Funny, the statute $2500 should be for the circumvention act, which was likely singular, not per file obtained during or as a result of the act. And the $150k is ridiculous in and of itself, even if for all files obtained. What a strange world we live in.

Spotify built a system of control in order to profit a few at a cost to many, perhaps everyone else.

Someone broke that system in order to benefit many, possibly at the cost of some of their ability to profit from their system of control–if they didn’t lose customers, or prospective customers, they didn’t experience any financial loss, or a loss in their ability to maintain their system of control (which is still very much in place and working).

Either way, nobody was hurt.

But the person who acted selflessly to benefit of society in general is punished.

Because… We, as a society, celebrate and work effortlessly to maintain complex systems of abuse in order to satisfy our greed or the greed of others. All despite being taught in school not to lie to and bully each other, and to share with and care for each other.

As a species: We are bat shit fucking crazy!

SOs HP laptop borked Win11pro OS, wouldn’t load or recover. Tried reinstalling clean but Win11 installer can’t see SSD. Driver loading during install results in install crashing error.

Linux, here we come.

Whatever man.

I change up my writing style pretty much constantly.

And I switch between muliple accounts on several services, each representing a different fictional character.

And I use a VPN.

Yeah, was pretty sure it was something like that…

I used AI to make a Home Alone themed digital Christmas card last year. It was completely PG. But it was a nightmare to do as I kept tripping over gates on account of Kevin being a child and Home Alone being a copyrighted property.

I went all the way to the dark end of the AI gen spectrum, to where kiddie porn abdolutely happens, but the product I produced there was unsatisfactory. So I went alI went back to the top players with all the gates and worked around them by reworking my prompts for what seemed like forever.

1 year earlier I would’ve gotten the results I wanted with my first prompt, maybe tweaking fonts for the words, fixing spelling errors, or making minor visual features. 5min tops.

It really turned me off from continuing to play with AI.

Those gates have gotten really nasty.

It’s as though users are treated as guilty in advance and then denied the opportunity to prove themselves innocent.

Completely backwards attitude and practice.

Oh, Costco is in the stone ages still in a lot of ways, it’s pretty unsettling sometimes. But also using tried and true methods and waiting decades to adopt modern tech saves a ton of cash… Which doesn’t just benefit the stock holders when you’re a company like Costco.

Go in in person on a weekday before 3pm and sign up at the service desk.

I have upgraded to USB-C headphones…

But, years ago I got a handful of USB-C to 3.5mm adapters as manufacturers were starting to discontinue the 3.5mm jacks by default.

I was of course used to needing a USB adapter for headphones because I had a RAZR v3 for many years, which I also used as an mp3 player. I believe it only had a micro USB port.

AI@home baby!

I called it many years ago.

Wish I found somebody dumb enough to bet money against it. I’d be, like, dollars richer maybe.

Wasn’t 7 just an visually updated NT.

Wish granted (wiggles nose)

Just connect USB-C headphones, or use a USB-C to 3.5mm audio dongle.

The audio jack isn’t needed anymore. The only real downsides of USB-C are that you can’t charge while listening, less wirelessly, and it’s more wear and tear for the port, but that’s unlikely to matter.

Seems aight, I’m fine with FF ATM though.

I do keep alternates around for rare issues, so when helium is out of beta if it ever is, I may install it.

Projection for cars?

I’m jealous of all y’all who know why you got bans.

I’ve gotten warning and temp bans, but they never specify why. They never include the content. Just saying promoting this or that is very unclear, like how, when, where? Did I actually?

I always just ignore them and carry on on alts for a while.

Their shit is so stupid. But there’s a lot of useful content on Reddit. I still hit up old house and DIY type groups, cause I own an old house, and specific tech groups because of the tech I use, but I don’t miss the rest.

Technically you’re posting to social media right here, but I think we all got what you meant.

Community bikes are not a new thing. They had them in my hometown through most of my youth and teen years, and may still. I don’t live there anymore. 🙁

They had a strong bike community, and a bike store and repair shop off a main ped/cycle path through town, just outside downtown. It had a lounge and was the primary source of the community bikes and their maintenance.

Paint the bikes all a similar bright color, not white, and get stickers made with info about use and contact info for pickup and repair.

Like, “I’m a community bike, use me as you like, leave me somewhere responsibly when you’re done with me, so somebody else can use me too. Contact for pickup or repairs 555 RIDE 4ME”

Yeah, don’t say you don’t know if you do, that’s lying, which is a crime in this situation. You can answer crime related questions with questions (avoidance). But don’t do that for everything. If they push, start asking if you’re free to go. If they say no, invoke the 5th.

Don’t do their jobs for them.

Don’t answer any questions that could incriminate you. Or talk to them in general. But be polite when you do speak.

Only tell them your name or provide other required identity information. Don’t say where you are going or coming from. Don’t explain anything. Don’t tell stories. Don’t lie.

I can definitely cut steal with my angle grinder.

Faraday bags work… But test them.

I got a cheapo $7 Chromebook sized bag that seemed to work for my SOs iphone. We don’t use NFC so I couldn’t test that.

No BT, WiFi, or Cell, and probably no GPS.

I only did casual testing.

The screen still showed the signal having low bars for WiFi and cellular, but it didn’t actually receive a signal at all when trying to call or use the net, not even with the top of the bag open a sliver and my hand in there.

If the device was off or in airplane mode and in the bag, I’d be comfortable assuming it was safely hidden from tracking.

I haven’t thoroughly tested my various personal devices, but I expect identical results.

I think everyone should probably have a bag like this around, in a go-bag or something, just in case. And it’s safer to have your phone available than not, as long as it’s secure (use a pin or password to lock it, use encryption, put emergency info on it for first responders).

Awe, I miss browsers like Lynx, and MDA and EGA monitors. Those where the days.

That’s what email is for.

In fact, if I unblock them, I still get emails from an elementary school in the Seattle area because 20 years ago I dated somebody with a kid that went there and I subscribed to their event email.

Yes, I tried to unsubscribe for many years.