In addition, pirated physical media used to be an easy way for non techy people to acquire media in developing countries.

5 years already? Shit, I'm old.

The incredible thing about these articles is that they don't make the slight mention of lemmy.

That one linked is a well written summary of what happened, but it's partial if they don't include the migration that happened, even if it wasn't that big.

I have been looking at this possibility, but running a bridge means that I will need to self host a service, which adds one more point of failure, while not really removing whatsapp from my life, so I'm not convinced it's a good alternative.

Whatsapp

And no, I can't simply stop using or ask friends to move to an alternative. I'm from Brazil and that thing is so popular and mainstream, that even stores or public services use it.

Just this week, I had to report an animal abuse case to the authorities, and the official communication channel I had to use was through whatsapp.

It's sad to see how dependent of a single proprietary service for something so important we allowed ourselves to become...

Let's invert the question: what makes it worth the switch? If I'm going to change something, you have to prove why it's worth, not me proving why I shouldn't.

Everything adds a little. Another thing happening are the newer Windows versions requiring stupidly high minimum requirements, pushing people with older machines into alternatives.

I both agree and disagree. We know how to put a custom rom on it, but most users need to rely on the manufacturer for updates, so it's important to have such support available.

When I started using the internet, it was a shock, because I got in contact with people from different places and realized how poor I am :(

Even today, I get cultural shocks here and there. Just this week, someone mentioned what they consider the bare minimum specs for a phone they consider to be viable for simple usage, and guess what? My phone doesn't have half of these specs.

This.

Not all violations are ill-intended, and most amaetur devs aren't specialists in licensing.

There's something that worries me about GPT-like technologies, and I see very few people talking about it: GPT-based social media bots.

It can give people and groups to create much advanced mass manipulation strategies. Imagine a lot of gpt accounts on all sites creating comments advocating pro or against something, every time it's mentioned, in a very natural language, that can fool most people.

It worries me a lot, and I'm sure it will be done at some point. If recent elections around the world were a mess due to a lot of social media manipulation and fake news campaigns, now imagine that powered by gpt.

I feel the same. That one is, indeed, a new dilemma, instead or just a joke or simple variation.