Hans van Zijst

Hans van Zijst

hans@social.woefdram.nl

Professional nerd and grammar nazi, writes in Dutch and English. Can read some German, French and Spanish too. Learning русский.

Location:: Netherlands

Hans van Zijst

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 04:13:50 +0200

As always, John Oliver tells it like it is. Break up these huge tech companies, they're ruining it for all of us!

And while we're at it, could we break up Mark Suckerberg too, please..?

Tech Monopolies: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

John Oliver discusses tech monopolies, and how to address the hidden harm they can do.

humor internet politics

LisPi

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 08:21:20 +0200

@hans I'd sure like for him to first start by not region-locking his videos on #Youtube in #Canada.

Then maybe by also hosting mirrors on other platforms.

It's ridiculous that I needed a proxy to watch it.

He has a point, definitely, but it's rather disappointingly undermined by the circumstances of his videos' hosting & viewing restrictions.

For that matter yes, social media as tech monopolies is incredibly harmful, let's dissolve that. Mandatory interoperability at minimum.

Tanja

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 08:40:11 +0200

Yup. Nailed it.

Hans van Zijst

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 11:33:55 +0200

@LisPi It is rather ironic that he should publish his stuff on a platform owned by the very monopoly he's ranting against, yes. On the other hand, it's also kind of proving his point too.

I would love to see him publish on #PeerTube or Odysee, but I guess making a lot of money on those platforms is a bit difficult.

Hans van Zijst

Mon, 23 May 2022 16:55:27 +0200

Oh wow, this is nice, Anonymous going after our national brownshirt, Thierry Baudet. We had some documentaries on national TV about his creepily close ties to Russia, but nothing really happened. Let's hope the attention of Anonymous will change that.

Anonymous Operations (@AnonOpsSE)

We are wondering, what are connections with @rusembassynl and this guy....

politics

Hans van Zijst

Mon, 23 May 2022 17:40:00 +0200

BTW, does anyone know if the good people of #Anonymous also have a presence on the #Fediverse?

Bosshammer

Tue, 24 May 2022 16:53:32 +0200 from Diaspora

They are everywhere ! ;)

Hans van Zijst

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 12:37:09 +0100

After a furious campaign by influential MEPs, the law also forces messaging services such as Meta-owned WhatsApp to make themselves available to users on other services such as Signal or Apple’s iMessage, and vice-versa.

YAY!! That would effectively crush the network effect, and remove most of the reasons to stay with WhatsApp. The future will be #Matrix

Al Jazeera English wrote the following post Fri, 25 Mar 2022 11:28:08 +0100

**EU negotiators agree landmark law to curb US big tech giants**

"The 'Digital Markets Act' is designed to protect consumers and give rivals a better chance to survive."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/25/eu-negotiators-agree-landmark-law-to-curb-us-big-tech-giants

#news #bot

politics matrix

Piero Filippin

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 20:20:05 +0100 from ActivityPub

Are we going to have an unified standard for end to end encryption?

Hans van Zijst

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 21:46:01 +0200

The Taliban have seized U.S. military biometrics devices that could aid in the identification of Afghans who assisted coalition forces, current and former military officials have told The Intercept. The devices, known as HIIDE, for Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment, were seized last week during the Taliban’s offensive, according to a Joint Special Operations Command official and three former U.S. military personnel, all of whom worried that sensitive data they contain could be used by the Taliban.

View article

politics

Tanja

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 05:27:08 +0200

Sad as this is, this might finally get the message through that privacy is important, that storing loads of data about everybody and his mother is a bad idea.

Yeah, but that was Afghanistan. What's happening there, could never happen here. We're the good guys, don't you know...?

Hans van Zijst

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 10:11:39 +0200

Well, I remember one day in 1940, when the nazis were overjoyed to confiscate the complete administration of the Jewish Council in Amsterdam. From that moment on they knew exactly how many jews there were and where they lived.

I guess the Jewish Council also thought nothing would happen, because they were the good guys...

Hans van Zijst

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 12:04:21 +0200

https://twitter.com/Rien_Post/status/1411063774325444613

politics

Wilco Roos

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 12:16:05 +0200 from Diaspora

Het past ook beter bij zijn ego, brr de griezel.

Hans van Zijst

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 13:48:50 +0200

Ik denk dat bruin de ideale kleur zou zijn. Ik zou echter niet voor brons kiezen: poep is goedkoper en veel toepasselijker.

Wilco Roos

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 13:59:53 +0200 from Diaspora

Yep, stinken doet ie in het echt ook net zo, de enge bruinhemd.

Hans van Zijst

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:30:48 +0100

So Microsoft is talking about a takeover of $10 billion.

If you say it quicky, it's not all that special, but let's write it differently: $10.000.000.000. TEN BILLION DOLLARS!

For context: we're basically talking about a service that does WebRTC, the stuff that they could easily integrate into something like Teams themselves, probably witin just a few weeks. But no, TEN BILLION DOLLARS doesn't seem completely and totally outrageous...

How many refugees could you help for that money, I wonder...

The world has gone mad. Completely and totally bonkers!

WSJ News Exclusive | Microsoft Is in Exclusive Talks to Acquire Discord

A deal valuing the chat app at $10 billion or more could help Microsoft boost both its videogame business and its social-networking footprint.

politics computers

show all 8 comments

Vincent van den Bergh

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:34:28 +0100 from ActivityPub

@hans most likely yet another company that does not know what to do with its money.

And DIY is not cool in the tech world.

DoeNietZoMoeilijk 🥔

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:36:54 +0100 from ActivityPub

@hans they're not buying the tech, which isn't all that special. They're buying the mindshare and user base.

Hans van Zijst

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:37:13 +0100

@Vincent van den Bergh Maybe we should spell that as "Microschoft" from now on. For those who don't speak Dutch: "schoft" means something like "bastard" or "asshole".

Vincent van den Bergh

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:42:13 +0100 from ActivityPub

@hans sounds like a decent name. Fits the way they conduct their business.

Hans van Zijst

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:45:55 +0100

@DoeNietZoMoeilijk 🥔 I understand the underlying reasons to do this, but think of the bigger picture here. A few hundred kilometers from their HQ there are thousands of people living in extreme poverty, looking at a big wall. Think of what that kind of money could do to help those people. How is it possible that "we" would rather spend that money on crap like Discord than to actually help people who desperatly need help?

Maybe I'm being soft here, and maybe it's because today I started donating to Care, yet another charity on my list, but I can get really, really pissed off if I think of this.

100

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 19:12:16 +0100 from Diaspora

With Microsoft's track record, I think any acquisitions will also plummet. I've been post-MS for half a decade or so. Ubuntu is a way better OS by far. Nothing else they do is interesting.

Hans van Zijst

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 19:29:11 +0100

@V I'm not so much interested in what Microsoft does, Windows98 was the last of their stuff that I used on a daily basis.

What triggered me was the amount of money that is available to spend on crap (let's be honest, Discord isn't all that special, it's just a WebRTC service with a nice interface). If you look at the bigger picture and you see the number of people in this world that lack even a roof over their heads and a decent meal, it's just mind boggling that spending 10 billion dollars on something like this isn't seen for what it is: an absolute travesty of civilization.

DoeNietZoMoeilijk 🥔

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 20:57:30 +0100 from ActivityPub

@hans because at the end of the day, that's what the Microsoft shareholders want. We can disagree all we want (and we both do), but those folks simply don't care.

Hans van Zijst

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 19:41:04 +0100

Oh kijk, dat ziet er goed uit. Dat betekent dus dat als #Kaag voet bij stuk houdt, de haatheks en de dominee er allebei niet aan te pas komen.

En mocht Kaag toegeven en toch met die bruinhemden van Ja21 in zee gaan, dan zeg ik m'n lidmaatschap op. Met de CU kan ik nog wel leven, maar Ja21 is is echt een grote nee.

Rutte wil eerst formeren met JA21, dan met CU, daarna pas met links

VVD-leider Mark Rutte geeft de voorkeur aan een coalitie met D66, CDA en JA21. Als deze route niet mogelijk blijkt, wil Rutte eerst kijken of de samenwerking met de ChristenUnie (CU) kan worden voortgezet. Daarna wil Rutte pas dat er naar een linkse partij wordt gekeken. Dat schrijft de demissionaire premier in zijn brief aan de twee verkenners.

politics

DoeNietZoMoeilijk 🥔

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 20:15:16 +0100 from ActivityPub

@hans het zou de formateurs sieren als ze zeiden: "Mark, jij hebt net dik schandaal nummer zoveel aan je kont hangen en je bent demissionair. Momenteel héb je even niets te willen en kinderen die vragen worden overgeslagen."

Hans van Zijst

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 20:52:31 +0100

Zeker. Dat had de kiezer eigenlijk al moeten doen.

Hans van Zijst

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 12:51:42 +0100

Damn, die #Azarkan pakt het mooi op zeg! Complimenten, beste reactie op #Lubach die hij had kunnen geven.

https://twitter.com/F_azarkan/status/1371934405892145158

politics

Hans van Zijst

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 19:18:52 +0100

Hmm, usually John Oliver is funny, but this time he's scary. I had never realised that Tucker #Carlson could just as well try to become president. And let's face it, he has the same xenophobic ideas as the Knuckle Dragger, but he's a far more eloquent speaker: he can actually create complete and grammatically correct sentences. If the Tantrum Toddler could win an election, why wouldn't this one..?

Can't get this idea out of my head now. Is it possible that in, say, five years we remember #Trump and think "he wasn't nearly as bad as this one"? Just like we did when Trump had taken office and we thought of #Bush..?

Scary stuff, John...

Tucker Carlson: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Tucker Carlson is admired by white nationalists, elected officials, and maybe some of your relatives or coworkers. Given that he has the ear of so many Ameri...

politics

Hans van Zijst

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 13:58:53 +0100

Dat doen we in Nederland dan toch sneller. Uitspraak en opschorting daarvan doen we hier gewoon in 1 dag

https://www.nu.nl/buitenland/6120097/duitse-rechter-verbiedt-inlichtingendienst-om-afd-te-bespioneren.html

politics

show all 5 comments

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:41:14 +0100

Hintergrund des aktuellen Beschlusses ist, dass die Einstufung der gesamten AfD als »Verdachtsfall« öffentlich geworden war, obwohl der Verfassungsschutz zugesagt hatte, bis auf Weiteres stillzuhalten. Die Beobachtung der Gesamtpartei war am Mittwoch durch Medienberichte bekannt geworden, auch der SPIEGEL hatte dies gemeldet.

Wow, ze waren niet stiekum genoeg

Hans van Zijst

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:59:32 +0100

Huh? Dat is bizar...

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 15:08:30 +0100

Bron: spiegel.de