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Re:Why is it so hard to give Google money? by hellotomyrars on Wednesday July 27, 2022 @02:20AM (#32247418)
You mentioned those other companies as well though. So if you’re trying to avoid all of them then you are backed in to a corner and no average person is ever going to do so. It really isn’t that complicated. I’m not asking for the government to audit the software. However I don’t think it is too much to ask for an actual support channel. It is insane for a company that touches almost ever person on earth in some way to be impossible to reach for support.

I don’t even think the problem is that the company is made of humans. The problem is that when the black box algorithm makes a decision that locks someone out of their account or some service/feature there is no recourse. The humans are the solution to the problem, but you can’t get them to look at it unless you have a platform to stand on. It’s disgusting.

Re:Why is it so hard to give Google money? by parasubvert on Wednesday July 27, 2022 @10:20AM (#32250710)
But some human made that algorithm. ML models are alchemy, no one understands how they work fundamentally, so they're very susceptible to human bias. James Mickens USENIX '18 keynote is a great laugh/cry view of this.

Regulations mandating a support channel of some sort is reasonable.

Also, I don't think it's reasonable to say a person needs to be free of ALL those companies. Decentralized for-profit organizations are how we get things done as a society, mostly. Pick the companies you trust/value. My point was mostly about avoiding ad-revenue-driven companies.

Re:Why is it so hard to give Google money? by hellotomyrars on Wednesday July 27, 2022 @12:13PM (#32252346)
I think then we are actually a lot more on the same page. Not the read I got initially but this is my general feeling on the issue. Appreciate the discourse.