Elon is always obsessed with WeChat’s model. (For those who don’t know about WeChat, it is basically the name of the ‘Everything app’.)

Everything in one single point is pretty convenient but has led to a bunch of risks…

Leave a risk that you know in the comment.

  • Leafy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    11 months ago

    Elon is right to understand that the data of a successful everything app (which can only happen by monopoly) will give him vast power in tech. However, after failing to implement one aspect of it in an established market and after removing most talent from Twitter, how will anyone keep falling for his techno-Ponzi scheme?

  • 001100 010010@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    11 months ago

    Wechat is so creepy. I mean you could just get caught in some misunderstanding of being labeled as a dissident and get cut off from basically all communications.

    And even if you are just an innocent civilian, all it takes is one bad hack and now criminals have the data of 1 Billion people.

    • markr@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      11 months ago

      Well perhaps it is creepy but in China it is massively convenient. Nobody uses cash or credit cards except foreigners. Everyone connects socially through it. Yes the authoritarian government is collecting data, how that is creepier than our distributed techno-authoritarian data collection is an ideological mystification.

      • bionicjoey@lemmy.caEnglish
        5·
        11 months ago

        Yes the authoritarian government is collecting data, how that is creepier than our distributed techno-authoritarian data collection is an ideological mystification.

        Because one of those will put you in jail and have you executed and the other one just tries to sell you stuff

  • Holyginz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    11 months ago

    Lol, dude can’t even run something like Twitter successfully, let alone an “everything” app. Not a chance in hell I would use it.

  • crowsby@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    Yeah, uhh we had that in the 1990s and it sucked:

    Why do one thing poorly when you can do a whole bunch of different things even worse.

  • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    11 months ago

    If an application has tracking and censorship software that is tied to a country’s government, then chances are I’m not gonna use that app, especially if China’s government is involved. This is why I hate WeChat.

    Besides, an “everything app” basically just defeats the purpose of having an app icon collection on your home screen. I like how colorful it looks, and I don’t want that to be taken away.

    We’re just getting further and further into dystopia at this point.

  • WhoRoger@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    Convenience and marketing will always win at the end. We’re heading that way anyway. People use Apple Pay and Google pay and don’t think for a second what it means. Other forms of ID are going that way too. People want ecosystems without having to lift a finger. Just let big brother take care of everything.

    What, you want to talk privately? Use cash? What do you have to hide?

    • 0x4E4F@lemmy.rollenspiel.monsterEnglish
      0·
      11 months ago

      Sure, I use them, but I have a good reason why I started using them. I lost my plastic 3 times in one year. I have a small kid, he’s glued to me, whether it be the market or the playground, doesn’t matter, he’s always with me. He distracts me all the time (aways asking questions), so I just forget to take my plastic sometimes 🤷.

      So, even though I was against it, I decided to use Google Pay (now Wallet). I rarely forget my phone (only when I leave home, so it’s at home), plus it’s big and bulky, you notice it missing sooner than a piece of plastic.

      If there are any FOSS alternatives, I’d gladly use them, but as far as I know, there are none 🤷.

      • WhoRoger@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        11 months ago

        That’s my point tho. I get it that technology can be complicated and not everyone can, wants or needs to learn everything relevant about it.

        But the way it works out at the end, is that someone figures out to solve some truly trivial problem, and in the process siphons all your data and choices away.

        Oh no, I can’t figure out the 3 buttons on a music player. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate listen to all your conversations on an off chance that you want to play a piece of music.

        Oh no, I need to raise my hand to turn on the lights. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate control everything in your house via an online service they control and can shut down on a whim.

        Oh no, I’m clumsy and keep losing an essential thing. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate go through all your purchases and identity at all times.

        Oh no, my phone has like, 6 buttons. That’s too much for lil ol’ me! Solution: Have two multibillion conglomerates dictate you how to use your tech, which at the end becomes just as complicated yet dumber and 6x as expensive than what we had 15 years ago.

        I dunno, at what point is the solution not worth that tiny inconvenience?

        You can like, put your payment card in your phone’s case. Heck you can even put bank notes in there.

        • bigdog_00@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          11 months ago

          But there are private and open source alternatives to these things. Home Assistant is the way to go for home automation, same with Apple’s HomeKit (all local communication via your network only)

          • WhoRoger@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            11 months ago

            There are alternatives for almost everything, but most people just want to buy a new shiny thing with the biggest brand name, and click click click agree to everything.

    • Chariotwheel@kbin.social
      2·
      11 months ago

      Great track record of ensuring freedom of speech from Musk. If I have to pick my poison on who restricts my freedom of speech, it’s not this one.

  • kryllic@programming.devEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    He’s a decade late on that. I don’t see people wanting one app having that much of their information being constantly collected in the background. Then again, millions of people agreed to Threads’ data harvesting so…

    • Wothe@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Most of the are celebrities, they make money from giving up their privacy right.

  • squiblet@kbin.social
    1·
    11 months ago

    It seems like what he wants to add is mainly real-world identity and payments. The US already has an ‘everything app’ that has social media, shopping, classifieds, identity and payments - facebook.