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The boiling frog of digital freedom

gazoche.xyz

431–440 of 467 posts

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#431

2036: Virtual Reality Social Distancing becomes a thing, where people attend virtual parties by sending holographic avatars, ensuring they’re “virtually” present without the need to physically mingle. Emoji dance-offs are all the rage! 2037: The “Mind-Meets-Code” era begins, allowing developers to write code directly with their thoughts. Unfortunately, this leads to a surge in “accidental” code commits when programme…

> 2040 You mean year 3100? This isn't going to happen for a long time and people happily slurp up subscription plans in part because it makes them feel good.

Nah things are going fast, 2040-2050

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#432
post #328

There is hope: - 20 years ago it was impossible to buy a PC, especially a laptop, without MS Windows : today there are several suppliers: System76, LaptopWithLinux, TuxedoComputers, to name but a few. - It is only in the last few years (less than 10) that Linux is perfectly usable on the desktop, so I don't care what decision MS will take for Windows, it is irrelevant if you have other options. For office suites we h…

> - use an open source version of Android on your phone, without the Google services

Having tried this many times over the last 10 years, I have never encountered a stable, non-vendor Android distribution for any of my phones. Oh there are always multiple available Android images for most popular phones, however in my experience they are always unstable in ways that make them too much of a hassle to use. I have experienced bluetooth suddenly disconnecting from my headset and refusign to reconnect until i reboot the phone, WiFi drops connection and needs a phone reboot, unable to make phone calls or receive SMS until I reboot the phone, phone randomly reboots without any interaction. These are primary uses for my phone and if the primary functionality of the Android image is broken, I do not want to use it.

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#433
post #415
post #328

There is hope: - 20 years ago it was impossible to buy a PC, especially a laptop, without MS Windows : today there are several suppliers: System76, LaptopWithLinux, TuxedoComputers, to name but a few. - It is only in the last few years (less than 10) that Linux is perfectly usable on the desktop, so I don't care what decision MS will take for Windows, it is irrelevant if you have other options. For office suites we h…

Thank you for most of the points, it's easy to miss the good parts of development of the recent years. I don't however agree with this one: "It will take a few years, but I'm sure we'll have a viable alternative to Android in the near future." I think many essential apps (such as banking, or "less essential" such as for bike- and car-sharing) will start requiring device attestation as soon as even low-end Android pho…

Yes, I agree that this will be the critical point, but ... it all depends on the critical mass of users. About 20 years ago there was no CAD software for Linux, no IDE for rapid development and now we have tons of incredible tools in all areas: FreeCad, Blender, Lazarus, KDevelop, QT Creator. JetBrains produces incredible cross-platform development tools.

The same revolution that happened on the desktop can happen on mobile. The people at Pine64 are creating incredible and affordable devices, and this is just the beginning. The open source revolution is spreading from software to hardware (Risc-V processors for example).

In my lifetime I have seen Linux and open source software in general make incredible progress. And it is not only a technical aspect, but also a different way of living and seeing the world: hundreds of thousands of developers working together for the benefit of the most, beyond any language, geographical or political boundaries.

It also depends on the choices that each of us will make to stop supporting and encouraging predatory and monopolistic regimes, and instead make choices to preserve our freedoms as individuals, which are more important than the last "nice features" in expensive and proprietary gadgets that imprison us and our data in closed kingdoms.

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#434
post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You use the word “forced” like it’s a problem? I hated it when my bank got rid of a nice secure card reader (which required my physical card and pin). If my phone breaks or is stolen, I can’t actually buy a replacement phone now, as that requires spending money, which requires 2FA which requires my phone.

You don't have a contactless credit card from your bank?

Can’t use it online with 2FA from phone

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#435
post #328

There is hope: - 20 years ago it was impossible to buy a PC, especially a laptop, without MS Windows : today there are several suppliers: System76, LaptopWithLinux, TuxedoComputers, to name but a few. - It is only in the last few years (less than 10) that Linux is perfectly usable on the desktop, so I don't care what decision MS will take for Windows, it is irrelevant if you have other options. For office suites we h…

just like living the hermit life, leaving all of these services behind is surprisingly alienating. I say this as somebody who has done several of these and is trying to continue to expand. but damn, the is a lot of stuff that you miss out on and I'm starting to be squeezed by the losses to move back. I guess I'm saying, even though I feel driven by a massive moral imperative to engage with technology in that fashion,…

Many businesses already have WhatsApp as the exclusive channel of communication. So its either have a Meta account, or become locked out of a subset of services. Not to mention how many work/social groups use also WhatsApp exclusively. To try to force everyone to use something like Matrix is an herculean task, which also requires maintenance.

And then there are all the government/school/work/authentication apps that are mobile only and exclusive to iOS and Android.

IMO its impossible to walk away from it. The ship has sailed. It is possible to move away as far as you can and keep these accounts and their usage to a minimum, but its time consuming and has little rewards against many obstacles. Atm I'm willing to put in the effort but I also totally understand it not being a reasonable option for most.

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know what drives democracy? People. Do you know what drives people? Targeted brainwashing from companies like Facebook.

No. Just No. Look Brexit was shit. But it was democratic shit. 20 million people did not get tricked by their Facebook feeds. Hell 20 million people did not get mind controlled by Nigel Farage's "I'm just sayin" approach. 20 million people were asked "the country is run by thousands of highly educated, slightly patronising, articulate, over-achieving technocrats who want the best for everyone and frequently find the…

The Brexit leave campaign literally broke campaigning laws.

Sibling post said it best: if you think you're immune to the trillion dollar brainwashing industry then you're fooling yourself.

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#437
post #328

There is hope: - 20 years ago it was impossible to buy a PC, especially a laptop, without MS Windows : today there are several suppliers: System76, LaptopWithLinux, TuxedoComputers, to name but a few. - It is only in the last few years (less than 10) that Linux is perfectly usable on the desktop, so I don't care what decision MS will take for Windows, it is irrelevant if you have other options. For office suites we h…

Can anyone elaborate on Free Office? I checked, it was first submitted to AUR in 2013, but it’s the very first time I hear the brand. I use Libre Office and I tried OnlyOffice as well. Of course I know Open Office, which Libree Office was, once upon a time. But I never seen in any shape of form Free Office. I couldn’t find even Wikipedia article about them. Their website looks dull to me. What is it all about? Me, I’…

FreeOffice exists since many years. It is free for personal use. It is a light and complete office suite. It is a good alternative to LibreOffice, also if not so rich in features.

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#438
post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Michael, my simple point was that copyright, like trade secrets, requires no validation in some jurisdictions by default. For some reason you view this as a distraction, instead, it was merely illustrative. In terms of validation, I have no idea why you think one cannot invalidate someone claiming to have a trade secret. You can literally invalidate anything, someone is trying to assert as valid. A bottle blonde coul…

Well if you want to avoid getting into the weeds, since it appears you have a peculiar idea of validity that does not reflect the legal or logical usage, then by all means. Anyways I agree this is a tangent from the main comment chain, if that's what your implying. I included the last paragraph for that reason: > And in any case there are many real world products which so far have not been reverse engineered to a suf…

You don't get how trade secrets work. What makes them enforceable, actionable.

The classic example was during the 90s. A company was building a new factory, and as a result, it was open to the air. A competitor, wanting to legally discover how the manufacturing process of the company was orchestrated, flew over the construction site, taking photos, pictures.

The competitor claimed, that they obtained such information without trickery. The company said that they had taken reasonable precautions, to conceal their manufacturing process, with employee NDAs, and security around the construction site, yet ... that there was absolutely no precaution which could be taken to protect from plane or satellite, and thus, the took all reasonable precautions. That the plane + photos were akin to someone sneaking into the factory, and taking photos as well.

The company won, their trade secret was protected.

The point of this illustrative story, is that reasonable attempts at secrecy of things such as manufacturing processes must be attempted.

A key part of a trade secret is in its name, secret. You cannot keep a secret in public, and even if you do, for a brief period of time, you are not attempting to conceal it if everyone and their dog may look at it. Nothing you sell to a consumer is a trade secret. Nothing. Not a single thing.

You may have a trade secret in how that product was made, but you do not have a trade secret in how that product fits together. At all. A schematic of a circuit board is not a trade secret, and this is the context you started this conversation on.

To speak to this, if anyone, ever, discovers how to take apart and repair this glass trackpad you discuss, there is no trade secret, and no judge will ever ever help anyone enforce protections on the same.

To put it another way, and going back to the example at start of this message, if you hold tours of your factory with trade secret manufacturing processes in it, you no longer have trade secret manufacturing processes. Your competitors may tour it at whim, as part of the tour group, and use such information to derive and copy your no longer enforceable trade secrets.

That's simply how it works.

And there's nothing more public than selling something to the public.

I think you are confused, because Apple may claim it's a 'trade secret', in how they manufacturer said glass trackpad. But the part in consumer hands is not a trade secret. You can put the blasted thing under an x-ray, an electron microscope, and yes these are valid ways to examine things, and there's literally even remotely a trade secret to enforce from this angle.

This, any schematics provides are not going to invalidate what already exists.

I won't bother looking back at this any more, for two reasons. First, it's falling off the first page of my comments I look at, for replies. And second, your over the top, absurd attack on a correct use of the word 'valid' is quite odd, and smacks of a lack of good faith.

You've said your part, I've said mine, and I don't see much value beyond my extended attempt to discuss my reasoning re: trade secrets, how I believe they work, etc. above.

Oh, one final note. I've noticed some larger corporations, and some dark corners of the legal profession attempt to shift the line in terms of rights. We've seen absurd attempts at this in the last 20 years, and we've seen industry practices which are in effect for 10 to 20 years, in terms of IP shot down again and again.

Part of me suspects you may have fallen into a trap, where perhaps Apple claims something they cannot claim, such as extending trade secrets to devices held in people's hands. If they are, they will fail in this, unless there is a deep legislative change, and even then I doubt it won't be kicked, and you should not listen to such absurd claims.

Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom

#439
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the big Windows 10 S problems is back in Windows 11, though. 1. You buy a device with Windows 11 2. The out of box experience demands you add a Microsoft account to proceed past it. There are workarounds for this, but mostly they are getting shut down. 3. You can't even get into the UEFI to install another OS without signing up to a MS account, because the UEFI is accessed via an OS level advanced startup opti…

>> One of the big Windows 10 S problems is back in Windows 11, though. >> 1. You buy a device with Windows 11 I realize i'm techy an have techy friends, but I dont know anyone who has purchased a Windows machine in a decade. No one in my household, none of my friends, no office i've been at since 2017. The only interaction I have with windows is an old laptop used for MS Visio, which immediately dual-boots to Ubuntu…

You live in a US tech bubble. Nobody at my household, none of my friends (with one exception), and certainly no officee i've been to owns a macbook.

Most machines i interact with and know about run Linux, but I also live in a bubble.

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