And here we are. Right where the tech bro oligarchy wanted us. Giving in to the onslaught, mindlessly turning over all of our data to be chopped up and sold to the highest bidder. Any bidder actually.
If you’ve spent half a millisecond online in the last few weeks you’ve been exposed to the relentless onslaught from Mark Zuckerberg about Muse, the latest incantation dreamed up from the demon spawns of hell that is Meta. Yes, it’s another way to grab your data and use it for their purposes (making money). Yes, it’s AI. Yes, it’s got cute little avatars to attract your children, and those with childlike brains willing to try whatever is new. It’s got all of those things and then some. And, like it not, it’s got the world by the short hairs.
The product is bad enough in and of itself by most accounts. The PR is worse. But I’m here to tell you that Zuckerberg has struck while the iron is either hot or the general public has just accepted wearing wrinkled clothing.
I’ve gotten a lot of questions about Muse from the folks I support since the hype kicked into overdrive. Most of them use Facebook, Instagram and Facebook’s Messenger, so of course they’ve felt the push. I’ve encouraged them not to install the app or use the service, but as they point out, in admissions of wrinkled surrender, they’ve got all of our data anyway.
That’s sadly, the battle, and probably also the war that was lost long ago. When general everyday users just don’t care anymore then the doors are wide open.
When I point out examples of problems I’ve seen and heard about, like this article from Amber Neely that references Jason Aten’s experiences about Meta ignoring users’ permissions, they spit back this closing quote from Neely’s article: “That’s it, dear reader. You don’t get to opt out anymore.”
We’ve gotten past the willing suspension of disbelief and moved into a numbingly suspended state of apathy.
The bad guys won.
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