You want ethical alternatives? Let’s build a campus where folks can work on them without worrying about how to exist day-to-day (or fund their early-stage development like VC does for surveillance capitalism).
The extent of what public funding is doing today is “Oh, looks like you’ve got some alternative functional, let’s pay you to add Feature X to it.”
Better than nothing?
Sure.
Best we can do?
Not by a longshot.
https://ar.al/2019/11/29/the-future-of-internet-regulation-at-the-european-parliament/
@aral This is, of course, pretty much what communes often do
@joepie91 Nah, not at all, you’re right. But collectively funding shit like this is exactly what our taxes should be used for.