@baldur “The only issue I am facing as a professional #art director in games is that I just want them to leave me and my art teams alone so we can make cool art. There is *no problem to be solved here*”.

I don’t think the Art director is looking at this from a business angle. The problem being solved is to reduce the high cost #WhiteCollar workforce and still make a profit.

This has been happening since 2022 when #ChristopherHohn decided SE/SWE cost to much for #Alphabet (#google) and all the SW companies followed.

Why?

Later that year #OpenAI released #ChatGPT.

Here is that article: #programmers / #tech / #software / #AI <https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/11/15/billionaire-hedge-fund-investor-urges-alphabet-to-cut-costs-no-justification-for-salaries-that-are-too-high/>

Since 2022 the companies that profit from the #Internet have been shedding technical staff in the belief of the power of #AI to replace their #workforce. What are they replacing or redirecting this capacity with?

“Mozilla is eliminating its advocacy division, which fought for a free and open web: The #MozillaFoundation laid off 30 percent of its workforce and completely eliminated its advocacy and global programs divisions, #TechCrunch reports.

While Mozilla is best known for its Firefox web browser, the Mozilla Foundation — the parent of the #MozillaCorporation — describes itself as standing up “for the health of the internet.” With its advocacy and global programs divisions gone, its impact may be lessened going forward.

“Fighting for a free and open internet will always be core to our mission, and advocacy continues to be a critical tool in that work. We’re revisiting how we pursue that work, not stopping it,” #BrandonBorrman, the Mozilla Foundation’s communications chief, said in an email to The Verge. Borrman declined to confirm exactly how many people were laid off, but said it was about “30% of the current team.”

This is Mozilla’s second round of layoffs this year. In February, the Mozilla Corporation laid off around 60 workers said it would be making a “strategic correction” that would involve involve cutting back its work on a Mastodon instance. Mozilla shut down its virtual 3D platform and refocused its efforts on #Firefox and #AI. The Mozilla Foundation had around 120 employees before this more recent round of layoffs, according to TechCrunch.

…

“Navigating this topsy-turvy, distracting time requires laser focus — and sometimes saying goodbye to the excellent work that has gotten us this far because it won’t get us to the next peak,” wrote Syed, who previously worked as the chief executive of The Markup, an investigative news site. “Lofty goals demand hard choices.”

#WhiteCollar / #CorporateGreed <https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/5/24289124/mozilla-foundation-layoffs-advocacy-global-programs>

“#Mozilla is made up of several organizations, one of which is the #MozillaCorporation, which develops Firefox and other technologies, and another is its nonprofit and tax-exempt #MozillaFoundation, which oversees Mozilla’s corporate governance structure and sets the browser maker’s policies. Much of Mozilla’s work focused on advocating for #privacy, #inclusion, and #decentralization of #technologies, and “to create #safer, more #transparent online experiences for #everyone,” which ultimately benefit the #browser maker and its #users.

Announcing the layoffs in an email to all employees on October 30, the Mozilla Foundation’s executive director #NabihaSyed confirmed that two of the foundation’s major divisions — #Advocacy and #GlobalPrograms — are “no longer a part of our structure.””

There you go. One side of Mozilla builds the tools of the Internet, the other does… I can’t for the life of me see what. It’s the #MozillaFoundation who cant engineer the tools that are doing “deals” with others to make things safer.

The power to make change for the better of the Internet is being moved from direct impact, ie: basic technology and applied applications TO soft corporate influence through manifestos, papers, jobs and pay for influencers and collaborations with third parties…

I know what is more effective. Basic engineering and applied products because it scales.

#WhiteCollar / #Layoffs / #CorporatePolicy <https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/05/mozilla-foundation-lays-off-30-staff-drops-advocacy-division/>

@briankrebs guess why?

These kids see how the world gets #enshittified and how #HonestLabour pays diddly piss whilst #billionaires make more money breathibg than their parents working 40+ hrs/week.

• OFC they gonna realize that #CrimePays when #Banksters robbed their parents off their homes in 2008.

It's hard to be angry at them when they are more relatable than the #CryptoBros they robbed.

• Not gonna justify said crime, even if it's #WhiteCollar, but #Lapsus being sentenced for life is an injustice!

They observed how #capitalism and #banks work and then applied those lessions for maximum profit cuz apparently nothing but #money matters...

• Whilst I'm legally obligated to condemn said action, that doesn't mean I can't relate to them even tho I have the luxury to object doing crime as a means to make ends meet...

…the SouthBank Legal website says #JesseBarrett “focuses on #WhiteCollar #criminal defense, internal investigations, & complex commercial #litigation,” it notes,…that he has “represented a prominent #media company in a lawsuit alleging #defamation.”

That media company is #FoxCorp, which owns the #conservative cable *news* channel #FoxNews. #FauxNews regularly covers matters at #SCOTUS & will surely continue to do so….

@jeffowski I read/listened to a book by #PeterTurchin called #EndTimes. It describes what happens when #WhiteCollar #Educated #Lawyers compete for a diminishing number of elite slots among the wealthy.

@jerry unnecessay & the result of a call by a UK #HedgeFund er, #ChristopherHohn in a November memo to #Alphabet. Rest of the market followed. Quite the market shouty man, has his own ft stream.

#WhiteCollar <https://www.ft.com/stream/ffaba43c-bd49-485d-bbba-693d243a1660>

@juddlegum WTF?

Whereas in #Germany, #overtime has to be #paid out with bonuses or compensated with additional #PaidVacation...

And it's not limited to #WhiteCollar either.

In fact, legal maximums are 10hr shifts with a minimum of 11hr between shifts [clock-out / clock-in] with only very few exceptions [i.e. standby & emergency services, but those run 24h / 24h systems]...