I plugged into ethernet (as wifi w/captive portal does not work for me). I think clearnet worked but I have no interest in that. Egress Tor traffic was blocked and so was VPN. I’m not interested in editing all my scripts and configs to use clearnet, so the library’s internet is useless to me (unless I bother to try a tor bridge).

I was packing my laptop and a librarian spotted me unplugging my ethernet cable and approached me with big wide open eyes and pannicked angry voice (as if to be addressing a child that did something naughty), and said “you can’t do that!”

I have a lot of reasons for favoring ethernet, like not carrying a mobile phone that can facilitate the SMS verify that the library’s captive portal imposes, not to mention I’m not eager to share my mobile number willy nilly. The reason I actually gave her was that that I run a free software based system and the wifi drivers or firmware are proprietary so my wifi card doesn’t work¹. She was also worried that I was stealing an ethernet cable and I had to explain that I carry an ethernet cable with me, which she struggled to believe for a moment. When I said it didn’t work, she was like “good, I’m not surprised”, or something like that.

¹ In reality, I have whatever proprietary garbage my wifi NIC needs, but have a principled objection to a service financed by public money forcing people to install and execute proprietary non-free software on their own hardware. But there’s little hope for getting through to a librarian in the situation at hand, whereby I might as well have been caught disassembling their PCs.

  • Twinklebreeze
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    407 months ago

    You sound insufferable. You used vague wording to justify not using your phone to get internet, and act like child when you get caught. They’re not hostile to Ethernet, they’re hostile to you and your behaviour.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      7 months ago

      You set a great example of getting mad at a bitch eating crackers.

      I merely tried to get online using an ethernet cable. I didn’t get hostile. I was calm. And because I was calm, the librarian became calm. The only hostility was in the librarian’s single opening comment to me, and what you see in this thread.

      • @[email protected]
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        57 months ago

        Could I be in the wrong? No, it must be literally everyone else in this entire thread / national library network.

        Grow up. You set out to get in trouble, you got yourself in trouble, no one is impressed.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          7 months ago

          Could I be in the wrong? No, it must be literally everyone else in this entire thread / national library network.

          Is your position so weak that you need to resort to a bandwagon fallacy?

          Grow up.

          and an ad hominem?

          You demonstrate being a grown up by avoiding ad hominems in favor of logically sound reasoning.

          • @[email protected]
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            7 months ago

            Is your position so weak that you need to resort to a bandwagon fallacy?

            It’s not a fallacy. Your social skills are toxic and that’s been confirmed by everyone here. You aren’t in a position to judge how your actions are perceived by society.

            If everyone says you’re being an asshole, you’re being an asshole.

            and an ad hominem?

            This isn’t a formal debate. It’s me and everyone else booing you for your bad behavior.