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UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

private-eye.co.uk

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Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#51
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Slack [...] just a good faith use of free software [...] Since when is Slack free software?

It sounds like you are conflating free software and Free software.

I don't think capitalization matters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software

In addition to not being free, Slack is also not software. It's a service.

Sure, there's some software involved in making that service tick (mostly proprietary), as well as some limited gratis access ("free tier") being offered, but that doesn't magically transform that service into "free software".

Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#52
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you are conflating free software and Free software.

I don't think capitalization matters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software In addition to not being free, Slack is also not software. It's a service. Sure, there's some software involved in making that service tick (mostly proprietary), as well as some limited gratis access ("free tier") being offered, but that doesn't magically transform that service into "free software".

Which I clearly referred to with "free tier version of Slack". What's the complaint here?

Update: you've edited the parent since I responded to it. Your original comment was something like "it's not free, part of it is free"

Still no idea what you're moaning about tho...

Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#53
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think capitalization matters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software In addition to not being free, Slack is also not software. It's a service. Sure, there's some software involved in making that service tick (mostly proprietary), as well as some limited gratis access ("free tier") being offered, but that doesn't magically transform that service into "free software".

Which I clearly referred to with "free tier version of Slack". What's the complaint here? Update: you've edited the parent since I responded to it. Your original comment was something like "it's not free, part of it is free" Still no idea what you're moaning about tho...

> "it's not free, part of it is free"

That's news to me. Which part of Slack do you consider to be free software? Is that the part you think GDS is using?

Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#54
post #2

For those unfamiliar, Private Eve is an excellent magazine with a long history. It takes a humourous but serious investgative look at UK politics, business etc looking at eg corruption and double standards. With cartoons and iconic front page puns. And for the large part it avoided the pitfalls of moving online. Current issue: https://www.private-eye.co.uk/current-issue

I strongly urge UK-base HNers to subscribe. It is one of the few national publications still doing proper long-term investigative journalism into local government (in a way that local papers haven’t had the resources to do for years) and usually signals important stories before the main papers pick them up, especially wrt stories about the rest of the news media. Many people stuck in large media orgs leak to the Eye…

Agreed. I think their level of investigation is peerless. They go where others fear to tread. They ruffle more feathers in every single edition than the FT does in a year.

I can't think of any other UK publication that comes close.

Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#55
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you are conflating free software and Free software.

I don't think capitalization matters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software In addition to not being free, Slack is also not software. It's a service. Sure, there's some software involved in making that service tick (mostly proprietary), as well as some limited gratis access ("free tier") being offered, but that doesn't magically transform that service into "free software".

In this scenario, how is this all defined?

Slack can be a product, software, service. Depending on which angle you look at it.

Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For an arbitrary example, look at the Boeing 737 max. There were some internal emails claiming that the system which turned out not to be safe wasn’t safe (the problem with these was probably that they didn’t seem to make their way up to anyone who could change the decision), and probably the fallout from them will be worse than if there were no such emails and Boeing just appeared to not have considered the possib…

"Should" for us, yes. But consider the perspective of the company—and specifically its lawyers; their takeaway may be "This stuff being in writing made things worse in court, therefore we'll instruct our employees not to put this stuff in writing." Though I would guess that having an explicit policy of "don't write down any safety concerns" would do badly in court as well. I suspect any real such policy would have to…

That’s already known. It’s why mingling at golf clubs and galas and charity events is important and why clustering in cities is useful. Generally, you can trust conversations you have in person to not be recorded and maintain plausible deniability.

Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#58
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which I clearly referred to with "free tier version of Slack". What's the complaint here? Update: you've edited the parent since I responded to it. Your original comment was something like "it's not free, part of it is free" Still no idea what you're moaning about tho...

> "it's not free, part of it is free" That's news to me. Which part of Slack do you consider to be free software? Is that the part you think GDS is using?

See my original comment.

Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#59
post #2

For those unfamiliar, Private Eve is an excellent magazine with a long history. It takes a humourous but serious investgative look at UK politics, business etc looking at eg corruption and double standards. With cartoons and iconic front page puns. And for the large part it avoided the pitfalls of moving online. Current issue: https://www.private-eye.co.uk/current-issue

So good in fact that the managing editor is usually the most sued person in the UK. Ian Hislop is a national treasure and his evidence to the select committee on press intrusion was both erudite and hilarious.

"I just cut a fat Czech a fat cheque"

Re: UK government MPs are using Signal’s automatic deletion feature

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private Eye avoided the paywall problem by not putting itself online at all, it only publishes selected articles online to leave you hungry for the rest :)

It also avoided becoming accessible to the blind and other parts of the population who cannot read print.

I think RNIB do an audio read version
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