Wow. Absolutely fascinating. I was aware of the subscription model and had an small insight of Apple and it's closed source model - which was something that didn't settle with me - but this was even more eye opening - not shocking by any means but eye opening. Keep the articles coming, they are powerful.
Great article…keep it up. Streaming of movies has another, more hidden, layer of harm. I once got the Gen-z eye roll when I told someone I had 3000 films on DVD. I noted that streaming is guided by algorithm, and so their tastes are formed by algorithms, but they argued that they choose what they want to watch. They seemed to have no idea what I was talking about.
Thanks so much for reading and for the kind words!
And you’re absolutely right - streaming isn’t just about access, it’s about influence. Algorithms quietly shape taste by deciding what even shows up in front of us. People think they’re choosing freely, but in reality, their options have already been filtered.
Thank you for highlighting this topic. The pernicious subscription model of common goods is creeping into areas that were off limits in the past. Combined with the active effort of current administration to aggregate information about certain populations, this has a potential of making life difficult for some - or for many. Today it's legal and illegal immigrants and Medicaid recipients, tomorrow naturalized citizens and people on ACA...
And you made a solid point - the subscription mindset isn’t just in tech, it’s bleeding into essential services too. When access depends on staying in the system instead of having real control, it creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
That’s why the ownership debate isn’t only about music or software - it’s about power and who decides what you get to keep.
Yes, it totally destroyed most of our chances of a decent life with interviews in our chosen fields. We now 'control' whatever we can. But, AI and their wild ideas will find no home with us.
In 2001 I was emigrating to UK and had a few interviews lined up where the details were on the Hotmail debacle. Debacle as far as I was concerned because on arrival in UK *every* single interview had 'disappeared from my account. Having lost so much, we never trusted any such site again. Categorically I refuse to use a single cloud account. My 'backups' are certain items copied onto drivers in my possession. Not perfect, I know, but our household does not like these 'bullies' (for so they seem to prove to be) and the lines in those missing emails where access was given to me have been a grim reminder ever since.
I bet this must have been so frustrating, especially at such a pivotal moment in your life. I understand why that experience would leave you wary of cloud services. Physical backups might be less convenient, but for peace of mind and control, they’re hard to beat.
And yeah... that's the thing - In today's world, you don't have control over your own stuff... the big companies have all the control... which sucks.
Wow. Absolutely fascinating. I was aware of the subscription model and had an small insight of Apple and it's closed source model - which was something that didn't settle with me - but this was even more eye opening - not shocking by any means but eye opening. Keep the articles coming, they are powerful.
Happy it opened a new perspective for you :)
Thank you for the kind words!
This also opens up the conversation on who owns youe data; your information and wha else do they collect while the subscription is active
Yes - the big companies have all the control.
Great article…keep it up. Streaming of movies has another, more hidden, layer of harm. I once got the Gen-z eye roll when I told someone I had 3000 films on DVD. I noted that streaming is guided by algorithm, and so their tastes are formed by algorithms, but they argued that they choose what they want to watch. They seemed to have no idea what I was talking about.
Thanks so much for reading and for the kind words!
And you’re absolutely right - streaming isn’t just about access, it’s about influence. Algorithms quietly shape taste by deciding what even shows up in front of us. People think they’re choosing freely, but in reality, their options have already been filtered.
Thank you for highlighting this topic. The pernicious subscription model of common goods is creeping into areas that were off limits in the past. Combined with the active effort of current administration to aggregate information about certain populations, this has a potential of making life difficult for some - or for many. Today it's legal and illegal immigrants and Medicaid recipients, tomorrow naturalized citizens and people on ACA...
First of all, thanks for the comment : D
And you made a solid point - the subscription mindset isn’t just in tech, it’s bleeding into essential services too. When access depends on staying in the system instead of having real control, it creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
That’s why the ownership debate isn’t only about music or software - it’s about power and who decides what you get to keep.
Yes, it totally destroyed most of our chances of a decent life with interviews in our chosen fields. We now 'control' whatever we can. But, AI and their wild ideas will find no home with us.
In 2001 I was emigrating to UK and had a few interviews lined up where the details were on the Hotmail debacle. Debacle as far as I was concerned because on arrival in UK *every* single interview had 'disappeared from my account. Having lost so much, we never trusted any such site again. Categorically I refuse to use a single cloud account. My 'backups' are certain items copied onto drivers in my possession. Not perfect, I know, but our household does not like these 'bullies' (for so they seem to prove to be) and the lines in those missing emails where access was given to me have been a grim reminder ever since.
I bet this must have been so frustrating, especially at such a pivotal moment in your life. I understand why that experience would leave you wary of cloud services. Physical backups might be less convenient, but for peace of mind and control, they’re hard to beat.
And yeah... that's the thing - In today's world, you don't have control over your own stuff... the big companies have all the control... which sucks.