Clippy Campaign - Revision history

LearningAboutWorld: /* Clippy as a symbol of escalating overreach */ Fixed a legendary typo from six months ago

2026-02-22T03:19:53Z

Clippy as a symbol of escalating overreach: Fixed a legendary typo from six months ago

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:19, 22 February 2026
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	===Clippy as a symbol of escalating overreach===		===Clippy as a symbol of escalating overreach===
	~~Rossman~~ uses Clippy to show how technology used to work purely for its intended purpose, in contrast to [[Dark pattern\|dark patterns]] that are now widespread.		Rossmann uses Clippy to show how technology used to work purely for its intended purpose, in contrast to [[Dark pattern\|dark patterns]] that are now widespread.

	[https://youtu.be/2_Dtmpe9qaQ?t=68 Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious 1:08]		[https://youtu.be/2_Dtmpe9qaQ?t=68 Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious 1:08]

Im8685: Added archive URL to cited URLs

2026-02-09T08:51:55Z

Added archive URL to cited URLs

Show changes

LearningAboutWorld: /* Impact */ I'm dumb

2026-02-05T06:53:02Z

Impact: I'm dumb

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:53, 5 February 2026
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	{{Incomplete section}}		{{Incomplete section}}

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	===City council meetings===		===City council meetings===

	{{Incomplete section}}		{{Incomplete section}}

	~~This sentence contains placeholder text.~~

	==Examples of anti-consumer practices==		==Examples of anti-consumer practices==

LearningAboutWorld: /* Examples */ Promoted Examples section to second-order and renamed it

2026-02-05T06:52:41Z

Examples: Promoted Examples section to second-order and renamed it

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:52, 5 February 2026
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	===Examples===		==Examples of anti-consumer practices==
	Rossmann provided some examples of motivations people might have to join the campaign in his first video. This is only a list of the example from that video; further examples can be found in hundreds of other videos posted on [https://www.youtube.com/@rossmanngroup Rossmann's channel].		Rossmann provided some examples of motivations people might have to join the campaign in his first video. This is only a list of the example from that video; further examples can be found in hundreds of other videos posted on [https://www.youtube.com/@rossmanngroup Rossmann's channel].

LearningAboutWorld: Reorganized Impact section

2026-02-05T06:51:12Z

Reorganized Impact section

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 ==Impact==
 According to Rossmann, the point of the Clippy campaign is for members to effectuate change in the world wherever they see it necessary—even if it is a small change, everyone's small changes together add up to much greater change. Rossmann describes this as "cleaning up your corner of the world." Since the beginning of the campaign, there have been many instances of larger changes manifested by the unity of the community.
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 ===Examples===

LearningAboutWorld: /* Impact */ Starting a list of landmark examples in the Clippy movement (as opposed to smaller things that could just be in some other article or list or something)

2026-02-05T06:49:39Z

Impact: Starting a list of landmark examples in the Clippy movement (as opposed to smaller things that could just be in some other article or list or something)

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:49, 5 February 2026
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	==Impact==		==Impact==

			According to Rossmann, the point of the Clippy campaign is for members to effectuate change in the world wherever they see it necessary—even if it is a small change, everyone's small changes together add up to much greater change. Rossmann describes this as "cleaning up your corner of the world." Since the beginning of the campaign, there have been many instances of larger changes manifested by the unity of the community.

			===Vidor, Texas refuses AI surveillance===

			{{Incomplete section}}

			At the 9 October 2025 Vidor, Texas city council meeting, many Clippy members showed up to voice their concerns about item C-13, which involved AI-powered surveillance cameras.

			===Austin, Texas===

			{{Incomplete section}}

			Austin, Texas has been a site of particularly high activity in the movement.

			===Bose audio equipment===

			{{Incomplete section}}

			Bose employees walked back an anti-consumer policy after Clippy members reached out.

			===Flock AI surveillance===

			{{Incomplete section}}

			This sentence contains placeholder text.

			===City council meetings===

			{{Incomplete section}}

			This sentence contains placeholder text.

			===Future===
	Rossmann hopes that the group awareness created by the campaign will allow people to take action more quickly, due to already knowing that others around them are in alignment. Already it has been seen that many users on YouTube and other social media sites have taken part in the campaign. Some are even taking action to further spread word of the movement in hopes it will eventually get the attention of legislation, tech companies, etc.		Rossmann hopes that the group awareness created by the campaign will allow people to take action more quickly, due to already knowing that others around them are in alignment. Already it has been seen that many users on YouTube and other social media sites have taken part in the campaign. Some are even taking action to further spread word of the movement in hopes it will eventually get the attention of legislation, tech companies, etc.

LearningAboutWorld: /* Emergence out in the world */ Demoted section to third-order

2026-02-05T06:39:07Z

Emergence out in the world: Demoted section to third-order

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:39, 5 February 2026
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	Rossmann concludes the video by stating that if Microsoft does not reverse its course by the 16th, then he would hold on the 18th a public event on behalf of the FULU Foundation, where users can get their computers upgraded, learn how to install free software, and try out Linux (a free operating system) for themselves.<ref name="second Rossmann silhouette">{{Cite web \| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NVtg1tkgSQ \| title=Microsoft went too far \| date=10 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rossmann stated that the goal was to encourage people to help other members of their community, learn new ways of keeping their technology safe from viruses, and prevent computers from populating landfills (because many people have to throw out their old computers which are unable to run Windows 11, but replacing Windows with Linux prevents this).		Rossmann concludes the video by stating that if Microsoft does not reverse its course by the 16th, then he would hold on the 18th a public event on behalf of the FULU Foundation, where users can get their computers upgraded, learn how to install free software, and try out Linux (a free operating system) for themselves.<ref name="second Rossmann silhouette">{{Cite web \| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NVtg1tkgSQ \| title=Microsoft went too far \| date=10 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rossmann stated that the goal was to encourage people to help other members of their community, learn new ways of keeping their technology safe from viruses, and prevent computers from populating landfills (because many people have to throw out their old computers which are unable to run Windows 11, but replacing Windows with Linux prevents this).

	==Emergence out in the world==		===Emergence out in the world===

	A notable example Rossmann featured of the Clippy movement outside of the Internet comes from a discussion about Vidor, Texas and its city council meeting. Rossmann starts out a video published on 10 October 2025 by recounting the background behind the movement's progress in Vidor and uses it as an example of members uniting together and doing real work. Vidor's city council is presented as not being proactive or willing to investigate for themselves. The video also offers an excellent anecdote about the growing culture associated with the movement as word spreads online.		A notable example Rossmann featured of the Clippy movement outside of the Internet comes from a discussion about Vidor, Texas and its city council meeting. Rossmann starts out a video published on 10 October 2025 by recounting the background behind the movement's progress in Vidor and uses it as an example of members uniting together and doing real work. Vidor's city council is presented as not being proactive or willing to investigate for themselves. The video also offers an excellent anecdote about the growing culture associated with the movement as word spreads online.

LearningAboutWorld: Example of people associating with Clippy outside of the Internet

2026-02-05T06:38:30Z

Example of people associating with Clippy outside of the Internet

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:38, 5 February 2026
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	Rossmann concludes the video by stating that if Microsoft does not reverse its course by the 16th, then he would hold on the 18th a public event on behalf of the FULU Foundation, where users can get their computers upgraded, learn how to install free software, and try out Linux (a free operating system) for themselves.<ref name="second Rossmann silhouette">{{Cite web \| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NVtg1tkgSQ \| title=Microsoft went too far \| date=10 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rossmann stated that the goal was to encourage people to help other members of their community, learn new ways of keeping their technology safe from viruses, and prevent computers from populating landfills (because many people have to throw out their old computers which are unable to run Windows 11, but replacing Windows with Linux prevents this).		Rossmann concludes the video by stating that if Microsoft does not reverse its course by the 16th, then he would hold on the 18th a public event on behalf of the FULU Foundation, where users can get their computers upgraded, learn how to install free software, and try out Linux (a free operating system) for themselves.<ref name="second Rossmann silhouette">{{Cite web \| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NVtg1tkgSQ \| title=Microsoft went too far \| date=10 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rossmann stated that the goal was to encourage people to help other members of their community, learn new ways of keeping their technology safe from viruses, and prevent computers from populating landfills (because many people have to throw out their old computers which are unable to run Windows 11, but replacing Windows with Linux prevents this).

			==Emergence out in the world==

			A notable example Rossmann featured of the Clippy movement outside of the Internet comes from a discussion about Vidor, Texas and its city council meeting. Rossmann starts out a video published on 10 October 2025 by recounting the background behind the movement's progress in Vidor and uses it as an example of members uniting together and doing real work. Vidor's city council is presented as not being proactive or willing to investigate for themselves. The video also offers an excellent anecdote about the growing culture associated with the movement as word spreads online.

			[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOUZsp5KhGs Vidor, Texas says no to Flock AI surveillance traffic cameras 0:11]

			<blockquote>Somebody reached out to me [...] saying, "I watched your video on what you did at Austin and I wanted to see if they had these cameras in my city." So, she looked it up, and what do you know? They were on the next city council meeting. They didn't get back to her, so she showed up and gave them a piece of her mind. She did a really good job and I wanted to play you that [...] and everything that everybody else said. [...] I'm really proud of it. As I said with what we're trying to do with the Clippy movement: it's not about just changing your profile picture to let people know you're not happy. It's about pushing back everywhere that you can in your own corner of the world in everyday life. Did they get it removed for good? No. But they got it tabled. Their town is not spending $60,000 to put up cameras with AI that surveilled them everywhere they go and save the information on somebody else's server. I think that's a great step forward. Screw [[Flock]]. I don't want that stuff in my city, and I also don't want it in yours. And if you want to help try to get out of your city, I will help you as much as humanly possible.

			[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc&t=183s ''3:03''] ''The aforementioned woman speaks to Rossmann, accompanied by her husband.''] My city council is not going to pay attention unless they have hard facts in front of them. I specifically emailed everybody of the city council and I received no response. So that—

			ROSSMANN: Wait, so your city council sounds like ''our'' city council.

			WIFE: Mhm, which is why I am now forcing my husband—we are moving in town, and the next opportunity I have after research, I am going to be running for city council because I am tired—

			ROSSMANN: No way!

			WIFE: —of the efficiency of it.

			HUSBAND: Also, for your journeys, 'cause one thing I could not find online was a... a version of Clippy that you could actually cut out of vinyl, so I had to figure out how to make an SVG, and I got twenty of them. I cut them for you.

			ROSSMANN: No way!

			HUSBAND: Yes.

			ROSSMANN: Thank you.

			HUSBAND: Yes!

			ROSSMANN: Thank you so much. This makes me happy.

			HUSBAND: And that, directly, is inspired by the post from Denton. The "Clippy is watching."? I was like, I got to do that. I got to make it.

			WIFE: He put the vinyl on my car. The back... the back window.

			HUSBAND: Eighty inches of vinyl.</blockquote>

	==Impact==		==Impact==

LearningAboutWorld: /* Early developments */ It is better to categorize these two videos as early reflections. added more information about the 16 Aug 2025 video.

2026-02-05T04:32:32Z

Early developments: It is better to categorize these two videos as early reflections. added more information about the 16 Aug 2025 video.

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:32, 5 February 2026
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	[...T]here's going to be a point in your life where if every single person were on the same page, you could do something that otherwise wouldn't have worked, and change can get created. When everybody's on the same page, and everybody is in agreement as to what the problem is, things just naturally move smoother. I've noticed this in my business, I've noticed this in my nonprofit, and I've noticed this with general activism, and I'm trying to get a little bit of that going.</blockquote>		[...T]here's going to be a point in your life where if every single person were on the same page, you could do something that otherwise wouldn't have worked, and change can get created. When everybody's on the same page, and everybody is in agreement as to what the problem is, things just naturally move smoother. I've noticed this in my business, I've noticed this in my nonprofit, and I've noticed this with general activism, and I'm trying to get a little bit of that going.</blockquote>

			===Early reflections===

	Rossmann uploaded a follow-up video four days later, on 16 August 2025, titled "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc Progress of clippy movement one week in]", in which he remarked on the rapid growth of the movement and thanked participants for actively working and making a difference, and not simply changing their profile pictures without doing anything else.<ref name="third rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web \|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc \|title=Progress of clippy movement one week in \|date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>		Rossmann uploaded a follow-up video four days later, on 16 August 2025, titled "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc Progress of clippy movement one week in]", in which he remarked on the rapid growth of the movement and thanked participants for actively working and making a difference, and not simply changing their profile pictures without doing anything else.<ref name="third rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web \|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc \|title=Progress of clippy movement one week in \|date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>

			[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc&t=32s Progress of clippy movement one week in 0:32]

			<blockquote>And I have been very happy, humbled, and honored to see the change that's occurred over the past week. My new nonprofit has a website, [[Main_Page\|consumerrights.wiki]]. This website is a database of companies that take part in these anti-ownership, anti-consumer practices. It makes it much easier to speak to senators and congresspeople about these issues, as well as to members of the media and be taken seriously when I have a properly, well-cited, referenced, and sourced document that looks like an encyclopedia.

			[...] The wiki has had an absolute explosion in the past week since doing that Clippy video of people really taking part in all of this, [...] doing the very, very difficult, annoying, pain-in-the-ass work of logging everything [... and making] it infinitely better as a resource. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc&t=183s\|''3:03'']] And the edits genuinely show how much has changed. Thank you. Thank you so much. You didn't just change your profile picture. You changed your profile picture and you immediately got to work, taking the steps that you can, in your personal life, doing what you can do to try and move towards a world where ownership matters. And it shows.</blockquote>

	On 1 September 2025 a fourth video under the title "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtcLvXBKE80 THIS is what it means to be a clippy]", was posted by Rossmann. It questioned his followers and gave examples on how individuals could show integrity and push back and against new age anti-ownership practices in their own lives and what the effects of that decision might be. An important point raised in the video was that users don't have to sacrifice anything to be a part of something bigger, because any small actions, when performed all together by many people, add up to significant results.<ref name="fourth Rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web \| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtcLvXBKE80 \| title=THIS is what it means to be a clippy \| date=2 Sep 2025}}</ref>		On 1 September 2025 a fourth video under the title "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtcLvXBKE80 THIS is what it means to be a clippy]", was posted by Rossmann. It questioned his followers and gave examples on how individuals could show integrity and push back and against new age anti-ownership practices in their own lives and what the effects of that decision might be. An important point raised in the video was that users don't have to sacrifice anything to be a part of something bigger, because any small actions, when performed all together by many people, add up to significant results.<ref name="fourth Rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web \| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtcLvXBKE80 \| title=THIS is what it means to be a clippy \| date=2 Sep 2025}}</ref>

LearningAboutWorld: /* Orientation */ Removed invasive spacing

2026-02-05T04:15:51Z

Orientation: Removed invasive spacing

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:15, 5 February 2026
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	[...T]here's going to be a point in your life where if every single person were on the same page, you could do something that otherwise wouldn't have worked, and change can get created. When everybody's on the same page, and everybody is in agreement as to what the problem is, things just naturally move smoother. I've noticed this in my business, I've noticed this in my nonprofit, and I've noticed this with general activism, and I'm trying to get a little bit of that going.</blockquote>		[...T]here's going to be a point in your life where if every single person were on the same page, you could do something that otherwise wouldn't have worked, and change can get created. When everybody's on the same page, and everybody is in agreement as to what the problem is, things just naturally move smoother. I've noticed this in my business, I've noticed this in my nonprofit, and I've noticed this with general activism, and I'm trying to get a little bit of that going.</blockquote>








	Rossmann uploaded a follow-up video four days later, on 16 August 2025, titled "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc Progress of clippy movement one week in]", in which he remarked on the rapid growth of the movement and thanked participants for actively working and making a difference, and not simply changing their profile pictures without doing anything else.<ref name="third rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web \|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc \|title=Progress of clippy movement one week in \|date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>		Rossmann uploaded a follow-up video four days later, on 16 August 2025, titled "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc Progress of clippy movement one week in]", in which he remarked on the rapid growth of the movement and thanked participants for actively working and making a difference, and not simply changing their profile pictures without doing anything else.<ref name="third rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web \|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgghxUw4kc \|title=Progress of clippy movement one week in \|date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>