Jessica @cat@awoo.space

and while the internet has turned some former background whisper networks into broadcasts, the conversations you hadn’t heard before were probably always there

sorry, this got kind of rambly, but my vague point is the internet is as powerful as it is dangerous and I don’t think people quite understand that

a scam website *can* have a green-company-name type SSL certificate; that and the lock in your browser don’t mean “you should trust this website,” it really *only* means your communications with it are private

and this feels like a microcosm of the broader issues

and a lot of internet infrastructure conflates trustworthiness and security of communication, despite them being two different concepts

I think we need to be teaching some scepticism, and that everyone should verify before they willingly trust random posts on the internet, as basic technological survival skills

we’re overwhelmingly unprepared for the idea that the top result on Google might be a paid ad which is actually a scam, unprepared for the idea that that 13k retweet screenshot showing something might actually be (poorly) edited

I think about this kind of a lot and I think it’s probably neither entirely a good or bad thing, but something we need to understand about how we’re consuming news and content in 2018, but we seem unprepared

so on the one hand this content in general doesn’t have to be considered “newsworthy” by your local TV or newspaper editor… but also it doesn’t have to be checked for trustworthiness *by any living being*

and, of course, this mechanism is a double-edged sword, the amplifiers are simultaneously useful detectors of interesting things, and… well and truly ripe for abuse

with the internet we now have these engines of viral amplification which we simply did not have before - for something to become big enough to be known to a decent number of people, it had to hit the news *first*, now it just hits the news *after* going viral

with any modern controversy you get loads of contrarian people going “well if it’s so bad why did nobody complain until now?” and the answer is… people *always did,* but few people ever heard

⁣

rt if you feel old

im enjoying creating infinite alternate universes with this generator https://foone.github.io/SierraDeathGenerator

so, good news, the wrong order contained the extra toppings version of the burger I ordered anyway, sorry to the person who wanted the other one I guess?

ha ha incredible, on this service, refunds are self-service and instantaneous I WONDER WHY 🤔

holy shit I was just delivered THE WRONG FUCKING ORDER what the hell seriously I’m not even trying

any way I think(?) there’s a tasty burger on its way now? hash tag self care

I don’t really care to to name and/or shame because there’s no point. Every single one is like this. Internationally.

so once you find that and enter your credit card info it tells me to fuck off because a four digit postal code cannot possibly be valid

but the form submits anyway???