[milkey_mouse]

Computers are an inherently oppressive technology only in the same sense as any technology that isn't, like, a magical box that automatically feeds everyone on earth from thin air forever. There are certainly negative aspects to computers, some of which are touched upon in the article (my specific pet peeve is "middleman" apps like DoorDash or Uber whose sole value-add is to allow you to avoid talking to "the help" delivering your groceries, making your food, etc.). I think it's more productive to judge computers by their net "oppression", and for every Bitcoin or GrubHub there is an encrypted messaging app that stops the state from peering into an aspect our lives, an anonymity tool that lets people speak freely, or a Wikipedia. To use one facet of computing as an example, the populace in aggregate has more secrets than the government, so if each secret kept by the government via encryption adds 1 unit of oppression and each secret kept from the government via encryption subtracts 1, (theoretical, perfect) cryptography would clearly be liberatory on net.