Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you • Hacker News Board

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#51

Post by big_youth » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:18 PM UTC

vtail wrote: post #43

If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying. I'm personally re-thinking my approach to security and anonymity online, esp. in light of recent news re: Facebook (Cambridge Analytica, account breach), Google (Chrome 69, inc…

I stupidly chose a high end thinkpad at my job a few years ago and I am a counting the days until I can renew and get a Mac.

The hardware is shit. I've had to send it to service 3 times in the nearly 3 years I've been working with it. I just put in a new up arrow key last week because the last one broke. In it's current state only one USB port is functional.

Granted I'm a consultant and do heavily traveling but it has never happened to any of my colleagues Macs. Once it was in service for week because the wifi card was disconnected. Don't even get me started about running linux on it, not a nice experience.

Getting home and using my mac is such an upgrade, OS and hardware wise. Only thing I really miss is the red track button in the middle of the keyboard, that is a phenomenal feature!

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#52

Post by vtail » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:18 PM UTC

sanityvampire wrote: post #49

vtail wrote: post #43

If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying. I'm personally re-thinking my approach to security and anonymity online, esp. in light of recent news re: Facebook (Cambridge Analytica, account breach), Google (Chrome 69, inc…

I'm a fan of the X1 Carbon line; my current home laptop is a 3rd-gen that I grabbed on eBay for cheap a while back. Might leapfrog to the next model when it's released, but the "Alexa for PC" integration is kinda sketching me out. I know it's just factory-installed bloatware at this point, but I'm concerned that before long Amazon's going to be paying off OEMs for physically integrated spy hardware, and while I love…

Interesting - since I'm not on Windows, I didn't know about Alexa integration.

On the other hand, Lenovo seems to use hardware components with good support by open-source drivers. Hopefully one day they (or someone else) will support something like coreboot, which will create a more open system (minus microcode in the CPU).

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#53

Post by vtail » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

big_youth wrote: post #51

vtail wrote: post #43

If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying. I'm personally re-thinking my approach to security and anonymity online, esp. in light of recent news re: Facebook (Cambridge Analytica, account breach), Google (Chrome 69, inc…

I stupidly chose a high end thinkpad at my job a few years ago and I am a counting the days until I can renew and get a Mac. The hardware is shit. I've had to send it to service 3 times in the nearly 3 years I've been working with it. I just put in a new up arrow key last week because the last one broke. In it's current state only one USB port is functional. Granted I'm a consultant and do heavily traveling but it ha…

Sorry to hear about your troubles. When I was a consultant (and used Thinkpads heavily at work) they worked pretty reliably with a lot of abuse, although I agree that Windows is something that (for me personally) is hard to tolerate as an OS.

What's interesting about OpenBSD/Thinkpad combo is that hardware support is miles better vs. Linux on the same hardware (WiFi, snooze, etc.), from what I can tell, as many of the OpenBSD developers use them as personal machines.

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#54

Post by tkfu » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

big_youth wrote: post #51

vtail wrote: post #43

If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying. I'm personally re-thinking my approach to security and anonymity online, esp. in light of recent news re: Facebook (Cambridge Analytica, account breach), Google (Chrome 69, inc…

I stupidly chose a high end thinkpad at my job a few years ago and I am a counting the days until I can renew and get a Mac. The hardware is shit. I've had to send it to service 3 times in the nearly 3 years I've been working with it. I just put in a new up arrow key last week because the last one broke. In it's current state only one USB port is functional. Granted I'm a consultant and do heavily traveling but it ha…

Interesting; I have basically the exact opposite experience. I had a T460P (running Linux) that I loved as my work computer, and then my company got acquired and I had to choose between a gigantic brick of a Dell or a Macbook, so I decided to try a mac for a while. I absolutely hate it: the keyboard needs to be blown out with compressed air all the damn time, plugging in external monitors is a total crapshoot, the touch bar thing just sucks, having only USB-C ports is a pain, and every fuse filesystem is insanely slow.

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#55

Post by newman8r » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:34 PM UTC

This has a similar goal (but a completely different approach) to a startup I'm currently in the process of launching - https://www.tamarin.us - it uses decoy websites/bait credentials to deceive intruders.

Happy to give any HN users a 6 month trial if they ask. My email is in my profile.

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#56

Post by dstroot » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:34 PM UTC

vtail wrote: post #43

If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying. I'm personally re-thinking my approach to security and anonymity online, esp. in light of recent news re: Facebook (Cambridge Analytica, account breach), Google (Chrome 69, inc…

>similar/better specs vs Macbook Pro at half the price

I hear people say that and I always get excited. Then I just went to Lenovo’s site and I configured one and for a small margin on error they are the same. Why do people say this when it doesn’t seem true? Is there a “50% Off all Thinkpads” website I don’t know about?

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#57

Post by reificator » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:38 PM UTC

big_youth wrote: post #51

vtail wrote: post #43

If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying. I'm personally re-thinking my approach to security and anonymity online, esp. in light of recent news re: Facebook (Cambridge Analytica, account breach), Google (Chrome 69, inc…

I stupidly chose a high end thinkpad at my job a few years ago and I am a counting the days until I can renew and get a Mac. The hardware is shit. I've had to send it to service 3 times in the nearly 3 years I've been working with it. I just put in a new up arrow key last week because the last one broke. In it's current state only one USB port is functional. Granted I'm a consultant and do heavily traveling but it ha…

> Only thing I really miss is the red track button in the middle of the keyboard, that is a phenomenal feature!

Oh, are you referring to the TrackPoint™-style pointer?

https://xkcd.com/243/

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#58

Post by 4d66ba06 » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:41 PM UTC

nobody271 wrote: post #50

vtail wrote: post #43

If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying. I'm personally re-thinking my approach to security and anonymity online, esp. in light of recent news re: Facebook (Cambridge Analytica, account breach), Google (Chrome 69, inc…

I'm on a fresh Debian install and using a VPN. At some point I need to lock down my home router and flash the BIOS on some of my more promiscuous computers. What I would REALLY like though is a quality Linux operating system for the phone like Ubuntu Touch. I just don't feel comfortable on Android.

I'm really hoping the Librem 5 is successful - supposed to start shipping in 2019: https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#59

Post by vtail » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:42 PM UTC

dstroot wrote: post #56

vtail wrote: post #43

If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying. I'm personally re-thinking my approach to security and anonymity online, esp. in light of recent news re: Facebook (Cambridge Analytica, account breach), Google (Chrome 69, inc…

>similar/better specs vs Macbook Pro at half the price I hear people say that and I always get excited. Then I just went to Lenovo’s site and I configured one and for a small margin on error they are the same. Why do people say this when it doesn’t seem true? Is there a “50% Off all Thinkpads” website I don’t know about?

I configured ThinkPad using Employee Perks website at work (many places have something like this), and got a 27% discount from the list price, which is only 2% higher discount vs. the promotion they have been running recently (thinkx25 discount code).

I configured a machine with i7-8550U cpu (8th gen, 1.80Ghz, 8MB cache, up to 4Ghz Turbo boost), 14" WQHD (2560x1440) IPS anti-glare panel @ 300 nits, 16gb LPDDR3 2133mhz, 720p HD camera, integrated UHD graphics 620, and 256 GB PCIe-nvme hard drive for $1,396.47 before tax. I'm comparing it to a 15" macbook pro at $2,400 before tax (and it has DDR4 - so hungrier - memory).

Re: Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

#60

Post by twunde » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 5:44 PM UTC

tkfu wrote: post #54

big_youth wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stupidly chose a high end thinkpad at my job a few years ago and I am a counting the days until I can renew and get a Mac. The hardware is shit. I've had to send it to service 3 times in the nearly 3 years I've been working with it. I just put in a new up arrow key last week because the last one broke. In it's current state only one USB port is functional. Granted I'm a consultant and do heavily traveling but it ha…

Interesting; I have basically the exact opposite experience. I had a T460P (running Linux) that I loved as my work computer, and then my company got acquired and I had to choose between a gigantic brick of a Dell or a Macbook, so I decided to try a mac for a while. I absolutely hate it: the keyboard needs to be blown out with compressed air all the damn time, plugging in external monitors is a total crapshoot, the to…

The 2015 macbooks and earlier were great. The switch to USB-C/removal of thunderbolt AND hdmi has made using the newer macs a real pain. The older macs had much better keyboards (and better placement of the touchpad). The only nice thing about the touchbars is that they have a fingerprint reader.