Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one
Joined Aug 2019
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
While the images are built and tested, the FTP masters have been busily getting future suites ready for development so that our cycle can begin again. Say hello to Debian 13 'trixie'! #ReleasingDebianBookworm #DebianTrixie #Trixie
I really wonder what was behind the decision by #Google to take the #Android open source developer reference, that anyone could build themselves, and make it #proprietary and only available online. Given all the other stuff that Google does, it is hard to see it as anything but a play for forced tracking of developers in combination with solidifying monopoly control over Android.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
I vaguely recall something about "don't tax us, we need the money to invest in the clean-energy transition"
#climate
Why on earth does https://developer.android.com block #Tor connections now? It does seem like #Google is aiming to collect ever more data on #Android developers, maybe this is one thing they're doing to ensure they get decent IP data there.
In case you think housing subsidies don't work, consider that everyone in America who has a mortgage is living in subsidized housing because mortgages to buy houses are given huge deductions https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/magazine/vienna-social-housing.html
#LLM #chatbot tricks like #ChatGPT are looking ever more like #bitcoin and other #cryptocurrencies : they are mostly good for cheating, faking, and creating #disinfo.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/27/nyregion/avianca-airline-lawsuit-chatgpt.html
How does one deal with someone like L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz? On one hand, he was an outspoken #feminist and #suffragist, on the other hand, he explicitly advocated for the #genocide of the native Americans.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Max Schrems and his tiny nonprofit NOYB deserve limitless praise for their extraordinary persistence and achievements. But it's a shame for EU policy that GDPR enforcement against big tech and in the broader digital economy relies on a nonprofit and that much of it fails so hard.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
You don't need to download the #android #sdk #binaries from #google .
You can compile the #sdk by yourself from the source code to write #android #apps.
Check this repository at #codeberg , it will do the job for you.
All you need are the scripts from this #repo , 32 GB #ram , approx. 300 GB free disk space and some patience.
Then, you can start coding for #android without the proprietary #sdk binaries from #google!
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Episode 57: F-Droid (featuring Sylvia van Os & Hans-Christoph Steiner!) https://fossandcrafts.org/episodes/057-f-droid.html
F-Droid, a repository of free software on your Android device! @cwebber interviews F-Droid developers @SylvieLorxu and @eighthave@social.librem.one alongside chair of the F-Droid board... @mlemweb!!!
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Let's be clear: $1.8b for "AI" translates to ~$1.8b handed to Big Tech companies to license infrastructure, data, and APIs.
AI is a corporate technology.
This is a subsidy to the richest companies in the world, justified via rewarmed cold war imaginaries.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Putin’s energy blackmail has failed.
One year after presenting #REPowerEU, we have reduced our dependency on Russian gas by three-quarters.
Everyone has played their part in building a more independent 🇪🇺 and we are more united and stronger than ever in preparing for next winter.
I'm often surprised to hear that many people believe that #OpenSource was this new radical idea in software development that came about in the 80s. That is actually backwards. Open Source was the default way software was developed before the 80s, and #proprietary development changed that. The #FreeSoftware movement was a direct response to software going #proprietary. It put #UserFreedom front and center as the reason why #software should be free and open.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
again: paying for travel and lodging is nice, but traveling abroad and talking at a conference is *work* - I can't work for free. Especially if your conference charges >1000 USD entrance fees.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Mullvad VPN and the Tor Project today present the release of the Mullvad Browser.
A privacy-focused web browser designed to be used with a trustworthy VPN instead of the Tor Network.
Read the full story and download the browser here.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Tik Tok ist zwar lustig, kann aber zum echten Sicherheitsrisiko werden, wenn man die User:innendaten aggregiert & analysiert. Thomas Lohninger war dazu in der ZIB 1:
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Which means, you can only use that if your app's minSDK is >= Android 9. (At least that's what I remember from when this feature was originally introduced)
Wireguard's minSDK is Android 5.0.
F-Droid might start to look into this though, it's only a few years off until this can can be reaslistically used in the wild.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
The Wireguard android app is now Reproducible and distributed with Jasons own signing key.
https://lists.zx2c4.com/pipermail/wireguard/2023-April/008045.html
Pretty cool.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
🇺🇦 🇹🇼
#WhatsApp implementing #KeyTransparency is pretty nice, and definitely an excellent step in the right direction against shadow accounts and the service provider trust problem. However, without the client being #OpenSource, it is not that meaningful. Yes, of course somebody could implement an independent monitor for the transparency log to check keys registered for an identity, but what percentage of the user base will actually do that when the only realistic way to use the service is to rely on the #proprietary client, which can still be used to maliciously target (groups of) users to break #E2EE?
Secure messenger clients should both use identity security protections like #KeyTransparency and have a *default* implementation that is #OpenSource and, ideally, be distributed with #BinaryTransparency and verified through #ReproducibleBuilds. Oh, and allow other identifiers than just phone numbers (still looking at you, @signalapp - which is otherwise ticking a lot of the right checkboxes).
Joined Aug 2019
