Switching to Brave has worked out great for me. All of my extensions work, browsing experience is almost exactly the same, etc. I love the built-in privacy features (Tor is a keyboard shortcut away!). The one issue that I've run into is that the built-in ad blocker is a little aggressive sometimes to the point where it breaks page functionality. At those times, I just deactivate it for that page and go about my business.
I just joined with a lifetime membership a few weeks ago (wish I had waited for Black Friday - didn't anticipate a deal), but I can say that already I have gotten a lot of value from the community and don't anticipate ever feeling bad about my purchase. If it's on sale, I say definitely go for it. The Slack channel in particular has been a great resource - I've gotten lots of advice on visas, travel plans, gear, etc.
How about (5) you're trying to learn Rust and you need a project to work on? Irresponsible for production code, but perfectly valid for a weekend project. And in my experience can be a great way to learn the quirks of a particular language!
Very interested in testing out your product as it seems like it solves some real painpoints of ours. Is there someone we can reach out to directly and provide detailed feedback to after we have a chance to try it out?
Coincidentally, since you brought up Libra: I actually think one of the biggest bull cases for crypto in general (not necessarily Libra) is solving this exact problem. You have an immutable record of all of your transactions that is not explicitly tied to your identity (just a public key). The role of a credit bureau when you apply for credit then would be to ask you to prove ownership of (one or many) public key(s) that they can then run algorithms over to assess your creditworthiness. They don't have to custodian the data at any point. They can be compelled to forget that you are the owner of a particular public key. The end user has full control over how their data is used. And creditors are still able to assess creditworthiness. Win-win-win-win.
> You did give them explicit permission by participating in the modern financial system.
This at best would qualify as implicit consent. Which is very different and not sufficient. There should at the very least be a big button you have to press for every agreement you enter into that shares data with credit bureaus that clearly states that you:
1) consent to sharing all of your transaction data with credit bureaus
2) are aware of the various ways the credit bureaus might use your information
3) are aware of the potential consequences in practical terms of how this usage might impact your life
4) are informed about the way the data is stored/who has access to it/what your rights are surrounding it
I would also like to see GDPR-style "right to be forgotten" laws that apply to this data.
Came here to say this! I still can't believe credit bureaus are allowed to even exist. At no time do I give them explicit permission to collect my (very) personal information, there's almost literally no way I can opt out (short of not participating in the modern financial system), their interpretation of this data has an outsized influence on my quality of life, AND they have proven themselves incompetent at protecting this data!
If I'm worried about Facebook's use of my data the answer is simple: stop using Facebook.
I had an epiphany a few years ago related to this while in the midst of a depressive episode. A friend commented on my music selections: "Why do you listen to such sad music?" It caught me completely off guard because to me these were not sad songs but very comforting. I had no awareness that these songs could be interpreted as sad at that time. Looking back it's obvious, but at the time it was just what I felt drawn to...
I continue to believe that knowledgeable professionals being locked out of investments (sometimes for projects they have meaningfully contributed to!) because they aren't literally millionaires (per US accredited investor reqs) is a much bigger scandal than any shitty ICO.
Here's hoping some version of the Jobs Act 3.0 passes the Senate (before getting stuffed with a bunch of bs)...
Google runs the largest ad network on the planet. It's absolutely critical to their business model. Wikipedia is great, but they produce no content of their own and lack any sort of curation. Of course there's a lot of crap on the Internet, but I personally find many types of well-curated, professional content extremely valuable. I personally would be willing to pay for much of it, but I'm in a better position to do so than many - which is exactly my point.
This is exactly what I've been thinking about re:the recent slew of adblock news on HN. Content creation and distribution have real costs, and I see other, far more intrusive models developing to combat loss of ad revenue if ad blockers become the norm.
Not to mention the contribution to rising income inequality/decreasing social mobility. If all useful information is behind a paywall, only those that can afford it will have access - further increasing the return to capital.
Another huge advantage with indoor farming is the decreased need for pesticides. Decreased production and environmental costs + a healthier, organic product for consumers... what's not to love?