Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

Among the list of reasons modern cars are unappealing to me: in addition to uploading location data, they also sometimes have cameras that upload video to the vendor. In this case employees at Tesla found the juiciest videos and shared them internally:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-workers-shared-sensitive-images-recorded-by-customer-cars-2023-04-06/

#privacy

You should be mindful of the degree to which vendors can remotely control the hardware and software you buy.

Even if you are privileged enough to live in a country where the government doesn't force vendors to push features that squash public dissent and protests, or aid government surveillance, there is no guarantee it will always be that way. If the capability is there, some will be tempted to (ab)use it. #privacy #surveillance

So why did it change? There are a few causes, and this pendulum between open and closed tech is always swinging, but to me the single most important cause was the advent of the smartphone.

Smartphones allowed tech companies to rewrite the rules around standards, software, lock-in and #privacy as Big Tech companies all sought to control the new personal computer with rules people would have rejected on their laptops. The rush to control SMS and news portals killed XMPP and RSS, respectively.

Time for an #introduction. I've been involved in #FOSS and #Linux since the late `90s. My career started as a sysadmin, pivoting to security. I'm the President of @purism and work on hardware and software to protect #privacy, #security and freedom.

I've written a number of books (https://kylerank.in/writing.html) and was a long-time columnist for Linux Journal magazine.

I have many hobbies including #weaving, refurbishing mechanical #calculators, #3dprinting, #brewing, and many other things.