At what point do or can you start cutting ties with BigTech?

Posted By on March 20, 2021

A technology friend of mine, Scott Bilik (who was considered my Twitter “Godfather in 2007), has recently wiped some of the mud from his hypothetical digital footprints and is systematically freeing himself from Big Tech’s shacklesProductNotCustomer. This current Silicon Valley monopoly has increased its political clout and has enticed or entrapped most of us in ways that it is difficult to sever. We’ve voluntarily given up privacy and personal liberty to use seemingly free or relatively low cost services in our modern connected lifestyle … and if we disagree with their edicts (or “wokism“), then are censored or banned.

My buddy Jeff (a Cybersecurity guy) has slowly been doing the same after cutting cords and his social media ties a few years ago. I’ve given thought to doing the same … but continue dabble with services offered by Google, Twitter, Facebook and to a somewhat lesser extent Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. I occasionally remind myself that I am behaving like the complaint German citizen who kept quiet, operated within the rules and allowed a National Socialism ideology to spread pre-World War II. They controlled the propaganda, schools and by threat and force by eliminating contrary opinions and people who opposed Nazism.

In today’s leftist totalitarian movement (see recent post), those wielding power have been pushing their ideology in our public education system, the media and used their control of technology as a way to silence and censor opposing and unwanted opinion. They restrict stories and promote those which they agree. They promote candidates and political views, while squelching those to which they disagree. All of us who use connected technology, if open-minded, can see this authoritarian behavior and know instinctively what happens if you say the wrong thing or step out of line … especially if it counters today’s “woke” leftist’s views. Many who remain compliant and quiet, do it because they agree with the leftist ideology … or out of the threat of being “cancelled.” There are plenty of examples of those being censored. Few want to be targeted by the left or want to live without the technology controlled by the Big Tech overlords (and their “chosen” political leaders).

Scott’s personal reasonings was excellent and well worth reading (here’s a link to his blog and a March 8th snippet):

Cultural Shifts at Big Tech

At times I’m glad I work in silicon design. I have memories of big tech companies that primarily focused on building cool, innovative products and services. They rarely touched upon matters of politics or culture.

These past several years I’ve noticed more that these companies – which started out rather open – are making ever more stringent rules on what is allowable content. For many sites I can’t get over the flip in what content is allowed and what is quarantined or banned. “Move your life To The Cloud,” they said. They then proceeded to lock down allowable content further and further each year. When I was a teen I’d see bumper stickers that would say “Question Authority”. Online that is becoming increasingly difficult.

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