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I was interviewed by Fast Company about @purism hardware kill switches in this piece on the current trend to put them in home automation devices to address everyone's unease with always-on cameras and mics in their bedroom.
fastcompany.com/90349731/the-h

Free startup idea: registering "dibs" on the blockchain. Remember me when you're rich.

I see some people pressuring tech companies to build a machine that blocks entire groups from Internet Society. They must be bigger optimists than I am, all I can think of is how such a machine will be abused.

In Idaho, a judge has ruled that law enforcement cannot compel a person to unlock their phone with a fingerprint because it would violate their 5th Amendment rights, following a similar ruling in California earlier this year.
forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewste

If I could turn back time,
if I could find a way,
I'd get back to the shell before vim ran, and you'd say:

If I could reach Esc,
I'd change my mode for you,
and you'd insert text, remove text like you used to do.

Tech companies and online platforms have other ways to address the rapid spread of disinformation, including addressing the algorithmic “megaphone” at the heart of the problem, and giving users control over their own feeds. eff.org/deeplinks/2019/05/cens

Today we've updated the Librem One website with two important documents:

A short guide to staying safe online no matter what online service you are using. Like our policy document we've kept it short and to the point, with links to more detailed, independent resources if you'd like to learn more.

librem.one/stay-safe/

As well as a code of conduct that makes it clear we will respond to reports of harassment, for example on Librem Social, our opt-in social network.

librem.one/conduct/

This last week all Firefox addons were accidentally disabled due to issues in Mozilla certs. Many security measures out there require full, unrevokable trust in the vendor for them to work and this is a great example of the risks with that approach. Imagine if that ever happened with SecureBoot...

Uncle Ben said that with great power comes great responsibility, but he didn't explain that responsibility lags behind power a bit. There's a brief period where you can enjoy the rush of great power before the weight of great responsibility hits.

This makes a lot of sense given MS's larger strategy with Azure. They need to get Linux devs off Macs and AWS and onto Windows and Azure. Github and Linux tools on Windows are the gateway. arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/0

For those of you using Librem Chat on Android, the latest version (0.1.4) removes any code traces from trackers left behind in the upstream Riot codebase (we had disabled them before but the code itself was still there).

source.puri.sm/liberty/chat/an

@kyle
They call me GNU thug
I got a license to debug
On the forbidden fruit
Known as pureboot
You don’t hear the curses
If you’ve got a special purpose
The crew, T-bone n’ Kyle
Watching the code compile

"Most people want to retain their privacy and freedom and most people are concerned about their digital footprint. Most people do not want to be tracked all the time from all devices."

puri.sm/posts/opt-in-no-ads-an

So much drama in the SPC
It's kinda hard being T-O-double-D
But, he, somehow, someway, keeps on comin' up with Librem hardware every single day

He's got coders in the chat room buildin' a phone
They ain't leavin' till 6 in the morn (PST)
Now we gonna pick a license for this. GNU's up, closed's down while you other developers code to this.

Rollin' down the street, writin' free code, licensed for GNU, laid back, with my mind on the Librem and the Librem on my mind.

About to record the next @linuxjournal podcast! Do you have a cool open source story to tell? Let me know!

I elaborate on some ways to protect the digital supply chain while borrowing metaphors from the food industry in this post: puri.sm/posts/protecting-the-d

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This is why projects like Reproducible Builds are so important. Basing all of your security on a company's signature on proprietary code is too risky.

wired.com/story/barium-supply-

A animal with a history of abuse will often flinch when a well-meaning new owner tries to pet it. It takes a lot of time and effort to rebuild trust and security.

The emotional damage in the community from decades of abuse by exploitative companies isn't acknowledged nearly enough, and is hard to overcome.

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Librem Social

Librem Social is an opt-in public network. Messages are shared under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license terms. Policy.

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