Originally this was a reply to this article about a Windows feature called Recall, but there’s a good argument the author’s concerns resonate far beyond Windows and Meta to proprietary generally.
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Do, or do not, there is no try.
I don’t try, I do. Wanna try me?
Let’s see what people will do at October 14
YOU CAN’T DENY THE WAVEEEEE
I’m been using linux mint for over a year now, and it is legit liberating.
Protests crack down on the internet has been going on for quite some time, don’t just blame it on trump but on the whole government and its infrastructure.
And Facebook as an integrated part of the international surveillance state has been firmly established since Snowden leaked the PRISM program.
Like, there are a lot of reasons to switch to linux and plenty of them are compelling. But its an absolute fantasy to believe you’re somehow immune to surveillance because you’re using the same software as Amazon’s EC2. Does anyone really believe the NSA hasn’t cracked Linux Mint yet?
Or, for that matter, that using a linux desktop is going to insulate you from being spied on via a public facing 3rd party social media forum?
Like, there are a lot of reasons to switch to linux and plenty of them are compelling. But its an absolute fantasy to believe you’re somehow immune to surveillance because you’re using the same software as Amazon’s EC2. Does anyone really believe the NSA hasn’t cracked Linux Mint yet?
It’s much harder for the government and bad actors to hide backdoors in open source software than making a deal with a private company
For the proprietary software, a lot of it is front-doors. Literally just pay-to-prey. Government agencies pay the big data companies to access their warehouses of scrapped data that come directly off their clients’ machines through explicit information harvesting protocols.
That said, it is technically harder to have a covert backdoor in an open source system. But it isn’t impossible, or even particularly impractical, so long as the vulnerability remains reasonably obscure. It would be naive to assume your standard array of linux oses are unassailable.
You mean with the USA Intel or AMD CPUs?
Think that it doesn’t matter what you use as OS as the microchip inside the CPU chip can read anything it wants
I’ll just make my own cpu with a breadboard and a few wires!
Sure. Although that’s just a matter of unplugging your computer from the Internet. Also, at least in theory, Linux isn’t actively leaking all your data into various Cloud services. Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive are just invitations for the NSA to paw through your file system.
I just can’t imagine how Linux protects you from posting on Facebook.
It wont protect there.
Also, I remember articles back then mentioning 5G Towers could create a dystopia because every company could easily put a 5G chip into the product and secretly track you regardless of Wifi.
One should be have been assuming since Windows 7 and automated online updates that the Microsoft key used to sign OS updates is in the hands of at least the NSA (and hence probably the Israeli equivalent) and they can push whatever they want to your computer as an OS update, bypassing all protections.
In fact the same applies to Linux updates of certain distros - if they’re maintained by a company based in the US they can be forced by FISA courts to provide the signing keys to the US Government.
More in general, just go read about FISA courts and their secret court orders - companies based in the US or hosting things in the US can be secretly forced to just “give the keys of the Realm” to parts of the US Government.
Since things like the Patriot act one should be treating companies based in the US as just as untrustworthy as companies based in China.
(By the way, some other supposed Democratic countries have similar or worse systems - for example the equivalent of FISA courts in the UK have things like secret court sessions were the side which is not the State is not authorized to have a legal representation, see most of the evidence or even know the decision of the court).
Have people already forgot most of what came out in the Snowden Revelations?!
Would stuff like Fedora be in danger, in this case? I couldn’t find if Red Hat was US based
In theory yes since they’re essentially sponsored by RedHat. (RedHat is owned by IBM)
Which is funny because the Snowden leaks actually showed the NSA likes using Fedora for their fancy spy tech lol.
I guess a good alternative would be OpenSUSE.
Yep… Snowden, Chelsea* Manning, Assange and an older whistleblower who died recently but I forgot his name… They also forgot what Cambridge Analytica was about. They just need to throw some bread and games at us and we go one living as nothing ever happend.
Chelsea Manning
Fuck is wrong with you
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Chelsea* Manning
But, yeah, most people just do not care if they are spied on because they don’t think it will be used for anything besides advertising. Trump is going to wake a lot of people up to the immense power we’ve handed over to our tech overlords.
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Dude what are you even talking about? You literally sounds schizophrenic
They just need to throw some bread and games at us and we go one living as nothing ever happend.
I mean, there’s not a whole lot of alternative. It seems like the only two “valid” avenues of resistance are retreating from society into a hermetically sealed bubble and starting a podcast.
Haha, yeah It seems so…
Another option and a more long term solution would be to go back to the roots and relearn the basics of living !
How to grow a garden, How to hunt, How to build a small wooden house, how to make fire and then rebuild the technology but only the needed ones.
If we grew things and dug together the rare ores to make solar panels together, build small wind turbines, waterwheels as a community hands by hands… We would probably profit more and enjoy ourselves way more than ever…
Regardless we prefer being held hostage by our own limitations and technology constraints… Not blaming anyone here except myself, It’s just a sad though we could all live happy in a more green state without this mass nonsense technology…
But hey… What’s better than living for ourselves and hard earned money? Huh? Our day to day routine on Netflix, YouTube, Lemmy, twitter Facebook… 7-16 day to day job we all hate thinking we are going to enjoy life when we are old and retired? Emotionally dead gifts bought on Amazon, eBay, temu…
Without saying… Life sucks ! And If you enjoy this kind of life, What can I say… :/ I either envy you for being a brainless sheep or hate you like I hate myself for not burning down this system all together !
Pick your poison !
/Rant off
Another option and a more long term solution would be to go back to the roots and relearn the basics of living !
That requires large plots of arable land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_Valley
The valley, named after the Spanish Mission Santa Clara, was for a time known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its high concentration of orchards, flowering trees, and plants. Until the 1960s it was the largest fruit-producing and packing region in the world, with 39 canneries. The growing high-tech industry in the 1960s transformed the area from farmland to densely populated cities, and it became referred to as the Silicon Valley.
But we paved over paradise and put up a parking lot.
There’s no unfucking that chicken. We are living in a world that is substantially less arable than it was a century ago. We do not have an Eden to go back to.
YEA I’M GONNA DO IT BASED ON FUD AND NO CITATION BECAUSE SOMEONE ON THE INTERNET SAYS THEY WORK AT FACEBOOK
lemmy users just pretend to be intellectuals
YEA I’M GONNA CONTINUE TO USE PLATFORMS AND TOOLS THAT EXPLOIT MY PRIVACY AND INFO FOR MONETARY GAIN WITHOUT QUESTION BECAUSE I’M A GOOD LITTLE CONSUMER
sheep pretend to be wolves
“Knowingly” exploit you, not even a guess.
Easy on the hatorade
I switched from Fedora to openSUSE recently and it has been painless. Would recommend to anyone who are looking to get away from US companies and US jurisdiction. Edit: note that it uses RPM package manager though, I don’t know yet if that is problematic or not. If someone knows then please elaborate on that.
Tumbleweed or Leap or something else?
Most likely Tumbleweed. As it is the most modern of them. Because it is rolling.
Correct, Tumbleweed is the one I started using.
As a long time debian user, I have my eyes on Leap. I value stability (in the unchanging functionality sense) over latest versions.
For me Tumbleweed is rock solid even though it is rolling. But if you don’t like subtle changes it might not be fore you.
No matter which OpenSuse people end up choosing, it’s a super solid decision. Even though it relies on infrastructure by SUSE S.A., a company that unfortunately has ties to the US (mostly hosting with offices and employees in the US) but got its HQ in Europe, it’s the most solid and user-friendly distro out there if you look for rather independent distros (the only user-friendly one that’s fully independent would be Mageia, but that one really isn’t where it would have to be imho). And the existence of bootable snapshots in case something happened is extremely useful. The biggest problems I’ve found are just 2: Problems with the Nvidia driver (especially if you use said snapshots), and Flathub not coming preconfigured (not a Problem in KDE since there’s a button new users can stumble over, but for Gnome you have to know something rather important is missing to look up the command to add it since there isn’t a GUI to add Flatpak repos yet).
Other than that the whole OpenSuse ecosystem is just great.
I don’t mind changes, but I want to be able to decide when they happen. Maybe I’m just traumatized from the last time I used a rolling release distro and suddenly Gnome 3 landed and replaced Gnome 2. I did not like that.
To all the people who are criticising this guy for working for Meta, I would like to remind you of the phrase, “Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer”.
I am very much a left-winger, but I still read right-wing papers and articles, I like to know what the other side is thinking.
Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer”.
Bruh, it’s not game of thrones. People just need to work.
If you can get a job at Facebook then you could easily find employment elsewhere. And no it’s not Game of Thrones, but I would love to see Zuckerberg get the Joffrey treatment.
Less criticism and more pity.
Sheryl Sandberg seems like a Grade A asshole to work for - possibly the only woman CEO I’ve ever heard of getting #MeToo’d. Zuckerberg is an absolute baby-brain completely up his own asshole with delusions of grandeur, outright comparing himself to Roman Emperors.
But if you get into the tell-all released by Sarah Wynn-Williams, all you really take away from it is that this company is as corrosive to the body public as it is ravenous for economic expansion. There’s no “keeping close” that’s going to be good for you in the long run. Might as well try to keep a rabid dog on a short leash.
I am very much a left-winger, but I still read right-wing papers and articles, I like to know what the other side is thinking.
I’m not above peaking in on Citations Needed or QAnon Anonymous to see how the other side lives. But the actual right-wing material itself is really ugly stuff, particularly in the modern moment. When it isn’t nakedly xenophobic or Mean Girls callously cruel, its just pumping your eyeballs and ear holes full of the dumbest fucking advertisements imaginable.
Not good to ingest that stuff.
What does linux need to try?
To stop overachieving
To stop insisting upon itself for like, five fucking minutes.
Was considering migrating from Fedora and getting a MacBook, but this is making me reconsider.
I use Ubuntu. Can someone tell me if that’s “independent and outside US jurisdiction”? I know it’s made/maintained by canonical.
What are some Linux distros that we should avoid? What are some that are independent?
Debian is a community distro. Ubuntu is downstream of it.
It’s UK based
I don’t trust the UK either after they left the EU.
I want to get into Linux and I need a new laptop. I’m happy to go secondhand but I actually want a half decent thing that can play some games, not the cheapest box I can put Linux on and use fake word.
Am I best off just buying a new windows laptop than I can dual boot? Or any other suggestions?
Windows is US$ 139.00. So I figured if I buy a laptop without windows it will be 139 less but I guess manufacturers get windows for like $20 so there are no saving anyway.
Edit:should probably add I’m from to UK I that’s relevant
There are a lot of options if you’re experienced with Linux and know how to get things to work/are willing to do research. However, if you are new, then you should definitely play it safe to avoid frustration.
My current laptop is an Asus PX13, which is an awesome value and probably the most powerful machine you can buy at its size. Unfortunately, Asus does not support Linux on its laptops at all, and any support that exists comes from volunteers. I’m very happy with my current setup, but there are some rough edges that come from the lack of official support.
Yes, at least Lenovo Linux laptops are 140$ cheaper.
Take a look at Framework, or System76 for Linux first hardware.
Thank you. I didnt know about lenovo so that’s good to know.
System76 seems especially out of my price range. I haven’t bought a computer for 12 years, can’t believe laptop’s cost more now (even accounting for inflation) than they did back then. It’s unbelievable. Might have to work out if I want a good one to last a long time (which is risky) or to get a cheaper one and expect to replace earlier.
By thank you that is helpful.
i would recommand also tuxedo computer, they based in Germany, their laptops offer various keyboards layout, and if you need cheaper option, refurbished pro laptops are a good options, look for informatic broker : they buy by lots from enterprises and the quality is overall good, maybe the battery will be a bit less consistant.
Lenovo recently started shipping laptops with Linux at a discount. But its probably better to buy a laptop from a Linux seller so that you know the hardware compatibility is being maintained.
use massgrave[dot]dev for all the windows software. its very easy
FUCK YEAH, YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP
It’s funny how they’re saying “You need to use Linux” and not “You need to get off Facebook”. How’s Linux going to save you from Facebook spying on you?
I think the be careful what you do on Facebook is implied. He’s highlighting something that’s less expected, where you may need to be careful what you do on Windows systems.
They mentioned Microsoft updating privacy agreements at the same time as other companies, and OP mentioned that the context was a discussion of a Windows ultra-keylogger type of feature, the implication is they’re in on this shit too, and Linux is a way to not use Windows.
Back in 2020 when I took my class for my A+ cert I remember the instructor directing us to a Windows 10 debloating video tutorial to speed up a Win10 computer. If I recall correctly In that video the host point’s out that one of the Microsoft services that ran in the background of every standard distribution of Windows 10 was a keylogger. It was one of the many things that got permanently turned off in the in the tutorial.
If you can remember how to disable this, please let me know
They literally work for the Fediverse branch of meta, sure its an evil corp and zucks intentions aren’t exactly pure (more than likely an effort to lower server costs) but it is something likely to put more eyes onto the fediverse which I definitely think will benefit the fediverse in the long run.
I read the post like you at first, but I don’t think he works on the fediverse. I think it was just a poor/unclear sequence of clauses in his post.
My uncle works at the fediverse and gets all the games before they come out
Threads has fediverse integration, the fediverse like the internet is decentralised its not an entity.
“im a henchman for a bad guy…and lemme tell you…I think we might be starting to do bad stuff…not sure yet…”
Thanks bud
Hey now, he didn’t say he was working close with Trump, he said he was working closing with Trump.
I’m sure there’s a distinct difference.
Unfortunately, not everyone has a choice in who they work for in end-stage-capitalism. Work is about survival, not ideology. The majority of Americans are not far-right capitalists, but the vast majority of CEOs are, and it’s not really possible to survive long enough to start a small business in most of the US without investment from a far-right capitalist or inheritance (usually also from a far-right capitalist family member).
If you have the skillset and CV to work at Meta, you have a choice to work somewhere slightly lower on the scale of exploitation.
Dude, look around. Most of us are way, WAY past the “We’re all in this together! We can do it if we try!” method of living and have been operating in survival mode for the past 5 years. And can you blame them? The flood waters are rising and people are wanting to make sure they have a life raft. If that means working for evil people/companies, then so be it. It’s not like working somewhere else will stop or slow the flood. Morals are nice, but they won’t keep you afloat.
Yes morals won’t keep you afloat. But FAANG, military defense contractors, and the other most terrible industries waaaay overpay on cost of living, and other industries are also looking to compensate well for expertise (minus some compensation for all the exploitation you wouldn’t be contributing to).
What you’re describing is the development of a paranoid conservative mindset in response to traumatic global events. This is how my conservative Fox News brainrot parents describe the world, and they are the type to own guns because they’re deathly afraid of home intruders even though their city’s crime index is among the best in the country.
Very big window between participating in society via capitalism vs working directly for, eg. FAANG or a military defense contractor. It’s leaping over every less shitty option to get to the end because that’s what pays best. How funny that I considered writing a pre-reply for this exact comic in my original comment.
At some point we need to start welcoming people to the Light, instead of demonizing them for having been in the Dark. It’s pretty difficult for me not to dunk on people as they wake up to the nightmare that they voted for, but a lot them ARE actually otherwise decent folks. Making America Great is going to involve deprogramming a lot of people.
That’s all good and well and I agree with you, but I also believe if you have and are continuing to feed the machine, then you don’t get to be put on a pedestal or respected for recognizing how bad the machine is. This person is repeating something that is already very well known and accepted and is simultaneously adding to the alarm while causing it. I have extremely low patience for that particular brand of person. They are continuing to cause the problem they are rallying against.
If I were face to face with this person, I’d genuinely say “either quit working there or shut the fuck up.”
I wonder if employees of evil corporations reading your comment are more likely to quit or chill their speech
I hope that at least one whistleblower stays employed at every evil corp
What about when it’s your family? I am estranged from a lot of people that I care deeply for because they refuse to engage with reason. I’m not trying to put anyone on a pedestal, good or bad.
I just want people to know that they are welcome to change their minds, nobody is going to mock them for doing so, or say I told you so. That’s what they expect, and pride is part of what holds many of them back from admitting that they were wrong. Because it’s what they would do. Unfortunately, we’re going to need to take the high road.
The predestal/respect bit in my comment was about this post as a whole. IMO, the screenshotted person does not deserve to be paid attention to. They are not revealing anything new by any means while choosing to make the problem worse.
I don’t know what anyone being in my family has to do with anything. My response is the same: if you are unhappy enough to complain out loud about something you are helping cause, either do something about it or shut the fuck up.
I just want people to know that they are welcome to change their minds, nobody is going to mock them for doing so, or say I told you so.
JSYK: I and many others are putting great effort into letting them know that they’re not welcome, because Nazis who voted for this wanted this, no excuses at campaign #3. They can either die or live in obscurity until they do, period. The time they were allowed back was pre-24 election, simple as
If you label every person who voted for Trump a Nazi, you might be a Nazi
Agree that person would certainly be an over generalizer. What’s the Nazi part about it from your perspective?
Idk man I’m just upset about my family and jealous of people that don’t have to deal with writing off roughly half the people they care about.
If you label people a supporter of an ideology they voted for then you’re just like them
Homie, no
“Are we the baddies?!”
People gotta earn money to survive, I don’t blame the employees for this. And this is not just a case of Meta’s privacy being bad. This is close government involvement with potentially serious impacts and implications across all US based platforms.
It makes sense to continue working there but then leak everything to an independent journalist.
“I’m only following orders!”
if they didnt know what they were signing up for, and they cant quit, you cant blame them
if they didnt know what they were signing up for,
People knew meta (then FB) was evil in 2010, dude, cmon
Yeah, just like the attorney’s who resigned when asked to drop the charges against Eric Adams.
