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Glad I'm not the only one here who does not like this company. When thinking about companies I wish I could easily boycott, Nestle comes to mind, and then there

Glad I'm not the only one here who does not like this company. When thinking about companies I wish I could easily boycott, Nestle comes to mind, and then there is Sinclair. The fact that the stations are down is pretty huge though. That's really bad opsec, unless they were all tied together with some 3rd party service.

setpatchaddress 5y ago
Sinclair is bad, but Facebook and News Corp are much, much worse.
- spacemanmatt 5y ago
  Which still leaves this event somewhere near "good praxis" and "weekend larfs"
- joe_the_user 5y ago
  Sinclair is more or less a smaller version of News Corp (Sinclair is largest owner of Fox affiliated stations in the US, notably). Facebook is a fairly different company with different reasons to be hated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group
  - brewdad 5y ago
    To me, where Sinclair is most insidious is where they own non-Fox stations. It would be easy if I only had to avoid anything with Fox branding top to bottom. In my city, they own the ABC affiliate, which adds to difficulty in knowing which sources are trustworthy.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
arkadiyt 5y ago
> That's really bad opsec, unless they were all tied together with some 3rd party service. The article addresses this: > The attack could have been isolated, but many sections of the Sinclair IT network were interconnected through the same Active Directory domain, allowing the attackers to reach broadcasting systems for local TV stations.
bscphil 5y ago
> companies I wish I could easily boycott, Nestle comes to mind, and then there is Sinclair Sorry if this question seems presumptive, but isn't it actually extremely easy to boycott both of these companies? I would be surprised to learn I have consumed any of their products in the past year, and I haven't even been deliberately trying to boycott either of them. (I live in the United States, but I don't buy bottled water, candy, or watch local television.)
- toofy 5y ago
  Nestle products are titled under 2000 different brand names. For instance, cheerios, golden grahams, digiorno pizza, jacks pizza, lean cuisine, gerber, maybeline makeup brands, some shampoo brands, etc… It’s definitely possible, but it’s a rabbit hole and isn’t as easy as “i won’t buy nestle hot chocolate.” Honestly, I understand the can of worms this might open, but a part of me thinks the parent company name should have to be on all products–transparency so we have something closer to information symmetry. It’s more difficult than I think it should be to buy ethically. We hear all the time “If you don’t like what a company is doing, then vote with your dollars.” But then we see how many companies have a multi-tier web of subsidiaries which can sometimes feel like they’re obfuscating intentionally. I don’t mean to imply they’re all intentionally obfuscating but it sure feels like that sometimes.
  - bscphil 5y ago
    Yeah, fair enough, I can see it being hard for most people to bin Nestle (though not Sinclair?). My response to Nestle was a "me personally" thing which probably doesn't apply to most other people - I don't really buy branded junk food, almost everything I eat I prepare myself from fresh ingredients. I read through the Wikipedia list [1] and didn't see any brands I've purchased this year. But you're quite right that I was wrongly exaggerating by saying it was easy to boycott Nestle. I should have just emphasized that it's possible to boycott Nestle (if you know what the subsidiaries are), and easy (I think?) to boycott Sinclair. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands
noja 5y ago
> I wish I could easily boycott Do you boycott any Nestle products at all? Or are you saying you might miss one, and so boycott none of them?
lotsofpulp 5y ago
> Glad I'm not the only one here who does not like this company. When thinking about companies I wish I could easily boycott, Nestle comes to mind, and then there is Sinclair. It is extremely easy to boycott Sinclair by not purchasing any TV service or watching TV channels. It is almost as easy to boycott Nestle since the packaging for almost all brands states the parent company’s name somewhere on the back under the ingredients. If it does not, you can also search the brand and find the ownership relatively quickly on Wikipedia or the company’s About Us page.
- spacemanmatt 5y ago
  Do you fly a Gadsden flag, perchance?
HideousKojima 5y ago
Sinclair is pretty easy to boycott though? Just look up which of your local news stations they own and don't watch them.
- spacemanmatt 5y ago
  That's not how monopoly works

setpatchaddress 5y ago

Sinclair is bad, but Facebook and News Corp are much, much worse.

spacemanmatt 5y ago
Which still leaves this event somewhere near "good praxis" and "weekend larfs"
joe_the_user 5y ago
Sinclair is more or less a smaller version of News Corp (Sinclair is largest owner of Fox affiliated stations in the US, notably). Facebook is a fairly different company with different reasons to be hated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group
- brewdad 5y ago
  To me, where Sinclair is most insidious is where they own non-Fox stations. It would be easy if I only had to avoid anything with Fox branding top to bottom. In my city, they own the ABC affiliate, which adds to difficulty in knowing which sources are trustworthy.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

arkadiyt 5y ago

> That's really bad opsec, unless they were all tied together with some 3rd party service. The article addresses this: > The attack could have been isolated, but many sections of the Sinclair IT network were interconnected through the same Active Directory domain, allowing the attackers to reach broadcasting systems for local TV stations.

bscphil 5y ago

> companies I wish I could easily boycott, Nestle comes to mind, and then there is Sinclair Sorry if this question seems presumptive, but isn't it actually extremely easy to boycott both of these companies? I would be surprised to learn I have consumed any of their products in the past year, and I haven't even been deliberately trying to boycott either of them. (I live in the United States, but I don't buy bottled water, candy, or watch local television.)

toofy 5y ago
Nestle products are titled under 2000 different brand names. For instance, cheerios, golden grahams, digiorno pizza, jacks pizza, lean cuisine, gerber, maybeline makeup brands, some shampoo brands, etc… It’s definitely possible, but it’s a rabbit hole and isn’t as easy as “i won’t buy nestle hot chocolate.” Honestly, I understand the can of worms this might open, but a part of me thinks the parent company name should have to be on all products–transparency so we have something closer to information symmetry. It’s more difficult than I think it should be to buy ethically. We hear all the time “If you don’t like what a company is doing, then vote with your dollars.” But then we see how many companies have a multi-tier web of subsidiaries which can sometimes feel like they’re obfuscating intentionally. I don’t mean to imply they’re all intentionally obfuscating but it sure feels like that sometimes.
- bscphil 5y ago
  Yeah, fair enough, I can see it being hard for most people to bin Nestle (though not Sinclair?). My response to Nestle was a "me personally" thing which probably doesn't apply to most other people - I don't really buy branded junk food, almost everything I eat I prepare myself from fresh ingredients. I read through the Wikipedia list [1] and didn't see any brands I've purchased this year. But you're quite right that I was wrongly exaggerating by saying it was easy to boycott Nestle. I should have just emphasized that it's possible to boycott Nestle (if you know what the subsidiaries are), and easy (I think?) to boycott Sinclair. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands

noja 5y ago

> I wish I could easily boycott Do you boycott any Nestle products at all? Or are you saying you might miss one, and so boycott none of them?

lotsofpulp 5y ago

> Glad I'm not the only one here who does not like this company. When thinking about companies I wish I could easily boycott, Nestle comes to mind, and then there is Sinclair. It is extremely easy to boycott Sinclair by not purchasing any TV service or watching TV channels. It is almost as easy to boycott Nestle since the packaging for almost all brands states the parent company’s name somewhere on the back under the ingredients. If it does not, you can also search the brand and find the ownership relatively quickly on Wikipedia or the company’s About Us page.

spacemanmatt 5y ago
Do you fly a Gadsden flag, perchance?

HideousKojima 5y ago

Sinclair is pretty easy to boycott though? Just look up which of your local news stations they own and don't watch them.

spacemanmatt 5y ago
That's not how monopoly works