Alternatives to Big Tech

[NightTrain]

There's a lot of interest lately in finding alternatives to Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and others for their unabashed urge to censor anyone that isn't in lockstep with liberal group think.

Right now I'm finishing up a week-long ban on Facebook. This is my 4th one in the last 6 months, and all of them were for beating a liberal in an argument - except one that was for posting this picture :

15541393648378-856x630.jpg

Not liking the fact that I beat up a liberal in a debate I can understand, but that is no reason to delete my posts and ban me. Posting a collage of pictures taken by mainstream media at public events is absolutely a reasonable thing to do, but I was banned.

Fair enough, it is a private enterprise and they have the right to give me the Size 13 digital boot.

Today I signed up for Gab. They're overloaded with the mass exodus from big tech platforms, so I understand their issues as they scramble to get extra servers up and running.

My handle on Gab is AK_NightTrain.

Parler is crippled due to Amazon getting into the leftist game of shutting down anyone who doesn't subscribe to leftist ideals.

I checked out and signed up for MeWe, but it seems clunky and lame. Hopefully they'll get some talent hired and make it a viable alternative to Facebook.

Duck Duck Go is the best alternative to Google for searches IMHO, but severing your Andriod cellphone from Google will prove to be a challenge at this point. I'm sure there's a lot of effort right now around the world to provide alternatives.

Anyone have other alternatives that I haven't mentioned here?

I have gigs of videos and pictures on Facebook that I have to download before I nuke my account. It was a great way to stay in touch with family and friends, but I'm no longer willing to support those commies.

[jimnyc]

In Facebook:

Top right, click your profile picture, settings and privacy, and then click settings (or however you get to settings on your setup)

(Your facebook information) that's an option on the left - and that one allows you to switch photos/videos to another service. Also an option in there to download to your computer.

The one you really want though, is just beneath that - "Download your information". After you click view, you can click on the options to download, or all of them by default.

Click on "create file" and let her do it's thing and create an archive file for you to download. The more you have on there the longer it'll take and the larger the file. They will send off a notice to you when it's completed.

I think I may be done there soon too. You see me on there, ever see me post, you or Sharon? I used to... now only for private messaging, that's about it.

[jimnyc]

I just downloaded my entire acct, but likely smaller than yours, Rick - I just downloaded a 262Mb file.

[NightTrain]

I just downloaded my entire acct, but likely smaller than yours, Rick - I just downloaded a 262Mb file.

No, I haven't seen you post in quite a while now. Darin does every now and then, and Nukey.... but that's about it from DP.

FB is trying to round up my info, it's been working on it for 15 minutes now. Probably have to break out the 5 TB external hard drive for this.

[revelarts]

I think folks know how i feel about censorship,
by the U.S. gov't or corporations.

It's nice to see folks realizing that big corporations have a practical monopoly on public communication.
And they literally have the power to block communications of any/everyone, including the President of the U.S..

I know many of you are committed to "free markets" and no gov't controls/regs over biz.
But here's are some questions i want to leave you with.

If a group of companies have a practical monopoly over the nations communication (many nations) is it a good idea for the govt to break them up?
And/Or is it a good idea to create some kind of regulation that requires them to allow equal access to all POVs and persons on their platforms as a cost of doing biz?

If so can you make that work with your understanding of free markets and No gov't regs on the markets.

Personally I believe monopoly is where the free market breaks and that if a monopoly doesn't fall naturally gov't or community has a right to break it up or regulate them. (Monopoly or a small group/consortium over one or more essential aspects of life)

in the case of U.S. communications it's clear that at this point the media and tech companies literally can shut off or promote ANY messages they want.
I have to wonder how much of the the US military is run pass "private corporations" how much of the courts? how much of our regulation bureaucracies that deal with food and medicine? The State Dept and embassies?
If the communications corps deem some aspect of those agencies work "dangerous" or against their terms of service" what recourse does the gov't have?

We now know the political landscape is RUN on the backs of the MSM, Internet, Social media, Email, Google, and ISP Services. If they decide any candidate or politician is "dangerous", then there's no way to use the primary communication mediums.

anyway.

I'm not hopeful that rank & file conservatives and especially republican politicians will rise above their love of big corporations to help regulate the MSM, MSSM and Communication giants like AT&T Google FB etc to promote FREE and equal access to public communication platforms.

And all sides have fallen in love with banning others, "Ban Muslims!" "Ban Alex Jones!" "Ban Kapernick!" "Ban Chic-Fil-A!" etc etc. But the left has gone off the deep end with no foundational philosophy to bring them back to the concept of "Free Speech" or Equal Access.
The right abandoned many constitutional principles after 911 with gov't surveillance, torture etc, but still mouths the words, and claims some relation to the foundations of U.S. freedoms, "God given rights" but it seems that's more for decoration than something to actually practice in politics. We have to be realistic and pragmatic ya know.

But, Looks like "big brother" is being fast tracked.

I pray the best for all of you and hope you all have/will trust in God through Jesus Christ, for today and eternity.

John 3
The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Ephesians 2
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

[jimnyc]

No, I haven't seen you post in quite a while now. Darin does every now and then, and Nukey.... but that's about it from DP.

FB is trying to round up my info, it's been working on it for 15 minutes now. Probably have to break out the 5 TB external hard drive for this.

I used to post little, but enough to show folks I was alive. Then at times I picked up and posted or replied to friends stuff. Was all over it whenever on vacation & posted a lot about Alaska and a lot of photos. But I stopped back in May it appears, and even it was already growing sparse then. I did reply to some folks that wished me happy birthday and that was it, lights went out on the public side for me.

[tailfins]

My Facebook account is in this weird suspended state pending my submission of positive identification, which they will never get. I was communicating with Maykel González Vivero, a Cuban dissident who is considered an enemy of the state. Only a very stupid person would give Facebook identification acting in cooperation with the Cuban authorities. Facebook cooperates with the Cuban Communist Party in its repression.

[jimnyc]

I think folks know how i feel about censorship,
by the U.S. gov't or corporations.

I for one admit my shortcomings and things I may have seen as more conspiracy theory material is now believable. And things about our govt. I trusted and was naive. There were easily times you brought things forward that were likely way more accurate than I gave credit for.

in the case of U.S. communications it's clear that at this point the media and tech companies literally can shut off or promote ANY messages they want.

We now know the political landscape is RUN on the backs of the MSM, Internet, Social media, Email, Google, and ISP Services. If they decide any candidate or politician is "dangerous", then there's no way to use the primary communication mediums.

The way Americans still mainly receive their news is via television. And many still use regular broadcast channels. And some have moved over to cable television news. They trust the news to be accurate, just as the scores of last nights games and what the weather will be like today and tomorrow. The factual news we receive should be just as clear, but its not, not nearly.

And the internet isn't a ton different. Except enter social media and email & "internet service providers" which are needed for all of the above. And we watched while the news we were delivered was a TON of lies and censorship & basically positive advertising for the left while condemning only the right. Went on for 4 years but came out strongly in the past year and in an in your face manner.

Social media wasn't bad but seemingly grew worse as the 4 years went on, and then went into election mode in the past year as well. And oddly, it was as if they coordinated their plans at times. Many many things deleted, or didn't appear due to shadow banning, then the suspensions galore and we all know how the last year and then last week has went. *** And when folks seem to say, ok enough is enough, we'll leave and do our own thing, they try to blackball those efforts in every way possible. By not allowing in the open market system which is primarily needed to install apps on your devices. Then they hit the hosting providers & also email provider. What happens next and where things go to is unknown.

And all sides have fallen in love with banning others, "Ban Muslims!" "Ban Alex Jones!" "Ban Kapernick!" "Ban Chic-Fil-A!" etc etc. But the left has gone off the deep end with no foundational philosophy to bring them back to the concept of "Free Speech" or Equal Access.

It's pushed the boundaries of common sense. As now all that is needed is a growing group of people to simply send public twitter messages to the employees company to embarrass them out of a job. WAY way too many unnecessary firings and banning and censoring. Won't find much of an argument from me in here.

But, Looks like "big brother" is being fast tracked.

In reference to the big tech on the internet & MSM coordination and censorship - went from 50 to 1000 MPH in guinness record time.

I pray the best for all of you and hope you all have/will trust in God through Jesus Christ, for today and eternity.

Thanks, Rev, appreciated.

[NightTrain]

Well, Rev, I will be the first to admit that I thought you were taking things too far with regards to how far big tech would go. Honestly, it appears that the entire country has lost it's collective mind in the headlong rush to censorship and outright fascist behavior.

I don't even like using the word fascist due to millions of idiotic Americans ironically using it. It feels like Bizarro World.

At any rate, you were correct in predicting where this all was leading as I trusted that the ordinarily smart people running the show would pump the brakes, but that didn't happen.

Yes, they need to be broken up, I see that now, but that certainly won't have a chance of happening until 2022 at the earliest. Democrats certainly aren't going to punish their largest allies.

[NightTrain]

I just downloaded Brave browser for my phone, using it right now. I'll test for a while and report back with my opinion of it.

So far, so good. Feels fast and light, and automatically blocks ads and prevents tracking.

[SassyLady]

I think folks know how i feel about censorship,
by the U.S. gov't or corporations.

It's nice to see folks realizing that big corporations have a practical monopoly on public communication.
And they literally have the power to block communications of any/everyone, including the President of the U.S..

I know many of you are committed to "free markets" and no gov't controls/regs over biz.
But here's are some questions i want to leave you with.

If a group of companies have a practical monopoly over the nations communication (many nations) is it a good idea for the govt to break them up?
And/Or is it a good idea to create some kind of regulation that requires them to allow equal access to all POVs and persons on their platforms as a cost of doing biz?

If so can you make that work with your understanding of free markets and No gov't regs on the markets.

Personally I believe monopoly is where the free market breaks and that if a monopoly doesn't fall naturally gov't or community has a right to break it up or regulate them. (Monopoly or a small group/consortium over one or more essential aspects of life)

in the case of U.S. communications it's clear that at this point the media and tech companies literally can shut off or promote ANY messages they want.
I have to wonder how much of the the US military is run pass "private corporations" how much of the courts? how much of our regulation bureaucracies that deal with food and medicine? The State Dept and embassies?
If the communications corps deem some aspect of those agencies work "dangerous" or against their terms of service" what recourse does the gov't have?

We now know the political landscape is RUN on the backs of the MSM, Internet, Social media, Email, Google, and ISP Services. If they decide any candidate or politician is "dangerous", then there's no way to use the primary communication mediums.

anyway.

I'm not hopeful that rank & file conservatives and especially republican politicians will rise above their love of big corporations to help regulate the MSM, MSSM and Communication giants like AT&T Google FB etc to promote FREE and equal access to public communication platforms.

And all sides have fallen in love with banning others, "Ban Muslims!" "Ban Alex Jones!" "Ban Kapernick!" "Ban Chic-Fil-A!" etc etc. But the left has gone off the deep end with no foundational philosophy to bring them back to the concept of "Free Speech" or Equal Access.
The right abandoned many constitutional principles after 911 with gov't surveillance, torture etc, but still mouths the words, and claims some relation to the foundations of U.S. freedoms, "God given rights" but it seems that's more for decoration than something to actually practice in politics. We have to be realistic and pragmatic ya know.

But, Looks like "big brother" is being fast tracked.

I pray the best for all of you and hope you all have/will trust in God through Jesus Christ, for today and eternity.

I'm OK with breaking up monopolies. That's why I'm also not a globalist. I believe in free markets but when a private company controls government it is too dangerous.

[SassyLady]

I used to post little, but enough to show folks I was alive. Then at times I picked up and posted or replied to friends stuff. Was all over it whenever on vacation & posted a lot about Alaska and a lot of photos. But I stopped back in May it appears, and even it was already growing sparse then. I did reply to some folks that wished me happy birthday and that was it, lights went out on the public side for me.

January 1, 2018 was my last day on FB. I didn't like the censorship back even back then. Never did the Twitter, Instagram, etc.

[SassyLady]

I just downloaded Brave browser for my phone, using it right now. I'll test for a while and report back with my opinion of it.

So far, so good. Feels fast and light, and automatically blocks ads and prevents tracking.

Have you tried GAB's DIssenter browser? If you do please let me know how you like it.

GAB seems like the best alternative to me. Not beholden to any tech company. Actually hired some silicon valley dissenters from FB to help him.

They have alternative to FB, Twitter, YouTube, Google and smart phone without Google.

Trouble right now is they are inundated with all the people leaving the other platforms. And, dealing with people like senator Warner, NYT and Washington Post trying to take them down.

And, the fact that he's a Christian puts a huge target on his back.

[NightTrain]

Have you tried GAB's DIssenter browser? If you do please let me know how you like it.

GAB seems like the best alternative to me. Not beholden to any tech company. Actually hired some silicon valley dissenters from FB to help him.

They have alternative to FB, Twitter, YouTube, Google and smart phone without Google.

Trouble right now is they are inundated with all the people leaving the other platforms. And, dealing with people like senator Warner, NYT and Washington Post trying to take them down.

And, the fact that he's a Christian puts a huge target on his back.

Not yet, Dissenter is next on my list to try out.

Also looking to change phone OS to completely cut Google out of my life, but that's a big deal and I'll research that thoroughly.


Oh, and there's an alternative to Amazon, btw : Wayfair. Shar and I bought the most awesome electric kid's car from Wayfair - only because Amazon was sold out, at the time - and they only charged $15 shipping to Alaska from Tennessee. The box was almost 6' long and weighed 66 pounds, so that was a real bargain!

I couldn't resist a Lamborghini in my life - and it has a remote control for it, so I can drive my grandson around in it until he's ready to take the wheel!

received_993494304387434(2).jpeg

I've got a ton of digital movies that I bought on Amazon, and that was a mistake. Live and learn. I've spent tens of thousands on various things on Amazon, but no more.

[SassyLady]

Not yet, Dissenter is next on my list to try out.

Also looking to change phone OS to completely cut Google out of my life, but that's a big deal and I'll research that thoroughly.


Oh, and there's an alternative to Amazon, btw : Wayfair.

I've got a ton of digital movies that I bought on Amazon, and that was a mistake. Live and learn. I've spent tens of thousands on various things on Amazon, but no more.

Which way does Wayfair lean?