Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

My brain is weird. I walk past a bowl of soup on the kitchen table and immediately a soup-based parody of Salt-n-Pepa's Shoop enters my head. ("Girls what's my weakness?" "Ramen!" "OK then")

Sourdough schmourdough.

@dallin That's the strategy I imagine--by having the technology in place you create a chilling effect and don't have to review the surveillance or actually do your job as a manager. The mere knowledge of being surveilled, even passively, changes a person's behavior.

This kind of patronizing remote control isn't limited to IT and management. Many tech companies, in the name of security, exercise the same kind of remote control over your computers without your permission. I wrote about the phenomenon here: https://puri.sm/posts/consent-matters-when-tech-takes-remote-control-without-your-permission/

Managers who could only measure productivity by butts-in-seats are turning to surveillance software and always-on webcams to measure butts-in-seats at home. If you don't trust your employees and can't measure their productivity, maybe you are the problem. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/30/work-from-home-surveillance/

Well that's pretty encouraging. It looks like when people are better informed about #privacy trade-offs and must opt-in, instead of being forced to opt-out, many prefer the privacy-preserving option. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/04/half-of-americans-wont-trust-contact-tracing-apps-new-poll-finds/

Here's one in likely many #IoT startups that go out of business from #COVID-19, leaving customers with bricked hardware. Vendor lock-in from cloud-dependent devices using proprietary APIs causes so much e-waste when those services eventually go away. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/04/after-prolonged-service-outage-petnet-shuts-down-citing-coronavirus/

Many of the #infosec arguments in the encryption backdoor debate (life-or-death, manpower vs automation, tech ineffectiveness, #privacy + freedom vs benefit, govt. + big tech power) apply to #COVID-19 app tracking debate, but with many ppl changing sides.

@doraville6 @purism It may cover up the webcam but tape won't disable the microphone. Removing it for each video conference is also pretty inconvenient, which means you have to be dedicated and disciplined to replace the tape each time.

As an update to this, @purism published a video to demonstrate how hardware kill switches work in practice to enable your webcam and microphone only during meetings, not the rest of the time your laptop is aimed at your living room or bedroom. https://youtu.be/gw1M9c3x4uQ

I'm at the phase in quarantine where I'm daydreaming about living on a sailboat for months at a time. Instead, I just spent the day cleaning and reorganizing my garage.

(apologies to Katrina and the Waves)

I used to think maybe you caught it, now baby I'm sure
And I just can't wait for a doctor to knock on my door
Now every time I get a new Prime box, gotta hold myself down
Cause I just gotta try the new treatment that's going around

Now I'm injecting sunshine, whoa
I'm injecting Clorox, whoa
I'm ingesting Lysol, whoa
And don't it feel good
Hey, all right now
And don't it feel good

@lightweight @lunduke Given the death of software sales as a sustainable business model they don't have a choice if they want to survive. Amazon to the left of them, Google to the right here they are, stuck in the middle with GNU.

@lightweight @lunduke I'd argue that the most successful "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" model currently in practice is Open Core https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/some-thoughts-open-core

@lightweight @lunduke It's easy to forget that IBM was once seen as MS was 20 years ago and Google is now. I'm unclear how the MS in your example is different from the IBM of the spraypaint Tux era. They hired Linux developers from proceeds came from proprietary mainframe software and services.

Once difference is at the time the Linux community was desperate for a giant in its corner so they were more willing to embrace what before then was the original evil 800lb gorilla.

@lunduke Microsoft has always followed in IBM's footsteps, and Google is following in Microsoft's. Microsoft is currently at the phase where IBM spray painted Tux on SF sidewalks.

@le_ArthurDent@mastodon.social Seeing a small number of preppers wearing camo and tactical gear protesting shelter-in-place.

I expected a global pandemic with partial shutdown of society would be the time for preppers to shine and practice their training. Yet after only a month of easy sheltering (grid up, clean water, ample food, even Netflix), some preppers are starting to crack. Disappointing.

Once I ran outside
Now I stay inside
This tainted test you've given
I give you all a swab can give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all
Tainted test:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/cdcs-failed-coronavirus-tests-were-tainted-with-coronavirus-feds-confirm/