this post was submitted on 24 May 2025

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Privacy

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What's more important to you a free internet or your Internet privacy? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 hours ago by Sackeshi@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

26 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It's no secret that we trade our information for access to the Internet. So what do you prefer a subscription based Internet with privacy protection or a free internet with companies allowed to take and sell your data

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 hours ago

The internet existed before you had to pay for everything. You paid your ISP for internet access, they maintained their peer connection, and provided you email. Colleges and individuals provided chat and group forums.

We're on a social platform right now that can run almost for free. For a pittance, you can bring a tunnel into your house and easily host open source social networks for your friends and family.

Capitalism is driving all of these companies to try to get you to buy into everything. They're selling advertising to each other which is pushing them to gather as much of your data as possible in this awful feedback loop where you are the product. We don't need to be in any of those loops, We need to provide for ourselves in this companies can just go away.

[–] NotAGamer@lemmy.org 20 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

You're confusing Internet with services on the Internet. Social media is not the Internet. The Internet exists without Facebook, Xitter and other social media sites.

[–] cy_narrator@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

This could also refer to some ISPs that give free internet or cheap internet paid by ads, if such a thing exists already(if not it will be a thing in a few years)

[–] NotAGamer@lemmy.org 7 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

That was tried in the early hours 2000s but almost nobody used it.

[–] Lucien@mander.xyz 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Net Zero? I definitely used it for a while.

[–] NotAGamer@lemmy.org 1 points 3 hours ago

It was dial-up. Most computers don't have phone modems built in anymore, cell phones definitely don't and it would be so slow as to be virtually useless with modern APIs. Broadband needs a hardware setup which nobody can or will do for free. Sure there's wifi which some cities offer but those will be restricted and are only "free" as covered by local government taxes or local businesses. The days where the model of free internet access in exchange for selling your data is gone. Clearly to me the poster above is referring to social media selling your privacy which goes back to my point that social media is not the Internet.

[–] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

A free and private internet

[–] Lucien@mander.xyz 25 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, I think OP has created a false dichotomy here

[+] Sackeshi@lemmy.world -24 points 6 hours ago (4 children)

It's not a false dichotomy, the companies that give us access to the Internet like Google need to make money in one way or another, they sell our user data to other companies which then give targeted ads to us. If we banned the use of user data it would require a monthly subscription

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

ISP's give us access to the Internet. And we pay them for it. Google makes money via ad aggregation. We already know they were able to do this without siphoning up all your data because they literally made money doing it before 2004 when they launched Gmail. What you're talking about already exists though. User subscriptions for Email, VPN's, Search Engines etc already exist and people are using them. People are paying for them.

People also generally understand that if they aren't paying for a service then they are the product. The thing is though, lots of those people are fine with ads so long as the ads don't get in the way of them enjoying the product. If I open a website they don't need to have a full page ad open up when the site page loads. But they do that anyway and that's what people are largely pushing back against.

Additionally, if these companies want our data? They should do a much better job of safeguarding it, or be held responsible in a meaningful way.

[–] anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz 21 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

You are commenting through a service that neither forces you to sell your data or pay a subscription fee and yet you don't recognise that option? :)

[–] Libra@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 hours ago

Do they need to? I don't think they do. They exist to make money so I get that they want to, and they're pretty good at it, but they could try not exploiting people for profit. But the idea that 'it exists therefore anything is justified in order to make a profit' is absurd.

[–] merde@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 hours ago

internets were there before Google. I'm sure there are many people on lemmy who remember google as a new search engine they tried.

internet would be different, like it was different, if these hogs like google and facebook are banned from collecting and selling user data. Fuck surveillance capitalism. (fuck capitalism while you're at it)

[–] gomp@lemmy.ml 12 points 6 hours ago

It’s no secret that we trade our information for access to the Internet.

I pay a monthly subscription for access to the Internet (actually two: one for the landline and one for my phone).

So what do you prefer a subscription based Internet with privacy protection or a free internet with companies allowed to take and sell your data

Either one would be better than what we have now, which is not free and not private.

[–] Libb@jlai.lu 8 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

It’s no secret that we trade our information for access to the Internet.

You tell me. I had this odd idea that I was already paying a monthly sub to access the Web and then, on top of that, corporations suddenly deciding it was their natural right to suck our data without our consent.

[–] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 4 points 6 hours ago

I don't mind paying. In fact I do that to keep my privacy by hosting most of my social media myself instead of using big corps social media and other services like immich, ollama, home assistant, Firefox sync, ttrss, and many more.

I'm not only paying for the hardware but also with a lot of time to host and keep everything up.

[–] Kookie215@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

We get the worst of both worlds here, we pay for our data to be taken so they can sell it. If they're going to sell my data either way, I would prefer it to be free to use the internet at least.

[–] throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 hours ago

What's more important to you, your survival, or allowing the world to live without cancer?

~/s~