Same propaganda - new banner.
I'll let you in on a secret, which I'm almost ashamed to share.
For the past 10 years I've been emailing my updates using MS Word Mail Merge.
Not Wordpress. Not Mail Chimp. Nothing fancy.
I learned how to use Mail Merge when I was in Grade 10 (2002). Since I started my business in 2008 I always preferred not to sign up to a fancy mailout engine because I was scared of privacy violations and data harvesting.
And then I read The Enshittifcation and realised I made a critical error.
https://www.booktopia.com.au/enshittification-cory-doctorow/book/9781836742227.html?source=pla&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21844631717&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlLDQBhDjARIsAPlIefE6_vES4DGk72fGwWFyOiZM0sIpMhDtLGLIE0Q7zPIhp5Tq4rh9n6YaAm4IEALw_wcB
Microsoft and their peers in Big Tech are harvesting more data than you can even imagine. Their objective is simple: Socially engineer everyone, turn all of humanity into androgynous drones, extract everything. It is clearly working. Big Tech companies are now worth more than the GDPs of 97% of the world’s nations! Imagine every transaction conducted by every citizen, government and business in countries like France, Germany, Japan, the UK… these Big Tech companies are worth more than the sum of these transactions!
My gripe with the likes of Wordpress plugins and MailChimp was misplaced.
Over the last couple of months I’ve been embarking on the liberating task of “De-Enshittifying” my tech stack, which has been extraordinarily successful for everything except for emails. Migrating 500k+ emails from M365 to a privately owned server with no data harvesting has been bumpier than expected with many outages. I know it has frustrated many of you (which again I apologise for). It’s as if Microsoft willingly sabotaged their exit interview.
Which brings me to The Bryce AK Jenkins Gazette.
Remember before the internet was consolidated into five soul-destroying apps? To get the info you wanted you would visit or subscribe to the websites you were interested in.
The De-Enshittification involves a permanent departure from social media - a move that causes extreme levels of focus, productivity and happiness. Such a departure led me to the idea, which is actually an old idea, of having a singular hub for all content. One that respects people’s privacy, preferences, and is not beholden to Big Tech’s algorithms. A website!
And no, not a website that is a funnel for a social media page. Not a website that is just one of the billions of places you can get the same content. The one I’m thinking of should be a singular source of truth and an exclusive channel for access. One that you can switch off, stop visiting, or unsubscribe from and be sure you’ll never see again. A website that doesn’t harvest your data or try to trick you into buying something. No pop-ups or dopamine-spiking shiny things. No temptation to like, comment, share or get into digital arguments with digital strangers. No stale content written by LLMs or so-called “AI”.
Just some honest words from a man who holds trust, excellence and humanity as his highest values in business.
I hope I can inspire others to follow in my lead. The world truly was a better place before Big Tech seized the internet. Whether you believe it or not, you do have the choice to live in that world. Check out my inspiration here: https://bryceakjenkins.com.au/mission-reclaim-the-internet/
Yours truly,
Bryce Jenkins
Founder & CEO | Financial Planner since 2008
Phone 07 3184 8149
Email bryce@thevco.com.au
Head Quarters 28 Charlton Street, Southport 4215
Bryce Jenkins is an Authorised Representative (AR# 332683) of The Virtuous Licensee Pty Ltd AFSL 526892
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