fosscat-site/content/posts/26-03-08-what-is-appropriate-for-the-internet.md

date	description	lastmod	showTableOfContents	tags	title	type
2026-03-08T23:12:51-06:00	As the internet sours past its due date, why blog? And what about?	2026-03-09T00:32:23-06:00	false	privacy internet life	What Is Appropriate for the Internet	post

What should go here?

As I write each day, I find myself self-censoring some topics.

Obviously if I had extreme political views or problematic takes on things, I could suffer real world consequences. Cancel culture is alive and well in the United States, on both sides of the aisle. So, regardless of your political leaning, the internet is not safe.

With AI becoming more amazing every day (nytimes), and data brokers amassing mounds of data (cnet) on each of us, one might think putting some intimate thoughts online is not the wisest decision.

{{

}} To the uninitiated, this is really only a concern to the privacy conscious. Or perhaps, the privacy paranoid 😁.

Social Media aggregates tons of data on its users, which is sold to data brokers and integrated into algorithms. I don't mean to overstate this but everyone I know uses social media. Lots of people I know feel like this whole dilemma is too far gone for anything to be done.

At least on my website, people have to come and take it. Plus, I have just added some more explicit guards against getting my data harvested. So, fingers crossed the line gets crossed then I can sue for billions 😈 {{

}}

But, I think the with some prudence, putting thoughts online is an excellent use of time.

Why It Matters

AI is melting my brain.

At my day job as a Software Developer, I cannot code like I used to. Sure, perhaps I've learned how to be an "AI-Whisperer" or something.

But it feels like I've lost an edge.

I think about the times I studied hard for a final exam. All the necessary concepts are fresh. Poised to strike, from neuron to graphite. The formulas are at the tip of my tongue ready to be spat out onto the page to prove my know on how to find the area of a circle rotated around an axis in three dimensions offset by some coordinate. Amazing.

I've lost the edge for the things I ~do~ did every day: write code.

Now? I, manage. Architect? Oversee? Sometimes just skim?

Anyway, this is really material for a different post.

Point is, writing these posts keeps me sharp. Maybe not for coding, but certainly for self reflection.

I find that invaluable.

And if some data broker gets to track me down and endanger my family and I because GPT-10 identified me as a terrorist threat, then so be it. These privacy concerns unfortunately feel like a collective action problem. Though an individual can logically conclude it foolish or dangerous, I think it's important to fight for what we would like to see in the world.

I'd like to see less billboards. Less trucks (which is also a collective action problem). Less AI generated internet content. Hopefully someone lands here from searching on a search engine (did you know Google isn't the only one?). I'd like to be a part of the human-made side. I find writing these to be helpful, and I hope someone out there will find something helpful here too.

Let me know what you think! If you agree of disagree with anything on this site, I'd love to hear from you. Take care.