Dear readers and customers,
for the second time in our 12 year company history I speak to you here directly as CEO. The last time only two years ago because of the still ongoing pandemic. The necessities of our current times leave me no other choice. At the moment, I don’t really know how we should do here “business as usual”.
Currently, there’s a war going on in Europe. It’s now day 9 of this war.
It’s an unfair war, it’s a war built up on lies. That’s the case with any war, throughout human history. We don’t support wars, we never did, never will.
In fact, I’m a member of the German Peace Society. I feel it as my duty to at least inform you about this and provide some help. So please watch the video above carefully and if you want to help I want to provide some links and information today which might come in handy in case you want to join the help.
If you are in the war zone, actions you can take in case of explosion and about clean water:
- lie on the ground and cover your head with your hands
- use available shelter
- help the wounded
- do not enter damaged buildings
In the absence of water supply: - take drinking water from pumping stations, wells, mine wells, drinking water bottling points
- for drinking and cooking – boil for at least 10 minutes
- store water in closed containers
- water from open reservoirs – only for technical purposes
That’s what’s currently distributed through Ukrainian mobile networks. Please also update yourself from time to time through reliable English news sources if possible, like BBC, Guardian UK or CNN, to get news about safe corridors.
If you are in Europe or elsewhere, actions you might take from here:
- organise trips to Polish, Slovakian and Romanian borders. Help the refugees there. What they need the most at the moment: food, clothing, medicine. Bring what you can
- additionally to personal trips, organise these transports in your neighbourhood. In Germany there exist networks, like https://nebenan.de/feed/ukraine-help. You can collect cartons here and plan better
- offer your flat/apartment/house for refugees: https://elinor.network/gastfreundschaft-ukraine/
- donate money to UNICEF to help Ukrainian children and families: https://unicef.de/spenden/ing-nothilfe-ukraine/. German link, bank from the Netherlands. UNICEF offers agencies worldwide
- resources for refugees from Ukraine and supporters (important, updated, no guarantee about updates and manipulations as its an open document): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OlZIz-72A2xI2uUOFE07L5ObQGP4JDcXZ2vdIs2P9BQ/mobilebasic
- updates about status in Eastern Europe: https://mobile.twitter.com/i/lists/1218335925958213633 (Twitter feed, German version. There may exist feeds in other languages)
- contact https://uaks.de/ (German) to offer your help. There exist Ukrainian culture or other associations in your neighbourhood too. You might not know them yet, google them
- join demos and peace gatherings. Check if your city offers them already: https://friedenskooperative.de/ukraine-krise-alle-infos. (German version, there exist overviews for your country too, google them)
With our strength and knowledge combined, maybe we have a chance to prevent the worst. For Ukraine, as well as for the rest of the world.
Be brave and strong,
may peace eventually prevail,
Sascha Schroeder
CEO & Founder
AETHYX MEDIAE
[Update I, 03/14/22]
Added the latest hint about water from the Ukrainian mobile networks; removed the Anonymous hint as our local Chaos Computer Club added that supporting black and/or grey hat hacking is simply too dangerous.
Dear readers,
calling an entity independent always means to keep the little power you own to yourself. It will never pay out for you in the end to surrender to yourself, a partner, a family, or, in the case of Facebook, to a dubious mega corporation which doesn’t give a shit about privacy and security, turning human beings into products and earns shitload of money in selling your personal data via advertising. That’s also why AETHYX MEDIAE never held a Facebook or Twitter account.
However, two billion and 130 million people (March 2018) on this planet already surrendered. Which represents 30% of humanity, ignoring age and nationality as well. These 30% literally are owned by Facebook. They gave away their interests, their social circles, their privacy and much more, to be exploited on a daily basis and provided a simple stupid feed, a neverending stream, with stuff they shouldn’t bother. This is the bad state in which we are now in 2018: social network addicts anywhere on this planet, earning nothing for providing personal data and being tricked year by year in spending more and more of their precious time inside a closed centralised web application which is designed in a way to be enhanced by the behaviour of its users only to be more addictive in the near future (keyword A/B testing).
Time for a little hope, won’t you agree?
Thanks to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal which popped up the last weeks, where 51.300.000 Facebook users were exploited illegally by a far-right data analytics company from the UK, the public finally recognises how dangerous Facebook really is. Horrible suspicions arose from these accusations: not only were voters in the US manipulated by targeted advertising created by this data but also in the UK while the “Brexit” polls took place.
Humans in the current mental state won’t change without being hit hard by a stick, so it seems.
By the way, the NSA scandal made public by another whistleblower, Edward Snowden, is not even four years away. Already 2014 people who seemed to be awake showed what alternatives we could use instead of data monstrosities like Facebook. Here is a neat screenshot of alternatives in case you forgot:
By clicking on this image you will reach the overview with working links to these systems directly.
What we need urgently right now are more decentralised applications run by smaller companies and individuals. Most of these systems provide features you never heard of which are incredibly useful in enhancing, not castrating, your digital life. Interconnections between systems is also possible, something Facebook completely forbids and tries to control with their half-hearted APIs. Furthermore, these social network alternatives are so sophisticated these days, you’ll be surprised about all the eye-candy and stability. There simply are no reasons anymore to join Facebook today. You see: where is the problem in switching?
In case you need help in setting up one of these social hubs just drop us a line: info@aethyx.eu. We won’t charge a cent if you’re aged 16 or below.
What you need to understand here: you can’t change the world but yourself. Time to start already.
Warmly,
the aethyx staff
“Free your mind. And your friends will follow.”