Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sadly, most people when hearing this will prefer to argue to the death to support their "choice" of ${favorite giant corporate product} and try to tell you "you're just being paranoid". We live in a world where a great many people will accept the most outlandish conspiracy theories as undeniable fact with little to no supporting evidence, but when you try to warn them about real and verifiable concerns, it doesn't ma…
Do you have an example of someone who holds that belief? That feels like one of those stereotypes that people are sure exists but actually doesn’t.
Which belief? The belief that corporate spyware devices and software are infinitely superior to anything in the F/L/OSS world? I literally can't escape 'em. Especially in "gamer" circles, I get endlessly hassled by Windows users tryin'a convince me with decades old Steve Ballmer FUD that Linux is inferior junk and a cancer on the software industry, and that I should just switch to Windows.
> That feels like one of those stereotypes that people are sure exists but actually doesn’t.
Sadly, you name a stereotype, and I promise you there's people out there that'll do their best to prove that stereotype true. Cryin' shame, because they're just doin' harm to an entire group of folks who never asked for it, and harming an entire other group that believes false stereotypes are true by reinforcing their wrongness with "proof".
As to the bein' called "paranoid" from my earlier comment, it happens to me frequently when I try to talk to people about backups, network security practices, or passwords, and I'm not alone there. I've had more'n a few discussions with other IT folks who've met frequent resistance to security ideas until after there's been an issue, and then the "people in charge" still generally wanna seek the absolute minimum solution they can get that they think would cover their asses, even if it's nowhere close to enough of a solution for the problem at hand.