Adam @adam@librem.one

I’ll keep beating this drum: do *not* use smart TVs. Don’t connect them to the Internet. Use them *only* as dumb display devices for other computers. Buy an Apple TV or a Roku or a Fire if you want that kind of functionality, but *do not* use the buggy, exploitable spyware built into a “smart” TV.

Samsung tells homes to virus-check TVs https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48664251

Our laptops have visible Philips screws on the bottom. You can remove the bottom case yourself, without any special tools and without Purism’s permission, and get access to the RAM, drive bays and the battery–and replace them yourself.

https://puri.sm/posts/with-purism-products-you-are-in-control/

I like Free/Libre #Open-Source #Software for its inherent transparency, and the fact that most #FOSS projects are single-purpose and more importantly left alone when they fulfill this purpose. Feature creep is much more common in proprietary software with growth pressure.

How the latest Purism commercial was made with entirely with GNU/Linux, Free Software, and Librem laptops.

Storyboarding, motion design, color grading, video editing... We do it all with Freedom in mind.

https://puri.sm/posts/see-your-junk-behind-the-scenes/

... and that is why you should run your own cloud.
---
RT @robvank@twitter.com
"Most of the cloud is controlled by just four corporations – Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the US, and China’s Alibaba. Goldman Sachslast year said these four hold 56 per cent of the world public cloud market..."

#Cloud, like water, should be #commons.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/why-the-internet-of-things-is-becoming-scary-1.3915898
https://twitter.com/robvank/status/1136894850522071040

Vine was the perfect millennial social media apparatus because it's more relatable to be stuck in an infinite amount of hellishly stupid 6 second loops than envision any kind of narrative with a future.

People who don't care for accuracy like misusing terms, accepting wild numerical estimates or ever stopping being curious, what do they actually care about when it is justified by caring priorities?

We know a lot of people use Microsoft Outlook. You can use our #Nextcloud secure sharing add-in!
✓ keep mails small
✓ know when people downloaded or uploaded
✓ block unauthorized downloads
✓ password protect your files

Tried the latest version yet?
https://nextcloud.com/blog/new-release-of-nextcloud-secure-sharing-outlook-add-in-community-version/

♲ @drifa@yiff.life: One thing I really hate about my culture is its fetishization of competition. We create needless competition in business, sports, politics, etc. Why? It is destructive, it creates more losers than winners, and it wastes resources that could be better used to solve our collective problems. Proponents claim it spurs innovation and achievement. Bullshit: it spurs cheating and gaming the system. Competition of *ideas* is better served by *cooperation* to study them.

Why #WhatsApp Will Never Be Secure

https://telegra.ph/Why-WhatsApp-Will-Never-Be-Secure-05-15

#telegram

Great video, #mastodon and the #fediverse simply explained: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/d9bd2ee9-b7a4-44e3-8d65-61badd15c6e6

Decentralised & Free Social Networks

For those who are #newhere from other social networks, here’s a bit of handy vocabulary to #help you navigate this new social network universe:

- Protocol - An agreed format that enables software applications to communicate with (or “federate” with) each other. The two most heavily used protocols around here are Diaspora and ActivityPub. As an end user, you don’t have to care about the protocol you are using and you don’t ever see the “protocol” other than it enables or limits which users you can see.
Nevertheless, be aware that currently not all the platforms (see this word later) are fully compatible and limit you in the possibility of interactions.
libranet.de/photos/vladimirn/i…

- Platform - The software application that implements a protocol(s) for federating. The Diaspora platform implements the eponymously named Diaspora protocol. Mastodon, for example, implements the ActivityPub protocol. #Friendica implements both the Diaspora and the ActivityPub protocols.

- Server - pod - instance - node - The server(s) running a particular platform (software application). The variability in naming is due to the various origins of these platforms now working to intercommunicate.
For example, pluspora.com is one of the many pods running the Diaspora platform; mastodon.social is one of the many pods running the Mastodon platform; and libranet.de is one of the many pods running the Friendica platform.

- The Federation - The collective of servers running platforms that implement the Diaspora protocol. This includes all servers running Diaspora (the software application), Hubzilla, Friendica, or Socialhome. The users on *any* of these pods can connect to and interact with each other.

- The Fediverse - The collective of servers running platforms that implement the ActivityPub (and OStatus) protocols. This includes all servers running Mastodon, Pixelfed, Hubzilla, Friendica, Socialhome, or many, many others. The users on *any* of these servers can connect to and interact with each other.

- The Free Network - The collective of pods in The Federation and The Fediverse, combined.

Hope that helps and doesn’t make this seem more complicated than it actually is. The main difference from other social networks is that no single entity owns and runs a platform. On G+ or Facebook, you are locked into that platform/company to talk to other users. In the Free Network, one set of volunteers writes the software and puts it out there for free, and another set of volunteers downloads the software and runs it on their servers and invites us to have user accounts for free. (But you should definitely donate to help them with the costs, if you can.) If we, as users, decide we aren’t happy with our current experience, we can change platforms or pods and still keep all of our friends/connections. On Facebook, G+, Twitter, and the like, you are locked in; and if you want leave, you go cold turkey.

Glad you joined us here in the land of choice. libranet.de/photo/15305924715c… target="_blank">[url=https://libranet.de/p…

When you use somebody elses' platform to communicate, they can see who talks to who, when and for how long. Such 'metadata' says a lot more about you than you realize. This is why Facebook wants you to forget about metadata when you think about #privacy
https://theoutline.com/post/7377/facebook-is-trying-to-make-the-word-private-meaningless