I have been thinking a lot about digital sovereignty lately and how quickly the internet is turning into a weird blend of surreal slop and centralized control. It feels like we are losing the ability to tell what is real because of how easy it is for trillionaire tech companies to flood our feeds with whatever they want.
Specifically I am curious about what I call “kirkification” which is the way these tools make it trivial to warp a person’s digital identity into a caricature. It starts with a joke or a face swap but it ends with people losing control over how they are perceived online.
If we want to protect ourselves and our local communities from being manipulated by these black box models how do we actually do it?
I want to know if anyone here has tried moving away from the cloud toward sovereign compute. Is hosting our own communication and media solutions actually a viable way to starve these massive models of our data? Can a small town actually manage its own digital utility instead of just being a data farm for big tech?
Also how do we even explain this to normal people who are not extremely online? How can we help neighbors or the elderly recognize when they are being nudged by an algorithm or seeing a digital caricature?
It seems like we should be aiming for a world of a million millionaires rather than just a room full of trillionaires but the technical hurdles like isp throttling and protocol issues make that bridge hard to build.
Has anyone here successfully implemented local first solutions that reduced their reliance on big tech ai? I am looking for ways to foster cognitive immunity and keep our data grounded in meatspace.
This is not an answer but more something I have been considering lately. I am starting my self hosting adventure.
A aspect which pi$$es me of is the ring cameras. They have gone from a comfort buy that halos you identify who is at the door to a neighbourhood surveillance network. Even paid for by the people. And it’s starting used against individuals and communities.
I have never had one. I begrudge my face being on them as I pass my neighbour’s homes. I did not ask for it.
I would like some cameras to protect my property but at what cost? And here’s where the self hosting comes in, is it possible to set up something that gives me what I want but not have to sacrifice mine or my neighbours privacy. It probs costs a bit more. It takes a bit more effort. On the other hand most people just run to Amazon click buy now. I feel like I am loosing against tide of yeh bu ma parcels.
Buy IP PoE cameras like Amcrest or Reolink, hard wire them to a detected hub that is either disconnected from the internet, or firewalled to only allow direct access over your own personal VPN.
I’ve never been comfortable with ring cameras specifically because even if it isn’t a tool to be harnessed by the state it’s still a tool to be harnessed by anyone holding a grudge. The vast majority of IoT users don’t know the basics of securing their network or their cameras. They connect things to the internet for the convenience and that’s it. And the cameras pick up the comings and goings of people who don’t really have the ability to not consent to having someone record when they leave their house or return to it. My neighbor doesn’t need that information. And why yes they could sit in their house and watch at all hours through the curtains, there would still be a physical limit to what they could see.
For the same reason I don’t want drones constantly surveiling my home, I don’t want camera footage I have no access to but that can be used against me by someone who doesn’t like how I take the leaves in my driveway.
Anyone who’s been in a dispute with a neighbor who’s got a ring camera knows this struggle. And the advice you get, by and large is to get one of your own. No thanks.
Yes, very possible. Cheaper even…but will require some elbow grease.
https://tinyurl.com/FUTOguide
There’s a lot there. Feel free to skip to the security cameras section (linked above), look at the intro, watch videos etc. Rossman is GOATed for putting all this together. It’s written for the layman willing to roll their sleeves up.
You are exactly right. It’s going to require more work. You are going to have to run your own network cables through your house and use commercial hardwired IP cameras and learn to program them and also set up a local DVR to record the footage. You’ll basically have to build what a retail store uses. You’re not going to find what you’re looking for in residential garbage tech. Stick to commerical equipment, because commerical IT is usually not too fond of installing crap that arbitrarily phones home and tend to run way more locked down networks than what you find in a typical home.
This hits hard because Ring is the perfect example of how convenience gets weaponized into a panopticon. People think they’re buying a doorbell but they’re actually building Amazon’s privatized surveillance state, block by block. And yeah, you didn’t consent to being filmed every time you walk past a neighbor’s house - that’s the insidious part. The “I feel like I’m losing against the tide” sentiment is real but you’re already ahead by even asking the question. Most people never consider the trade-off. Building your own infrastructure is how you refuse to be legible to their system. It’s more work, but that friction is the point - it means you’re outside their automated extraction pipeline. Worth it? Absolutely. You get security without becoming part of the problem.
I think Ubiquiti’s doorbell can be local-only.