Bonum Certa Men Certa

Alphabet/Gulag is Closing Down (Tightening the Screws in the Name of 'Security')

Video download link | md5sum 822522f8c3b98654d0c836a81cfa2817 Free Software Users and App-Minded Gulag Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Gulag (or Google) does not care about the Internet; it just wants to extend and control it, but it frames that as a matter of "security"

THE video above is about the company "Alphabet" (calling Gulag "Alphabet" is like calling Facebook "Meta", which is mostly a form of distraction from distasteful activities, just like GitHub pretends not to be Microsoft). Alphabet as a name came up and was advertised around the time many scandals had piled up. We're meant to be thinking YouTube, for example, has nothing to do with Gulag (even though the login is the same!) and this thing called Alphabet is looking over everything. Don't fall for it!

"We hope that one day the Web will be less than 10% of all Internet traffic and Gemini, which is bandwidth-conserving, will reach 1%.""Less secure apps" is what Gulag now calls traditional software, not so-called "apps" -- a misnomer that typically means proprietary software that spies heavily on the users. The page speaks of "your [sic] Google Account", which will change at the end of May. Why the change? They pretend to value security, but given how they treat users' privacy and given the back doors (there's some history there; see the video) only a gullible reader would fall for it.

Thankfully, some alternatives are emerging and rising fast. Gemini, for instance, needs only 2 more capsules (visible to Lupa) to reach 2,200. To quote: "There are 2198 capsules. We successfully connected recently to 1777 of them."

We hope that one day the Web will be less than 10% of all Internet traffic and Gemini, which is bandwidth-conserving, will reach 1%. If not Gemini, then something similar to it, which scales fine on residential connections and can thus be self-hosted from people's homes.

A few days ago a longtime GMail used [sic] told us that "Google [is] effectively pulling the plug on Thunderbird," but Mozilla says nothing about it. Thunderbird is how millions of people access GMail, so that's a pretty big deal and Mozilla ought to be concerned. I told this used [sic] that I "saw that [news] and do not expect even the so-called 'media' to cover it or for Gulag Noise (Google News) to pick up a story about it..." (for reasons explained in this previous video)

"GMail is not E-mail but an attack on E-mail as a protocol and an attack on the distributed/decentralised nature of E-mail."With a little effort one can find that about 7 years ago Madame Baker, not yet as CEO of Mozilla, wanted to kill Thunderbird, wrongly arguing that people were moving to "GMail" anyway (yes, she mentioned GMail specifically). At the time, she was already being paid a lot by Gulag (mostly the deal with placements for the address bar and search bar in Firefox). "Maybe she will move sideways over to Alphabet officially," the used [sic] said (he had already move away from GMail, albeit not completely). "Like de Icaza has been..."

"An additional point is that aside from helping them complete the coup," the used [sic] concluded, "she may have little to no value."

Mozilla has itself become a data collection company; being subsidised by Gulag and run by former Facebook managers won't help. We expect the war on E-mail to progress. GMail is not E-mail but an attack on E-mail as a protocol and an attack on the distributed/decentralised nature of E-mail. Microsoft too contributes towards this agenda and it's in Mozilla's Board.

Recent Techrights' Posts

2025 Rumours of IBM Layoffs in Marketing Likely True, Online Powwow Drops More Clues
Expect over 10,000 layoffs this year (at IBM alone)
Microsoft Windows Barely Exists in Haiti Anymore
This trend in Haiti is a "story in progress"
 
Gemini Links 18/03/2025: Weather and Resisting "MAGA"
Links for the day
Links 18/03/2025: New Apple Blunders and Windows Disliked by Users
Links for the day
Once Again 'Losing Track' of Who the Clients Are, The Serial Harasser and Strangler from Microsoft
Timing is everything
Android (With Linux) Rises to Record Highs in Hong Kong and in Macao
Looking quite bad for Microsoft
Distractions. Distractions Everywhere.
distracting from the real solution
EPO Concerns About the Education and Childcare Allowance Reform (ECAR) and School Liaison Officer (SLO)
The public deserves to know as it impacts thousands of families
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 17, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 17, 2025
Links 17/03/2025: Weather Changing and Connecting Docker to Localhost
Links for the day
The EPO Might Face Critical 'Brain Drain' (Abandonment by the Most Experienced Patent Examiners) This Year
"a number of colleagues might feel compelled to inform the Administration before the end of May 2025 of their intention to retire as of 1 December 2025."
Links 17/03/2025: Forced Labour and Memory on Tenstorrent
Links for the day
Links 17/03/2025: Live Nation’s DOJ Antitrust Battle Carries on, as Does the Demise of the "Hey Hi" Bubble
Links for the day
Links 17/03/2025: "Badly Misled About Covid" and "Gag of America"
Links for the day
The Lie or Half-Truth of Clownflare (or Equivalents) Improving Things
It may seem "cheap" (temporarily) and "fast", but that's just bait
Free Speech Around the World is Curtailed in the Name of "Protecting Us"
We have spent many years speaking about how to combat this trend
Enshittification of Online Media
Now more than ever we must fight for independent press
War Readiness Means Removing Every Windows Installation and CALEA-Compliant Equipment
Finland is vulnerable for a whole bunch of reasons
Reporting Facts is Not a Privacy Violation
Techrights has long valued and defended privacy
In the Russian Federation (Russia), Microsoft Isn't Even the 1%
the government builds "homegrown" (not pertinent parts of them) distros with which to replace Microsoft, not just Windows
Gemini Links 17/03/2025: "Hack the Planet", Klingnauer Stausee, and Enshittification
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 16, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, March 16, 2025
Slow News Cycles Are Part of a Trend, Technology Gravitating Towards Rich People's Interests
This issue isn't limited to the Web
Recent Site Changes and Looking Towards 2026
In November 2026 we turn 20
Mozilla Firefox is Probably Already Below 2% in the UK (United Kingdom)
LibreWolf identifies as "Firefox" by default
When You Don't Want to Tinker Much You Just Use GNU/Linux, Not Windows
With GNU/Linux upgrades are possible and, failing that, one can just back up the home directory and copy it "back into" the new OS
Facebook REALLY, REALLY, R E A L L Y Does Not Want You to Read This Book
It would be a CRIME to read it
Coming Soon, the Next Chapter About the Crisis of the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We're far from done
Illuminating Microsoft's Code of Conduct (CoC) Hypocrisy
Oppressor victimhood? Leadership claimed by the worst offenders?
Planet Ubuntu - or Ubuntu Planet - Has an LLM Slop Problem (Called Faizul "Piju" 9M2PJU)
Does investigative reporting have any future at all?
Links 16/03/2025: Handwriting Comeback and "MElon’s Attack on U.S.A.I.D."
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/03/2025: "Differences Distance" and "Dopamine-addicted Pigeon"
Links for the day
Expect GNU/Linux to Rise Sharply in China
But Red China won't trust Red Hat (IBM), which works for the Pentagon and keeps the "secret sauce" for its OS secret (just what Americans accused China of doing with its distros)
Links 16/03/2025: American Press Under Attack, "France Offers to Take in US Scientists"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/03/2025: Threats to Canada and How to Process News Online
Links for the day
Links 16/03/2025: Growing Tariff Hostilities and Social Media Surveillance
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 15, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, March 15, 2025