't have to convince me -- I am already 100% Google-free
not indoctrinated enough, but ima spent, so screetch atcha later
🚀 lars_the_bear [OP] · Mar 08 at 17:39:
@gritty : many retailers in my neighbourhood stopped taking cash during the Covid lockdowns, and didn't start again. I guess it was a good exercuse for them. I can kind-of see why -- nobody wants a stack of cash on the premises.
@lars_the_bear - true but the credit card fees are a big thorn in the side for many small businesses. I try to "vote" with cash at small, privately owned stores to help them out on transaction fees. Credit card "points" are just fees levied on the retailer at point-of-sale.
👻 darkghost · Mar 08 at 23:08:
Here in the US a lot of big city businesses won't take cash. And I'm of the opinion that cash is being deliberately obsoleted between the largest denomination being $100, worth less with every passing year, and cash hostile laws like civil forfeiture, where your cash can be seized and charged with a crime. (Yes the cash itself is.) It's practically automatic if you're carrying over $1,000 when you interact with law enforcement.
🚀 lars_the_bear [OP] · Mar 09 at 10:08:
@gritty : I guess businesses have to make a decision between the constant, minor larceny of the credit card companies, and the large, infrequent larcenies of robbery. Sigh.