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Microsoft is reportedly banning Palestinians in the U.S. for life for calling relatives in Gaza
(www.windowscentral.com)
Uh, why would they do this?
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
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Probably because they were warned that Hamas or another Terrorist organization out of Gaza is planning Terror Attacks on Europe or the US
So they just cut off any Communications.
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Could it be that our ally is running an extermination campaign against a civilian population? No, that’s impossible. They all have to be terrorists, and contacting terrorists is against our terms of service.
It's all to stop terrorism!
So much bs in the name of justice is just laziness
don’t ever forget that microsoft is evil
Just capitalism playing along with genocide - no different than they did seven decades ago.
Remember: today it's "just" the Palestinians and you may not be affected or care. But tomorrow, it could be you.
Yep. If you ever shared a political opinion, that could put you on someone's naughty list. If that someone gets a position of power and decides they want to attack, well, you could be the next metaphorical Palestinian.
Voting on Lemmy isn't private (and is probably for sale on closed platforms) so just upvoting an opinion might be enough to get you on some lists.
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I have always been pro-privacy, but in a kind of lukewarm, "I wish someone would do something about this" way.
What has finally pushed me to ditch services from large corporations over the past couple of years is not really a concern for privacy, its a drive for self-sufficiency.
As basically the last stepping stone, as of a couple of weeks ago, my email, calendar and contacts are self-hosted, and it's just... So freeing.
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This is what I fear the most with these platforms. They have these shitty automated moderation systems that can just decide to delete everything you have there on a whim. Already common on places like youtube and facebook, but it just keeps getting worse. Every site is pushing users into signing in with their google/microsoft/whatever accounts.
Remember the guy who lost access to his smart home when amazon banned him for no reason?
It isn't even on a whim. They get pressured to act on "anti semitism" and define that to mean anything that offends Zionists.
well it wasn't for no reason, it was for stupid reason, which is different, but i agree with your sentiment.
if you are depending on a platform where you are the goods being sold, not the customer, you shouldn't be surprised if you are taken of the shelf on a moment's notice.
everyone has a choice.
I use Gmail, and am concerned about the same thing. But of the alternatives I don't know any that have wide support for social logins, which are damn convient.
it doesn't have to be clean cut.
i have my personal and important mails in my private mailbox, on my own domain. i use gmail as a backup and spam mail, i use it everywhere where i assume the mail can go to some spam database sooner or later.
so if i lost access to it one day, i would lose history of some confirmations from various eshops and shit like that, but nothing that would really cripple me.
i would definitely not put my family photos there and hope they stay there forever.
which are damn convient
and that's how they get us...
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well it wasn't for no reason, it was for stupid reason, which is different
Yeah, guess I ovesimplified a bit. For anyone not aware, it was one report of racism towards a delivery driver.
The accusation was completely false, though even if the guy actually were a racist pos, remotely disabling devices he paid for and owns is not a good road to go on.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
Today, BBC News put out an investigation having spoke to 20 Palestinians living abroad who claim Microsoft has permanently banned them from their systems for calling relatives in Gaza.
Skype might have fallen out of favor for general messaging purposes over platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, but it remains an affordable service for calling cell phones directly via the web.
Many of the users affected by the bans expressed that Microsoft may be falsely labelling them as Hamas, the terror group behind the notorious October 7 massacre that killed hundreds of concert goers near Re'im in Israel.
Microsoft declined to respond to the accusation, but claimed that it doesn't block calls or ban users based on geographical location.
"Blocking in Skype can occur in response to suspected fraudulent activity," a Microsoft spokesperson told the BBC — potentially implying there's more to the story.
But given how much of our online life is basically handed over to big corporations like Microsoft, who are under no obligation to guarantee access to these services, it is alarming how they can just ban you with no real explanation or transparency.
The original article contains 647 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 71%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
This is the final nail in the coffin for me. My next PC is going to be a Linux machine.
Will believe it when it happens.
Have you considered that you don't know me?
It's not personal. I've just seen hundreds of people claim "that's it, I'm installing Linux on my system tonight/this weekend!" In response to one of these articles. Very rarely do people seem to actually follow through.
If you do, great! Although already putting it off until your next system isn't a good sign.
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Your current PC can become a Linux machine by lunchtime. What are you waiting for?
Installed? Sure, you can do that by lunchtime.
Getting it set up? Making sure all your drivers are working right? Troubleshooting issues? Finding alternatives to programs you need that don't work on Linux? Especially for someone who has never used Linux before? That will take much longer.
By lunchtime? Yes, yes, yes, no, no are your answers.
If only I could install it on the Surface Pro X...
Damn, they worked so hard to gain goodwill in the last few years and it seems they've set out to destroy it in record time.
WSL and WSL2, Android Apps, working with Qualcomm to get their ARM computers to a credible state, the new Powershell and the push to open source so many things...
And in the past 12-18 months they've been crashing and burning, either backtracking on those things or by starting new initiatives to become scummier and scummier. TPM, Copilot, the ad situation, abusing their position of power with office/teams, the giant safety holes in the Recall feature... But it seems every day there's something new in the news. It's never ending.
That's a nice project, but the last update was from 2 years ago and it needs way too much work to be close to usable. Windows 11 might be getting ads but at least audio works...
To be Done:
Support for Audio Subsystem #21
Support for LTE/Modem #22
Support for Webcams #23
Support for External Display Ports #27
Support for Suspend #29
Support for TrEE Services #37
Support for Sensors #38
Support for GNSS/GPS #39
UEFI ResetSystem() crashes #41
Various other issues can be expected, see the issue tracker for details.
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they worked so hard to gain goodwill in the last few years
I have no recollection of this.
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The last time I used a Linux PC was around 2012 with something called "Egyptian Hax" that my sister set up because she wanted me to play NetHack, so a guide would be a great start. I'm aware that WINE has gone through some vast improvements, but beyond that I don't really know where to start, what distro would be good for me, or anything else.
Start with Linux Mint. It should be a very pleasant and straightforward experience right out of the box, and is just in general very beginner friendly. I recommend to create a live USB (basically, download the ISO from the Mint website, then use something like Balena Etcher to put it on a USB stick). You can then boot off that stick, and try Mint out to your heart's content, without risking your Windows install or data at all.
Can I ask, whatbare the programs you wager you'll have to emulate through wine?
I'm saving this so I can look at it again this weekend.
I'm not one for making bets unless I know something that I suspect someone else doesn't, but I wouldn't be surprised if most of the games I have on steam need wine to run on Linux. My understanding is that wine is a compatibility layer, hence the name, correct?
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I'm also going to recommend Linux Mint, its a really friendly beginner distro. I'll presonally recommend you do Linux Mint Debian instead of normal linux mint since regular linux mint is Ubuntu based and really loves snaps.
The default user env is cinnimon which is going to look a lot like Windows 10 making the transition easier. If you want to install steam its literally a command line away from installing and then its ready to go. That and Steam personally pushing for Linux as a viable gaming platform there are a lot more games now that work out of the box now on steam.
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Don't let the gatekeepers put you off. The Linux community is quite helpful if you can get past their garbage. Every guru was once a noob 👍
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You tried to be funny but you are actually disabled, even unable to install linux. Lol
Why wait? Install it now. I would recommend Mint as a beginner distro.
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Guess that officially adds Microsoft to the BDS list? Unless it's already on the list.
BDS?
Boycott Divest Sanction
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Surely the US government won't like that if they're US citizens, right?
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Every now and then, I'm reminded that Skype is somehow still alive.
Probably the first time they have paid attention to Skype.
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