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.

  • bipedalsheep@programming.dev
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    2 hours ago

    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.

  • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 hours ago

    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?!

    • N0x0n@lemmy.ml
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      40 minutes ago

      Yep… Snowden, Charles Maning, 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.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        36 minutes ago

        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.

  • tiny_hedgehog@lemm.ee
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    4 hours ago

    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?

  • Wanderer@lemm.ee
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    4 hours ago

    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.

    • skeesx@lemm.ee
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      2 hours ago

      Yes, at least Lenovo Linux laptops are 140$ cheaper.

      Take a look at Framework, or System76 for Linux first hardware.

    • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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      3 hours ago

      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.

  • Apocalypteroid@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    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.

  • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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    12 hours ago

    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?

    • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 hours ago

      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.

      • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
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        5 hours ago

        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.

    • ShrimpCurler@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 hours ago

      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.

    • Charlxmagne@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      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.

      • proto_jefe@lemm.ee
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        11 hours ago

        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.

  • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Look, Software shouldn’t be free and open Source. I really like that we probably have a decade left of it before it gets bundled with ad services which it should have been from the start. The more people that adopt it means that it’s only a matter of time as long as we all just passively watch it get usurped

  • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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    14 hours ago

    imagine how great it feels to say this for like 20 years while getting dismissed as a conspiracy nut.

    and then having it happen exactly as you said it would.

    • index@sh.itjust.works
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      1 hour ago

      dismissed as a conspiracy nut.

      The government and bad actors use this as a strategy to attack their opponents and control public opinion.

      • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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        12 hours ago

        if ive been saying it for so long, maybe its not exactly new.

        its just that we can’t stop it anymore.

        • untakenusername@sh.itjust.works
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          10 hours ago

          nah you can totally stop the surveillance. Just use tailsOS, live in the basement of a building under an aluminum ceiling (to hide from synthetic-aperture radar spy sats), near a busy highway (so the LIGO gravity-wave observatory cant record the sound of your footsteps), get food deliveries so you don’t have to leave, and connect to the internet using a neighbors wifi.

          \j

          • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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            8 hours ago

            I was talking more about the panopticon surveillance phenomena, not the people individually trying to hide something which I’d guess its probably still possible.

            But the surveillance state is here to stay and we won’t get rid of it easily is what i’m saying.