• 32 Posts
  • 361 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: February 10th, 2024

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  • What about the anti lgbt stuff? Thoughts…?

    It is important to remember that turning down a pull request does not make a person (or project) anti-LGBT.

    Sadly, I have seen bullying and brigading from people who claim to be supporting inclusiveness, more than a few times. That behavior alone would be enough to sour me on them personally, and on any change they had submitted.

    And, of course, there are other perfectly valid reasons to decline a PR as well.

    Asking for changes we would like to see is fine. Demanding them is not. Resorting to character assassination when we don’t get what we want is absolutely not.



  • I think it’d be great to live in a world where this technology required warrants, transparency, and other oversight from the start.

    Me too.

    It boils down to the fact that this technology is widespread, and will continue to be widespread regardless of my actions

    That same reasoning has been used innumerable times throughout history. I suppose each of us must decide whether we think it holds water. It reminds me of an old adage: No single drop believes it is responsible for the flood.

    Predator does way more than just ALPR.

    I know. I looked it up. I mentioned the name not because I think it represents what it does, but rather to point out that it will affect how people feel about you and your work, even if in subtle, imperceptible ways. It’s up to you to decide whether you’re comfortable with that.


  • I don’t have a specific suggestion, but here is what comes to mind:

    • Violation of human rights and civil liberties in order to gain power over others is always justified with noble-sounding excuses like protecting people and property. The reality does not match the claim.
    • Once violated, privacy of information is almost impossible to restore.
    • Anything that can be abused to someone’s gain will be abused eventually, if not immediately.
    • Relying on a benevolent gatekeeper (even yourself) to prevent abuse of your tech will eventually fail.
    • The name V0LT Predator evokes the feeling that it’s something the world needs less of, not more.

    Whenever I find myself on a fine line like the one you’re trying to walk, I consider whether I’ll look back on my life and be proud of what projects/causes/changes to the world that I advanced with the time and talents that I have.




  • Sony used to make compact variants of their flagship Xperia phones. Good specs. Good battery life. Good camera. Good display. Good sound. Good reception. Headphone jack. SD card slot. Unlockable bootloader, so they could be de-googled.

    Sadly, the “compact” models grew slightly larger with each model year, and even a not-so-compact one hasn’t been released in a while.