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Your Computer Isn't Yours

sneak.berlin

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Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#481

Post by AntiImperialist »

szc wrote: post #127

I'm not going to comment on the linked article, other than say I think it contains serious mistakes in describing what OCSP is for and errors in other statements. In the background there is a war going on, but it isn't what you think. It is a war between malware creators and OS creators. From my perspective it goes like this: To "identify" malware you need signatures. Signatures need valid certificates. Signing keys…

And the government is designed to protect you but it can also come after you.

If you are not going to allow "malware" on your computer, you're giving the power to Apple to label anything they don't want you to run as "malware".

They already have a walled garden on the phones and tablets, which has greatly benefited them. They can deny anyone access to publish software and they have exhibited everything that is obviously anti-competitive.

Now, they're bringing it to laptops.

Honestly, I don't see anything happening to Apple anytime soon. They're way too well off and they have very important government officials in their pockets. The best thing that may happen will probably come from the outside... like the EU antitrust investigation that is going on. Even so, it's not going to stop, not anytime soon anyway.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#482

Post by _rdvw »

andysch wrote: post #147

Speaking of Little Snitch, I suggest you look at 'iodé', an android phone with similar features built-in the OS.As far as I know this is the only true firewall on android

iodéOS [0] does not appear to be open source at all [1]. And only supports a handful of devices.

Shamless plug, my ROM DivestOS [2] is available and takes source seriously with most scripts being GPLv3 [3].

Furthermore it appears that they are mixing incompatible license HOSTS sources for their blocker. And according to their FAQ the are shipping devices with the bootloader left unlocked, just like /e/.

How awful.

And to your last point, NetGuard is available [4].

[0] https://iode.tech/en/iode-solution/ [1] https://gitlab.com/iode/ota [2] https://divestos.org/ [3] https://gitlab.com/divested-mobile [4] https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#483

Post by sdevonoes »

megous wrote: post #389
sdevonoes wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As someone who has been using Linux for decades, I find the setup and user friendliness of something like Windows far inferior to to Linux. Yes, part of that is due to familiarity. On the other hand, some of it is inherent due to there being fewer restrictions with open source software. Non-tech people don't want (or don't know how) to "setup". The most user-friendly setup won't ever beat "no setup" (e.g., macOS).…

They can buy a PC with GNU/Linux preinstalled then. If I bought a mac and tried to install windows there it would be a shitshow too.

> They can buy a PC with GNU/Linux preinstalled then.

That's the problem: non-tech people don't know they can do that. Besides, why would they buy a PC with "GNU/Linux" preinstalled if they don't know what "GNU/Linux" mean to begin with? Almost everyone out there knows what "Mac" or "Windows" means, and so they buy Apple stuff. Again, marketing.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#484

Post by wilsonnb3 »

megous wrote: post #389
sdevonoes wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As someone who has been using Linux for decades, I find the setup and user friendliness of something like Windows far inferior to to Linux. Yes, part of that is due to familiarity. On the other hand, some of it is inherent due to there being fewer restrictions with open source software. Non-tech people don't want (or don't know how) to "setup". The most user-friendly setup won't ever beat "no setup" (e.g., macOS).…

They can buy a PC with GNU/Linux preinstalled then. If I bought a mac and tried to install windows there it would be a shitshow too.

It would actually work rather well, that’s the whole point of bootcamp.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#485

Post by dorinlazar »

elondaits wrote: post #443
slazaro wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point is that before, if you had a computer, you had the ability to inspect, modify and program, and with curiosity you'd learn. Now, most people get computers where those things are forbidden. You still can get "programmable" computers, but you have to do it explicitly. Before, it was implicit. So there's a filter that some people won't pass and won't learn, and the pool of people shrinks.

I am a developer, I use Mac... so I don’t understand how it’s forbidden to program. Mac OS comes with Python, Ruby and PHP preinstalled, even.

It's not about the ability to write programs, but the ability to write programs that influence your base system in a meaningful way. Yes, you can write programs, but can you write a different /bin/init for your system? I'm not sure you can (either because Apple will not let you, or your lack of ability to do things like setting up a system to be used). Maybe you can, we're wrong about this, and more power to you. But it's quite likely that you can't.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#486

Post by Kye »

GuB-42 wrote: post #294
pdkl95 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I worry for Gen Z because they're tiny-mobile-device native. And the only usable tiny mobile devices are walled gardens. Without the ability to grow up playing with system level software, combined with the software industry's unwillingness to pass on institutional knowledge to younger generations, I fear we are already on a path towards a civilization that loses a lot of the technological capability we currently en…

Gen Z can get real general-purpose computers with a development environment for cheap. The new Raspberry Pi 400 is a modern take on home computers like the C64, but 15 times cheaper. Pi 400 full kit: $100, C64: $595 (1982) / $1576 (inflation adjusted for 2019). The computers are not just getting cheaper, educative material is easier than ever to find. Because modern computers are much more complex and do much more th…

This is the same problem we had with TiVo: you could get the operating system, tinker with it, and run it. Just not on your TiVo. What good is having the source if you can only run it on toy hardware? You need to be able to alter the code on the tools you use so you aren't beholden to a company that drops warranty and support within 5 years and may never fix the problems you have even while it's supported.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#487

Post by ernst_klim »

forest_dweller wrote: post #187
ernst_klim wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People should be allowed to make their own choices in what they believe to be their best interests > You should be able to run whatever you like on it. You are contradicting yourself. People are explicitly choosing iphone, a walled garden. Then you say that that's a wrong choice because you believe it's a general purpose computing device and should work differently. If people buy it then, well, they are fine with i…

Those statements aren't mutally exclusive. People should as a matter of principle be able to run whatever they like, however if they want to stay in the walled garden they can. If you read the rest of my comment I specifically mentioned some sort of mechanism for turning off the walled garden protections. I would imagine it would work something like secure boot. I have a motherboard that lets me turn off that machani…

> People should as a matter of principle be able to run whatever they like

Well you are free to provide a platform that is as convenient as ios and as free as linux.

In practice that's not easy to say modestly since convenience require quite an investment in design and developement which free platforms tend to lack.

So in reality it's either a well monetized platform (which is either a walled garden or just sells your data), or free platform which is far behind in terms of convenience and support.

> Also it is quiite clearly a general computing device as it has all the characteristics of one. It isn't a matter of belief.

No, it's exactly your belief. Apple doesn't advertise it to you that way, they doesn't say you'll be able to run whatever you'd like on it, so I dunno where did you get this misconception that they should provide you such an ability.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#488

Post by AnthonyMouse »

ben_w wrote: post #433
Nullabillity wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100 isn't cheap for a curious kid with no income, especially if they're not already sold on it as an interest. There's a big difference between buying a computer explicitly for the purpose (even if it's cheaper), vs being able to play around with the hardware that you already have, for no new monetary investment at all.

If a kid with a phone but no money wants to know if programming is something they might like to study, and somehow the school also can’t afford a Pi, I’d point the kid at something like https://js.do/

The problem is that's not really how people get started. Hello world is how you get started in a university intro course, not in your parents' basement.

What happens there is that you have a pile of photos that are all in one folder and you want to organize them into separate folders by date. A problem you're actually having, not a homework assignment. Which is possible to do automatically, because they all have metadata with that information in it. So you find a python script somebody wrote to do that, and it works! Then you realize the script is just a text file and you can modify it to sort using geotags or something else instead, and now you're down the rabbit hole. But only if it's easy to see and modify the code that runs on the device you actually use.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#489

Post by bluntfang »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #431
TrispusAttucks wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like all subcultures when the hacker ethos went mainstream it's spirt died and all that was left was fashion. No one cares anymore if their consumer choices are a threat to freedom as long as they look cool. Outward appearances are now more important than principles. Prickly principles require sacrifice and why have character when you can have a disposable "personality".

The hacker ethos didn't go mainstream. People who don't deserve the moniker started self applying it. I'm not a hacker, I'm a corporate shill because I work for my own profit within a system that's set up to ensure its own continuity. I'd like to be a hacker, but I have a family to support and am too weak or addicted to lifestyle or scared or realistically-minded to actually commit to what's required to earn the titl…

amen. all these so-called hacker capitalists either starting a company or working corporate gigs forgot to read the hacker manifesto.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#490

Post by ab8 »

zanny wrote: post #178
ThePhysicist wrote: post #143

What we poor souls didn't understand all these years is that we're effectively helping other companies to steal from Apple by running software that isn't distributed via their app store [1]. I think now that Apple has learned from iOS how profitable a walled garden business model is they are trying to bring that model to the PC world as well. Shipping hardware with their own processors is an important step in that di…

Good thing said hacker culture spent 15 years buying inflated laptops and desktops from them ultimately for convenience to give them the market presence to do this in the first place. Its the same thing with Windows. People will preach all day that they won't make any personal sacrifices to try to avoid feeding literal cancers that are eating the software industry and are shocked when said all consuming voids take aw…

Well said. The hacker culture is not immune to the trappings of luxury brands. You can’t show off your wealth using a no name brand running Linux.
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