> Business owners who think they can do without developers because they think LLMs replace developers are fine by me too. Natural selection will take care of them in due course.
Thing is, natural selection will take care of you at the same time. Because you'll also come to rely on products they make, or services they offer, either directly or indirectly. So eventually, you too, will suffer the consequences of the enshloppification.
Let me tell you, there is a ton more to learn in this reality than llms are capable of finding out on their own, especially when it comes to truth, ethics and morality. And those are the only thing that matter in the end when you leave this reality. A greater challenge does not exist.
This is so depressing. It feels like all around me every product is being enshittified to hell. I am afraid for the future and for all the good we are losing.
If you're on prem or able to manipulate the machine into an OS of your choosing, yes. But with purely remote access to a device the disk is pretty decently secured (even if Window's ACLs are nightmareishly convoluted).
And if you whack someone with a wrench until they tell you the password, it's even easier!
Seriously, if someone is getting physical access to the machine to the extent where they can remove the hard drive... I doubt that it makes a difference whether the browser's password manager keeps its passwords encrypted in-memory.
There's a huge difference in physical and criminal liability for stealing a laptop vs kidnapping someone. If tools become widespread for criminals to recover user accounts from an unpowered laptop, there's going to be an uptick in identity theft. When many cities would't even prosecute for the theft of a laptop, almost no one that's willing to steal a laptop is willing to hold someone up, which not only puts the criminal at physical risk of the victim attacking but also could result in decades of incarceration, if caught.
"But You're Still on X?"
Yes. And we understand why that looks contradictory. Let us explain.
EFF exists to protect people’s digital rights. Not just the people who already value our work, have opted out of surveillance, or have already migrated to the fediverse. The people who need us most are often the ones most embedded in the walled gardens of the mainstream platforms and subjected to their corporate surveillance.
Young people, people of color, queer folks, activists, and organizers use X every day. This platform hosts mutual aid networks and serves as hubs for political organizing, cultural expression, and community care. Just deleting the app isn't always a realistic or accessible option, and neither is pushing every user to the fediverse when there are circumstances like:
You own a small business that depends on X for customers.
Your abortion fund uses X to spread crucial information.
You're isolated and rely on online spaces to connect with your community.
Our presence on X is not an endorsement. We've spent years exposing how this platform suppresses marginalized voices, enables invasive behavioral advertising, and flags posts. We’ve also taken action in court, in legislatures, and through direct engagement with their staff to push them to change poor policies and practices.
We stay because the people on this platform deserve access to information, too. We stay because some of our most-read posts are the ones criticizing the very platform we're posting on. We stay because the fewer steps between you and the resources you need to protect yourself, the better.
It’s fine. The business value still exceeds the intangible loss due to quality. And for internal tools with a few-months-lifespan it’s perfectly acceptable.
Thing is, natural selection will take care of you at the same time. Because you'll also come to rely on products they make, or services they offer, either directly or indirectly. So eventually, you too, will suffer the consequences of the enshloppification.