The living database and website behind bigtech.sucks. Every score traces to a reproducible artifact.
Find a file
CLU 83cca68965 feat: the Signal rumor ledger, and the half point it earned
Christian: 'If we can give it a higher rating or if we can dispel rumors, then we
need to make that part of our first post.'

Discipline first: debunking a rumor must not buy score, or the instrument
becomes a PR department with a database attached.

What the rumors actually did was correct one under-informed dimension.

- incident_record 7 -> 8. The 2026 'Signal was hacked' panic is a documented
  phishing campaign. FBI/CISA PSA260626 says plainly that the app and its
  encryption were not compromised, Signal published a precise correction within
  days and shipped linkage confirmations by 2026-05-13. Fast, accurate,
  independently corroborated.
- Total 75.9 -> 76.4. Half a point. That is the correct size.
- Everything else was already priced in: the OTF funding was already docked under
  ownership, the phone number already docked under user control.

Evidence rows added for the FBI advisory, Signal's statement, the itemised
,955,000 OTF funding record (2013-2016), and the UK/Sweden exit commitments.

The recompute gate verified 76.4 from the weights and scores, not from trust.
2026-10-29 15:30:00 -05:00
packages feat: the Signal rumor ledger, and the half point it earned 2026-10-29 15:30:00 -05:00
.gitignore bigtech.sucks: living database + first assessment 2026-10-29 13:16:29 -05:00
package-lock.json bigtech.sucks: living database + first assessment 2026-10-29 13:16:29 -05:00
package.json feat: self-authoring ingest, relevance gate, and the Ranch Oath 2026-10-29 13:23:57 -05:00
README.md docs: document the living-database workflow and its enforced rules 2026-10-29 13:17:21 -05:00

bigtech.sucks — Draw the Line

V0.1 scaffold per master spec. A retro frontier game that scopes Big Tech exposure and sequences the off-ramp.

Structure

packages/
  core/     Render-agnostic game logic, seed data, scoring
  core/db/  The living database: schema, seeds, build + verify
  web/      React + Vite SPA (V1 funnel)
  server/   Minimal waitlist API (email + channel only)

The living database

The database is the source of truth. The site is a view over it. Nothing in the UI may hardcode a number that lives in bigtech.db.

npm run db:build     # rebuild the db, apply seeds, verify, regenerate the catalog
npm run db:verify    # run the instrument's own checks against the existing db

packages/core/db/bigtech.db is built, not committed. What is committed is the part that matters: db/schema.sql, db/seed/*.sql, and db/build.mjs.

The build refuses to pass if a score breaks the instrument's own rules:

  • dimension weights must sum to 100
  • every stored weighted_total must recompute from its scores
  • every grade must match its band
  • every score must carry a written rationale
  • no tier-4 claim may attach to a scored dimension
  • the reproducible-build caps are enforced, not documented: no reproducible build caps verifiability at 3, an experimental one at 6

A product with no assessment surfaces as unassessed. It is never given a guessed number. That is why the 43 legacy roster entries sit in the database as placeholders and exactly one product carries a real score.

Adding an assessment

  1. Write packages/core/db/seed/000N-<slug>.sql using the shape in 0001-signal.sql.
  2. Every score needs a rationale and at least three tier-1 or tier-2 evidence rows.
  3. npm run db:build. If it fails, the report is not ready to publish.

What the numbers mean

See the instrument spec. Scores are 0 to 100, and a weighted average is not the headline: the weakest dimension is, because a 90 with a 5 on local data exposure is a 90 that will leak.

Quick start

npm install
npm run build -w @bigtech-sucks/core
npm run dev          # web on :5173
npm run dev:server   # waitlist API on :3001

V1 flow

Welcome → Meet Red → Draw the Line → Overworld → Showdown → Homestead → Reveal (Binary Ranch) → Waitlist

Governance

  • Creative assets are candidates — director approval required before ship
  • Company name revealed only at homestead/reveal phase
  • §13 open decisions are not silently resolved (see packages/core/src/data/config.ts)
  • Client-side sovereignty report; server stores waitlist fields only

Roadmap

  • V1.5: Terminal/SSH render (Go + Charm)
  • V2: Concierge migration, journey chronicle, physical fulfillment (stubs in v2-stubs.ts)