this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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Pay attention to what companies do behind our back and you’ll quickly learn which ones are super creepy.

For example, Mistral Le Chat released the memory feature, but were kind enough to notify me about it. The notification itself also had a nice toggle that allowed me to disable said feature. That was unusually considerate of them.

However, opt-out is still rude when compared to opt-in settings. Think of Debian’s package popularity statistics for example. During installation, Debian gives you the option to enable the statistics or just ignore the whole thing and move on.

Contrast that with Microsoft Copilot that also rolled out the memory feature a while back without telling me anything about it. One day, I just noticed that Copilot is referencing an older conversation, which I find super creepy. That just made me feel betrayed. I already knew that Microsoft is a creepy corporation, just like Google and Meta, so that shouldn’t surprise me one bit. Speaking of Google, better check those gmail settings on again. I’m sure Google can’t stop messing around with them and enabling privacy violating settings from time to time.

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[–] BoloMKXXVIII@piefed.social 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Anything Google has no privacy. Same with MicroSoft & Meta.

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Can confirm. These are the three cancers of the internet. Amazon is the fourth.

[–] mereo@piefed.ca 25 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The only way to escape these companies is to prioritize your privacy. When you do so, you'll find replacements for the current capitalist platforms. For example, I switched from Windows to Linux and from Gmail to ProtonMail. I also switched from Dropbox to Nextcloud, which offers multiple services like a calendar and tasks. This means that I switched my calendar from Google to Nextcloud, for example.

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

When those companies roll out new features, are they opt-in, opt-out or sneaky stealth assassin features that just stab you in the back one day without any warning?

[–] mereo@piefed.ca 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Linux is a worldwide community project, and its source code is readily available. It's nonprofit. Proton is now a Swiss nonprofit organization without shareholders (https://proton.me/foundation). Nextcloud is an open-source project that you can host on your own server or in the cloud, which means you have total control over your information.

These are nonprofit projects that don't seek to monetize from you because you're not the product.

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I can’t speak to mail/cloud providers, but a big difference between 99% of open source software and proprietary software is that updates are manually installed by the user.

In theory, this allows the user the opportunity to read the new source before installation to verify it isn’t malicious or to check for any known compatibility issues or bugs.

For instance, “stable” Linux distros are not stable in terms of not crashing, but stable in the sense that functionality will not update and only security patches are applied. But the user always gets to choose when that happens.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Maybe don't use AI if you don't want it recorded?

Even if they don't tell you they are, they're all doing it

And even if you "opt out" they're still gonna do it.

It's just one of a shit ton of reasons not to use those fucking chatbots...

There have been so many cases of tech companies being caught lying about what data they collect/sell, the only way to be really sure is to never give them the data in the first place.

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
  • Its not just true for AI. This shower thought is true for anything with a privacy (surveillance) policy. The sentiment here is also true for just buying video games on steam, or buying a new car.
  • You won't be the only person that has the ability to choose what is done with your data after it is collected. There is an entire distribution chain that you are not privy to after you freely release your data. Some of which might use AI on your data, and some might use opt-out policies that you can't even decide to opt-out of.
  • There are ways to use AI without releasing your private data or agreeing to be surveilled. Self hosting a model locally means that you keep your data on device. The real key here is self hosting and controlling the services you use means that you also control the data distribution.
[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

True, but this kind of psychopath level behavior is very telling. You’ll know exactly how much they respect you.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well...

At least you finally found it out.

But most already know how capitalism works.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 2 days ago

Clearly most don't or don't care...

Either way, the best a person can do is deny the parasite engagement and profit.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 2 days ago

Corporations bahave like rapists and normies have hardly any issue with it until something to happens to them and they do pika face about it