Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

Interesting article that directly compares Tesla's lock-in and remote control tactics to Apple's: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/05/14/tesla-apple-tech/

It used to be that "If you aren't paying for something, you are the product" but now you are the product regardless. https://puri.sm/posts/data-double-dipping-when-companies-mine-paying-customers/

Why is it so hard for people to have #privacy? Because a TV company can make almost as much profit selling customer data as it can selling the TVs. https://www.engadget.com/vizio-q1-earnings-inscape-013937337.html

@danyork Welcome back!

Each time I see someone correct someone else with a pedantic edge case, my brain now sings: "You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a Well Actually" to the tune of Smooth Criminal.

@PublicNuisance@fosstodon.org One difference is that proprietary software users generally must rely on the vendor and their trust in them, for their privacy. You see this most often in the Apple community. Many people in that community do care about privacy (see the recent study of how many opted out of ad tracking once the option showed up in iOS), but they are also willing to outsource protecting privacy to Apple because they fully trust them.

Both proprietary and free software users care about their privacy, but free software users are actually empowered to *protect* it. They can audit the code and, if they have to, remove any questionable bits and still use the software. https://puri.sm/posts/audacity-telemetry-and-why-free-software-means-better-privacy/

@ajmartinez What combination of options finally got you what you wanted? In the past I found I had to go into full manual partitioning in the Qubes installer to be able to have unencrypted /boot with encrypted root, but I haven't tried the most recent versions.

This week’s news about the Audacity project adding telemetry and the public outcry is a perfect test case to explore why free software means better privacy. I do just that in this post: https://puri.sm/posts/audacity-telemetry-and-why-free-software-means-better-privacy/

This is the key point and the reason FOSS means better #privacy: "The joy of open source means that users can, if they wish, verify Audacity's claims for themselves before deciding that the time has come for a fork." https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/07/audacity_telemetry/

Office culture skipped in this piece: poor managers can only tell if you're working by seeing you at a desk. They also rely on "dropping in" at a desk to force an employee to prioritize their immediate needs. WfH requires them to be level up as managers. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/06/ceo-i-want-my-employees-understand-risks-not-returning-work-office/

In honor of #WorldPasswordDay2021 here's my favorite talk I've given on password policy: Sex, Secret and God: A Brief History of Bad Passwords in a 10-minute Ignite-style talk: https://opensource.com/article/18/5/brief-history-bad-passwords and the full-length talk I gave at BSidesLV 2017: https://infocondb.org/con/security-bsides/bsideslv-2017/sex-secret-and-god-a-brief-history-of-bad-passwords

@nocturnalfilth This is one reason why I resisted the (well-meaning) idea of people donating branded conference swag t-shirts to the homeless--it could easily become an exploitative situation with homeless folks turning into walking billboards.

Given that classic story of Target knowing a teen was pregnant before her father did, which Big Tech companies would you trust with smart underpants that could track a woman's cycle?

While I'm sure this clothing will be more expensive (to start) than non-smart alternatives, I wonder who will be the first to follow the "smart TV" route and subsidize the cost by selling your data.

Apparently the future of clothing is "smart fabric": shirts that act like computer displays, microphones stitched into single strands of fabric, clothing full of sensors and semiconductors. All I can think of is how this will be abused. #privacy https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/05/03/smart-fabric-future-of-clothing/

I take fiction breaks between volumes of Durant. During my last break I re-read the Iliad (different translation), and read Oresteia, Moby Dick, Old Man and the Sea, Madame Bovary, 170 pgs of Ulysses, and Pale Fire.

It was a nice break, but now let's get back into it!