bowsamic 2 days ago

If you use a free operating system https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html then you have less chance of being spied on. At least you can check

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  • hk__2 2 days ago

    Yes you can, but do you?

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    • kentm 2 days ago

      I don’t think they need to for there to be value. Sure, maybe there’s spyware in free software that they haven’t found. But we know that these advertising companies are putting e-stalking code into all their products right now. Trading that certainty for an unknown is a net benefit.

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      • perching_aix 2 days ago

        Tracking typically works through fingerprinting. Using free software alone won't magically protect you against this, every website's a program with JavaScript on. Lots of free software is also multiplatform. You'll want to apply additional defensive measures, but you can apply those even on Windows, running Firefox or Chrome. Mind you, you'll then stand out for using those defensive measures.

        I generally appreciate source code access and independent auditability, and I do have an appreciation for the intent. But the way people discuss these topics is downright embarrassing, which is what I was hoping to shake out of this. "Just install Linux bro, it's better than pussy bro. What, u still got dat spyin machine goin on?? [links a 30 minute Mutahar video with him faffing about with some technologically trivial bollocks he visibly barely understands]" Please. I think it's pretty agreeable at least that this about as far removed from well supported decision making as one can casually get to be.

        Most people switching to Linux and free software alternatives in hopes of better privacy do so based on vibes, not on any rigorous research. And that's fine. Just wish they didn't pretend it wasn't the case.

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    • bowsamic 2 days ago

      If I say yes, you’ll just call me an extremist and make fun of me. If I say no, you’ll call me a hypocrite. So I refuse to answer

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  • perching_aix 2 days ago

    > At least you can check

    I don't think they enable me to inspect e.g. my CPU's firmware, or that they're able to provide any guarantees about the hardware itself.

    So it still just makes for a large shopping bag sized trust-me-bro box executing hundreds of billions of instructions a second. But now with a false sense of comfort.

    I'm more than happy to concede on this being overly dramatic though, provided you concede on having been engaging in a similarly unserious hyperbole of your own.

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    • bowsamic 2 days ago

      I don’t think that free software is an unserious hyperbole, actually. (It really does exist, even though big tech wants you to think it does not). But yes of course the hardware must be free too, at least insofar as it does not impede on our freedom to understand what it is doing to the software we run on it, and the firmware must also be free software

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      • perching_aix 2 days ago

        > I don’t think that free software is an unserious hyperbole, actually.

        Me neither, considering that doesn't even work grammatically. Very clearly I was referring to "unless you're still using the spying machine" being the unserious hyperbole.

        > It really does exist, even though big tech wants you to think it does not.

        I must have been continually missing "big tech's" efforts on that front. They do engage in other efforts that go against either the spirit or the proliferation of software freedom, but what you describe I legitimately have not witnessed at all.

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