Live data from Hacker News

Edward Snowden's OS of choice gets a major update

engadget.com

1–10 of 13 posts

Re: Edward Snowden's OS of choice gets a major update

#2
Kudos for the version 2 release.

I must admit feeling that we have lost the fight when protecting ourselves from governments, considering the resources they have.

My fight now is trying to opt out of corporate invasion of my privacy. I am also concerned that the privacy of school children, using school infrastructure, is poorly protected against profile data that will follow them forever.

Re: Edward Snowden's OS of choice gets a major update

#3

Kudos for the version 2 release. I must admit feeling that we have lost the fight when protecting ourselves from governments, considering the resources they have. My fight now is trying to opt out of corporate invasion of my privacy. I am also concerned that the privacy of school children, using school infrastructure, is poorly protected against profile data that will follow them forever.

That last point is far worse than you think. In my school the principal is entirely enamored with all things apple and google and wants to mandate certain staff have twitter accounts. This is unwittingly signing up lots of people for life long tracking. Although, many already do it to themselves with no thought whatsoever to what the repercussions are, or that there may even be any. Many other schools are even worse.

Re: Edward Snowden's OS of choice gets a major update

#4
Damn, and I just fresh loaded/configured/updated Debian 8.1.0 two weeks ago on home & laptop... here we go again. I may not be able to eradicate the corporate/guv snoops from my life, but I sure as damn will not sit back and allow them to run roughshod over my privacy by mining my every action. Limiting is the goal, mis-info is the entertainment.

Anyone know what Snowden types use for mobile? Tracfone? CM variant? Maemo?

Re: Edward Snowden's OS of choice gets a major update

#5
post #4

Damn, and I just fresh loaded/configured/updated Debian 8.1.0 two weeks ago on home & laptop... here we go again. I may not be able to eradicate the corporate/guv snoops from my life, but I sure as damn will not sit back and allow them to run roughshod over my privacy by mining my every action. Limiting is the goal, mis-info is the entertainment. Anyone know what Snowden types use for mobile? Tracfone? CM variant? Ma…

> Anyone know what Snowden types use for mobile?

Airplane mode.

Re: Edward Snowden's OS of choice gets a major update

#6
post #3

Kudos for the version 2 release. I must admit feeling that we have lost the fight when protecting ourselves from governments, considering the resources they have. My fight now is trying to opt out of corporate invasion of my privacy. I am also concerned that the privacy of school children, using school infrastructure, is poorly protected against profile data that will follow them forever.

That last point is far worse than you think. In my school the principal is entirely enamored with all things apple and google and wants to mandate certain staff have twitter accounts. This is unwittingly signing up lots of people for life long tracking. Although, many already do it to themselves with no thought whatsoever to what the repercussions are, or that there may even be any. Many other schools are even worse.

Tin foil hats a side, I assume it would be an account used only for professional reasons, allowing students to reach out to their teachers.

However, if the teacher is incapable of separating personal life from work, there could be repercussions.

Re: Edward Snowden's OS of choice gets a major update

#8
post #4

Damn, and I just fresh loaded/configured/updated Debian 8.1.0 two weeks ago on home & laptop... here we go again. I may not be able to eradicate the corporate/guv snoops from my life, but I sure as damn will not sit back and allow them to run roughshod over my privacy by mining my every action. Limiting is the goal, mis-info is the entertainment. Anyone know what Snowden types use for mobile? Tracfone? CM variant? Ma…

Snowden has referred people to the CIA standards for secure telephones: Baseband limited to data only, VPN'ed into VoIP server to make/receive phone calls. I believe he was still using Android to do this.

Any smart person would get a cheap chinese knock-off phone based on a MediaTek MT6592 with a bunch of RAM, install vanilla linux on it, and run YateClient or Plasma Mobile. Combined with VPN, data-only, and VoIP, this would be an enormous pain for anyone to be able to properly track.

Re: Edward Snowden's OS of choice gets a major update

#9
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That last point is far worse than you think. In my school the principal is entirely enamored with all things apple and google and wants to mandate certain staff have twitter accounts. This is unwittingly signing up lots of people for life long tracking. Although, many already do it to themselves with no thought whatsoever to what the repercussions are, or that there may even be any. Many other schools are even worse.

Tin foil hats a side, I assume it would be an account used only for professional reasons, allowing students to reach out to their teachers. However, if the teacher is incapable of separating personal life from work, there could be repercussions.

That's already an issue. I also don't see how it's reasonable to ask someone to essentially sign a contract with a third party entity to do one's job while sacrificing that individual's personal privacy in the process.
Post reply on HN