Is it really decentralized and private?
this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2023
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Privacy
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I like that too and I don't understand why people are so very fundamentally against having stuff recommended to them based on what they're already following.
I used to like it, now I avoid it at all cost. The problem is that the algorithm is never neutral, even if it's made with good intentions it can be gamed and manipulated, and it traps you in a spiral where what you interact with is what it shows you is what you interact with is what it shows you...
I never really used Twitter or any similar service, so I never had this happen to information shaping my opinions. I did, however, feel that the music I was listening to became shaped by the Spotify algorithm, and that I ended up listening to less rather than more diverse music than when I was sticking to vinyl. That's absurd - you have all the music in the world at your fingertips, and you end up limiting yourself more. That was my experience of course, other people probably have different ones. Anyway, I cancelled my subscription.
If there's a risk for music streaming services narrowing your field of vision, platforms shaping your opinions are downright scary. Algorithms can be tricked into showing you content, which is what russian troll farms excelled at. Tech bros tend to believe the solution is in adding more and more complexity to the point where nobody understands how it works - this is the opposite of how I want the content that helps informing me about the world to be curated.
I'm obviously not diagonally opposed to algorithms. The choose your own algorithm approach might have some merit, and I look forward to seeing more experimentation with this in the fediverse. But I do not trust corporate interests with any of this - nor do I trust a bunch of tech-optimistic rich man's sons.
Wanna share my experience too here.
I used YouTube with the algorithm, mostly for educational stuff, like vsauce, kurgsat and tech stuff. I started showing some interest in politics and news, start watching tldr news, then it pulls me into Vox, as I showed some anti trump sentiment. To put it quickly, it didnt take too long for me to realise that I was being drawn to ever more left leaning content (obviously a lot further than merely Vox, second thought and deeper)
Which is why I left algorithmic YouTube by using alternative frontends
I'm not keen on it, prefer to find things organically so I usually ignore or (if possible) hide recommendations. But I don't understand getting mad about it and judging people who find it useful. People gonna people, I suppose.
I may accept an algorithm IF I can know what and why things have beem filtered. A private algorithm which could be observed and manipulated would have my vote.
I want to know what are the bubbles I am in snd and be able to remove them so see something perhaps less biased.