• remotelove@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Sorry to interrupt, but CEOs may have data retention laws to follow, depending on the industry. It’s easier for many companies just to save everything, usually. Do they exploit that data? Yeah, unfortunately. CEOs can be blamed for a lot, but not for rules they may have to follow. You can blame them for shitty security over that data they have to retain. That’s a thing! (AI companies are the ones you need to look at now as they are the ones that want everything.)

    To tweak your point a little, you have no voting power over people who are put in charge of government regulatory bodies who create those data retention rules, for example. (Policy and guidelines are distinct things.)

    On second thought, you can vote for the people who control policy or support increased restrictions on police and other feds. You don’t have to vote for people who cheer for the abuse of power. You can look at life any way you choose, I suppose.

    Your points are not generally wrong and your individual vote rarely changes your country or the world. Addressing complaints of an individual isn’t really what voting is for. However, you can vote in different elections for people who have specific areas of control based on your opinion. That is why I got nuanced with my first bit about data, actually.

    The people telling you to vote “harder” are simply telling you to actually vote. That is the point.

    • Queue
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      1 year ago

      From the article we’re commenting on:

      There is no law requiring AT&T to store decades’ worth of Americans’ call records for law enforcement purposes. Documents reviewed by WIRED show that AT&T officials have attended law enforcement conferences in Texas as recently as 2018 to train police officials on how best to utilize AT&T’s voluntary, albeit revenue-generating, assistance.

      And I have voted, I voted for Biden to “not be Trump” and he’s doing okay at that. I’m personally still waiting on protections for queer people, major laws against police brutality, higher minimum wages, healthcare reform, decriminalizing cannabis, codifying Roe v. Wade, or anything else that was planned to win over voters but still don’t have the time to do anything about.

      But i guess we have the political capital to:

      Violate 26 federal laws to continue building the wall that Trump wanted

      Have bipartisan support to enstate a formal dress code because a Senator wore a hoodie

      And I don’t recall ever voting to support Israel’s bombing of Palestine, not in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, or any other election year. There isn’t some referendum of “Hey maybe don’t play geopolitical chess that gets hundreds killed” that I can vote on. Joe “Nothing WIll Fundamentally Change” Biden said to Congress in the State of the Union, to a nation filled with people protesting police brutality We need to Fund the Police to a roaring clap from both parties.

      Please tell me more to vote harder to stop the genocide of Ukrainians, Palestinians, Yemenis, and everyone other oppressed people. Please tell me to vote harder for milquetoast candidates who pay lip service while they allow fascism to grow openly and easily, because “they need to reach across the isles and compromise”.