It’s not entirely clear where to post this, but something needs to be addressed. The fundamental principle of technology should be to respect the end user.
So, why do I feel disrespected? HOW am I being disrespected? Technology has advanced significantly since the days of AOL disks and dial-up internet. I pay the full price for my computer, my phone, and my internet service, which is exorbitantly priced compared to similar services in the same city. Yet, due to monopolies, anti-competitive practices, and the omnipresent advertising dollar, I lack full control over these devices. Generally, I understand—automatic processes make the internet accessible to the average user, who shouldn’t need to understand networking and IP addresses.
But here is where my frustrations lie. I attempted to install an ad blocker because, let’s face it, 60% of the internet I pay for is used for advertisements (and that’s barely an exaggeration). If it’s not for ads, it’s to report the websites I’ve visited, images I’ve viewed, and possibly even my own voice, despite my microphone supposedly being off. Privacy is a joke. Even basic settings like DNS servers aren’t respected. On Windows, I can configure the IP address for a DNS server, but if I don’t set an IPv6 DNS server, it defaults to my ISP or the network-assigned DNS, even if I set an IPv4 address. I expected it to route everything via IPv4, but it did not. It routed everything through IPv6, bypassing my settings entirely. I’m technically proficient enough to set an IPv6 IP on my DNS server, and that temporarily resolved the issue.
Next, I attempted to apply the same configuration to my Android devices. I discovered that while I can configure a static IP address and IPv4 DNS addresses on Android, if I leave one blank, it defaults to Google. Even if I fill in both, Android has a separate private DNS setting that also defaults to Google. Disabling that, the built-in browser (Chrome) has yet another DNS setting that again defaults to Google…
Notice how I haven’t mentioned IPv6? That’s right—I have no control over IPv6. It receives whatever is assigned by the DHCP(v6) server and thus the DNS server from the modem/router. The modem/router combo that I’m required to have, by the way, lacks a method to configure the DNS server. To override this, I need to operate my own firewall/DHCP server, assign the DNS server, and run the router/modem combo in Bridge mode.
I don’t want to delve too deeply into politics, but this happens while lawmakers, who have no idea how any of this works, dictate what I can and cannot do with technology. I understand that much of this is designed to reduce the need for tech support for those who are uninformed. But it’s also driven by the desire to extract more data from users to sell advertisements, or possibly worse—a country that prefers spying on its citizens over providing for them.
Gone are the days when the government would sue giants like Microsoft for abusing their dominance in the operating system market (I’m looking at you, Edge/Bing integrations into Windows). Let’s return to a state where I could at least CONTROL my devices. Perhaps by doing so, and encouraging people to understand technology, we might avoid the dumbing down of society due to platforms like TikTok and Facebook reaching into the proverbial cookie jar and wasting our time.