The IRS recently released free filing so people don't have to go through a company! They aren't doing automatic assessments like us but are at least making progress on that front.

With the whole surveillance capitalism thing, there's a massive push among the kind of people who hang out on Lemmy to get away from big tech. Once the alternatives are polished enough I think we'll see migration of people to new platforms. Personally I have extended family who would be happy to get off Facebook but there is no alternative I can seriously suggest. A federated Facebook alternative Friendica exists, but there is no way it could be a replacement. You can't even post a video in a seamless way, your best option is to upload to YouTube which is way too many steps for the average person.

There are some alternative companies making great progress but there's a long way to go.

[–] liv 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's huge for them on the tax front!

I really love how our IRD now gets bank data.

I've found it impossible to even get my family off Whats App, let alone facebook. When I first opened my facebook account the only people I could add were my online American friends because no one here seemed to have heard of it. So I guess I was part of the problem. Am trying to spread awareness of the Fediverse so hopefully that will balance out my karma!

I think you're right, so many of us do aspire to get away from social media surveillance and we will eventually have an ecosystem. Thank you for your part in it!😀

[–] Dave 1 points 2 months ago

When I first opened my facebook account the only people I could add were my online American friends because no one here seemed to have heard of it. So I guess I was part of the problem. Am trying to spread awareness of the Fediverse so hopefully that will balance out my karma!

I was mostly the same with Facebook. Everyone was on... I think Bebo. And I had some friends who had moved overseas invite me to Facebook. This was when it was students only, though I'm pretty sure it was only a matter of months after I joined before it was public for anyone to join.

I think you’re right, so many of us do aspire to get away from social media surveillance and we will eventually have an ecosystem. Thank you for your part in it!😀

My part in it is on one hand running an instance, and on the other hand never mentioning it to anyone IRL 😆

Not sure if I've previously mentioned it but I'm reading Mindf*ck at the moment (the book on social media and election manipulation, not the murder romance series). It's a book by the whistleblower of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. And it's pretty messed up.