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1 • Gnome and DuckDuckGo (by Antony on 2013-09-02 10:12:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
For those who might be unaware, startpage is another option:
https://startpage.com/
2 • Opensuse (by Flebber on 2013-09-02 10:21:18 GMT from Australia)
Not sure if anyone else noticed but the new opensuse components release proposal is eerily similar to the Fedora Rings proposal https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/devel/2013-July/186323.html
Was a bit disappointed in Evergreen, thought it was going to be a stable rolling release based on tumbleweed.
3 • Forcing applications to run from RAM (by Eric on 2013-09-02 10:29:24 GMT from Canada)
Depending entirely on the amount of RAM he/she has, their "swappiness" number is set to high. AKA the kernel is pushing all pre-read data back to disk while not keeping anything in RAM as would be expected. So turn the swappiness down to 0-1 or so to try and force the kernel to keep as much data as possible in ram while not flushing previously read files back to disk.
Since the default swappiness value is 60 which pushes a lot of old yet previously read files out of RAM regardless, so just tune it a tad or try going straight to 0 as I've done with 16GB of RAM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swappiness actually has some nice info & commands to use to try it out for a quick overview.
Hope this may help people with 8+ gigs of RAM which the kernel is fairly conservative of using from what I've seen.
4 • Stable Rolling Release based on Tumbleweed! (by TransformHumanity on 2013-09-02 13:47:14 GMT from India)
@2
"Was a bit disappointed in Evergreen, thought it was going to be a stable rolling release based on tumbleweed."
Me too!
Guess everyone else will get wiped out if this idea takes shape!
5 • OpenInidana (by TuxTest on 2013-09-02 14:19:19 GMT from Canada)
Excellent objective review of OpenIndiana
I used OpenIndiana version 148 for a year and I encountered no problems, no crashes, no bugs. Startup is slow but once on the desktop, launch applications is fast.
To install the codec must be done manually by the terminal. The terminal commands under OpenIndiana are simple and even a beginner can run.
But I thought this project was abandoned 1 year ago! I read here that the lead developer with letting the project then it seems that others have taken over the project.
I think there's place for a Unix system as OpenIndiana in the world of free Os. To do this, he will have to clarify their future and attract supporters. At this point I think it will not be a problem. Many people with a high level of computer experience using Unix and they will certainly want to give a hand.
I also believe that OpenIndiana should move to gnome 3 or Mate. The Gnome version 3.8 is now very pleasant to use and very stable. Mate is mature now then there is no reason to stop using gnome 2.30
OpenIdiana long life and I would be happy to give a helping hand in the future.
6 • Internet Privacy Search Engine (by Onederer on 2013-09-02 18:12:24 GMT from United States)
Is anyone familiar with the new search engine Zeekly? They really offer security and privacy. Zeekly.com. Perhaps you could compare it with Duck-Duck-Go?
7 • OpenIndiana (by Pierre on 2013-09-02 18:55:57 GMT from Germany)
For OpenIndiana being the successor of the OpenSolaris operating system I was always very interested in the project.
The Illumos project took over the OpenSolaris kernel and with much enthusiasm they announced to further develop ZFS and the drivers for delivering a unique Unix experience with the help of many former Solaris and ZFS develops.
Sadly it got very calm around illumos and OpenIndiana. There are many interesting projects besides OpenIndiana planning to deliver illumos kernel with Debian userland software like Dyson (osdyson.org) for example. But you have to dig a while to find it. I am curious about giving it a test run when I have the time.
OpenIndiana itself... well, my conclusion was quite the same a few month ago I now read from Jesse. Sad, but illumos and OpenIndiana are losing ground steadily.
Hopefully we don't lose another good open source os.
8 • Crock of cents? OI demos QoS for users (by Somewhat Reticent on 2013-09-02 19:43:05 GMT from United States)
The FSF doesn't own freedom, despite their claims.
Hardware vendors deserve primary blame for driver obfuscation and deliberate incompatibility, not operating system vendors. They make life tedious for everyone, even amoral organizations.
"straightforward, easily-accessible utility for checking the status of device drivers", "makes file recovery a fairly seamless process", "being able to simply reboot the machine and select "Backup-1" from the boot menu took all of the hassle out of the recovery process" - OpenIndiana may in some ways seem like it's " not progressing in any meaningful way", but clearly it raises the QoS bar in areas others should respect.
9 • hardware drivers (by BluPhoenyx on 2013-09-03 00:35:19 GMT from United States)
There are a number of people to blame for incompatible hardware and lack of drivers and the vendors are only one. I own a wireless device which is supposed to be functional with the Linux kernel driver, the Edimax EW-7811Un. While the device works enough to locate the wireless connections it always fails with a WPA2 connection and apparently this problem has existed for years. Unfortunately, the driver supplied by the manufacturer is NOT compatible with current kernels, the last working kernel was 3.0.8. Not being a programmer myself, I have no way to fix this problem except use a distro with an older kernel so I can build the working mudule.
My point here is not all hardware driver problems are the fault of the manufacturers. They are just in the business to make money and when their hardware shows some age they move on to new things. In an OS where the kernel tries to handle the hardware these driver issues should be fixed AND there should be an interface where external devices could be attached to the system when the manufacturer wants to protect proprietary information.
Cheers,
Mike T
10 • RE: #8 (by Landor on 2013-09-03 01:30:40 GMT from Canada)
"The FSF doesn't own freedom, despite their claims."
That's quite the pile you typed out there. Care to add some verification to it, other than just slandering an organisation that's willing to go a step further than most everyone else has the balls to?
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
11 • Monthly Donation (by Landor on 2013-09-03 01:36:00 GMT from Canada)
I was extremely pleased to see Tor get the donation for this month. I personally believe that protecting everyone's rights, which includes anonymity, is paramount. Great Choice this month.
I also want to say thanks for all the donations of course, but more notably, Linux From Scratch, DHCP, and awesome, for 2013. All projects deserve the donation/help, but those stand out for me.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
12 • @5 (by MZ on 2013-09-03 02:23:28 GMT from United States)
You got my hopes up on Gnome 3.8 for about 30 seconds, then I checked you tube for reviews & saw that things were as bad as ever. I really did like going into Gnome a few years back when I first started playing with Linux; however, I've become convinced that the Gnome 3 folks are too concerned with the idea of 'completely changing the desktop' to ask little questions like if things are actually any more useful or intuitive to use. I suppose it's all a matter of opinion, but I doubt that Gnome will ever again be pleasant to use for the majority of people again.
13 • OpenIndiana (by Thomas Mueller on 2013-09-03 02:38:22 GMT from United States)
I downloaded OpenIndiana late in 2011, I think it was 151a5 but my memory could be off. I ran from USB stick, was able to browse the Internet with Firefox, but it didn't recognize either of my hard drives: SATA 3 TB hard drive, and USB 3.0 3 TB hard drive, both GPT-partitioned. I would have had no place to install to, and I don't really want to use a USB 2.0 stick for heavy kernel and package compilation.
Only open-source OSes that do well on my modern hardware are Linux and FreeBSD.
14 • Free - for whom? (by Somewhat Reticent on 2013-09-03 04:47:25 GMT from United States)
(Landor, are you really thin-skinned, or just testy?) Sorry if I was too brusque, but I have yet to see a credible scenario for developer support under, say, any version of the GPL (Tivo-ization notcounting), much less a robust market platform. I've made many a donation, but that approach is rarely popular or effective. I appreciate people pointing out hazards to everyone's freedom, including the freedom to interact with vendors of their choice, and the freedom to negotiate pricing of services and products. The freedom to donate your service and starve isn't very compelling.
(I'm enjoying your website, ByTheWay; it's healthy to rant and blow steam occasionally, as long as you clean up the mess after.)
15 • @ # 11 & anonymity (by RobertD on 2013-09-03 10:15:23 GMT from United States)
@ Landor,
"I was extremely pleased to see Tor get the donation for this month. I personally believe that protecting everyone's rights, which includes anonymity, is paramount."
I usually agree with what you have to say about freedom. Being a US resident I firmly believe in equal rights for all.
If one has nothing to hide there is nothing to hide from.
If you mean anonymity in the form of safety, encryption, etc to protect ones rights and property, I agree.
But if you anonymity for one because they wish to visit a nefarious site, garner hate and incite mistrust. Then I couldn't disagree more.
I understand that you can probably present example of where ones rights we're violated the lack of privacy. But you and I know this is the minority.
If there is a predator in my backyard I want to know who it is!
RobertD
16 • No it's not. (by LinuxMan on 2013-09-03 12:15:47 GMT from United States)
@15
You will always have ones who "wish to visit a nefarious site, garner hate and incite mistrust." Do you really think that those are the majority? LOL! I could not disagree more. When we are talking about the right of privacy being violated then we are talking about most EVERYBODY. The thing about rights is that you cannot pick only the very few you want to have them. The way I read it is that you are saying what the NSA has done is just fine as long as you find out who the bad guys are. "If one has nothing to hide there is nothing to hide from." is the typical pill of dung used by the NSA and others who would take away out right to privacy for sake of a small amount of security, or so they say. Anyway, what makes you think Landor was talking about the minority, ones who "wish to visit a nefarious site, garner hate and incite mistrust." That never entered my mind, why did it enter yours?
17 • Hardware drivers (by Angel on 2013-09-03 12:38:33 GMT from Philippines)
@9 BluPhoenyx
I have the same wifi dongle, Edimax EW-7811Un . The Linux kernel driver provided is RTL8192cu. It does not work properly. However, a working driver can be downloaded from Realtek: 8192cu. I'm using it now on my desktop with kernel 3.20.25, Ubuntu 12.04. Has worked fine with different distros, various kernels
Instructions here:
http://www.linux-hardware-guide.com/2012-10-07-edimax-ew-7811un-wireless-usb-150-mbits-802-11n
Angel
18 • Congrats. (by LinuxMan on 2013-09-03 12:43:35 GMT from United States)
By the way I want to say congratulations to TOR for receiving the monthly donation. The project is very deserving.
19 • RE: #14 - 15 (by Landor on 2013-09-03 12:52:54 GMT from Canada)
#14
Thin skinned or testy because like everyone else you post dramatic bullshit about the FSF? I'd love for you to show me where anyone from the FSF has said they "own freedom". I really don't understand how all you people get your undies in a knot over the FSF. The majority of the time it's said it's due to them forcing people to do this or that. Or the FSF tells someone how they need to do anything. How in the hell can any entity force anyone to do anything. That's like saying that because a church exists you're forced to adhere to it. Funny though, I don't see anyone that doesn't believe in whatever religion crying the blues that religion is forcing them to live a specific way, but everyone here are so addle-brained that if the FSF says something then it's forcing them to abide by it and they're going to revolt and fight it tooth and nail.
That aside, what the hell does your donations have to do with your comment that the FSF claims to own freedom? I'll tell you what it has to do with it, absolutely nothing because you needed to put something out there to try to justify what you right, somehow. Again though, I'd like you to give me an example of where the FSF says any developer cannot make large amounts of money, that the developer can only obtain donations, and in essence has to subsist on earnings that would make them starve. You can't do this though because it's again just an interpretation that has no grounds in any facts whatsoever.
#15
"If one has nothing to hide there is nothing to hide from. "
I'm hardcore old-school, so believe in this 100%. People who were out after a certain time at night were only asking for trouble and usually found it. In essence, if you weren't out at the time you shouldn't be, then nothing bad would have happened to you.
That said, you can't define bad or good uses of something as a measure of its value and need. If you did that then a lot of laws that govern society would have to be questioned as well.
I personally believe that people's rights involving privacy are exploited (if not violated, as that term has a legal meaning) day in and day out online. The sad thing is most people don't know their rights are being exploited. This is one of the reasons the FSF had its own browser, to help protect people from being tracked by websites, or going to websites that don't protect their freedoms/privacy. As I said, exploited instead of violated.
Where does that justification in regard to your backyard end though? What if there's someone down the street that shoplifted when they were 15? How about someone who struck an officer of the law? Someone who was involved in a domestic dispute? Someone who doesn't believe in your political views? <---- You see where I'm going?
No, you can't justify it based on there's no reason to hide if you're doing nothing wrong. Nor can you assume you have the right to bear witness in regard to other people. When you start to do those things, it never ends. Think of people now being put under surveillance in your own country by drones. Scary how far the police state could go.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
20 • Re: #2 and #3 OpenSuSe Tumbleweed (by silent on 2013-09-03 13:48:20 GMT from France)
I don't get your problem. It is easy to enable the repos and allow vendor change in order to use Tumbleweed (see the Tumbleweed Portal). On the other hand it is not officially supported to mix Tumbleweed ("rolling stable") with Factory ("development") repos, that can cause dependency problems or broken packages. Standard releases are based on Factory, so at the beginning of a new development cycle it is quite unstable, not suitable for a stable rolling model. It is surely double work to maintain these two models for one distro, but it may also attract new users.
21 • @12 (by jaws222 on 2013-09-03 19:02:34 GMT from United States)
You can always download Cinnamon and run it instead of Gnome.
22 • Why so much switching to DuckDuckGo? (by BF on 2013-09-03 19:36:00 GMT from United States)
I tried it and it seems to search like BING, a bunch of results none of which are what I am looking for. I think the only possible replacement for Google is a secure/private Google (https://startpage.com). You will not get people to switch search engines if the one you are trying to switch them to doesn't work as well as the one they are used to.
23 • gDE (by Somewhat Reticent on 2013-09-03 21:33:28 GMT from United States)
#21 > #12 ... or Maté ... or Consort ...
24 • Re: #22 Why so much switching to DuckDuckGo by BF (by tdockery97 on 2013-09-03 23:41:21 GMT from United States)
I gave startpage.com a try and it gave me a bunch of results none of which are what I was looking for.
25 • @#15 (by RobertD on 2013-09-04 00:23:27 GMT from United States)
I agree those people are in the minority. In fact I stated that, I believe in equal rights for all. It only took a minority to cause mass destruction on 9/11, it only took a minority to cause mass destruction at the Boston Marathon. Need I go on. ...
I am more than willing to give up a few of my "rights" if it may save someones daughter or son. I am 45, married with 2 children. So I understand that this belief not only effect me but my children as well.
You may listen to my phone calls, monitor my internet use or even place a microphone on me 24 hours a day. I stand behind what I said earlier. If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to hide from.
I have stolen as a child, lied as an adult, and even tried getting out of paying taxes. Nothing to hide!
RobertD
26 • Privacy (by RobertD on 2013-09-04 00:36:42 GMT from United States)
Drive by my house right now and the blinds are up and the lights are on. Go ahead and look. How's that for privacy.
RobertD
27 • @22, @24 (by gogoo on 2013-09-04 01:39:57 GMT from United States)
That's why Google works. Agree with StartPage, I don't like DuckDuckGo at all.
28 • Evergreen (by Sam on 2013-09-04 02:29:59 GMT from United States)
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but the last time I looked into the Evergreen project was back when I was debating making the painful move away from OpenSuSE 11.3. At the time it seemed Evergreen was extending each release by 18 months or so. Has that changed to just specific releases? And why the x.1 version, as every long-time SuSE user knows those are the horrible, buggy, new version releases that even OpenSuSE folks tried to get away from by naming the release a x.1 rather than the more appropriate x.0.
29 • @ #19 (by Obviously anonymous on 2013-09-04 03:46:52 GMT from United States)
Quoting Landor's comment:
-snip-
"If one has nothing to hide there is nothing to hide from. "
I'm hardcore old-school, so believe in this 100%. People who were out after a certain time at night were only asking for trouble and usually found it. In essence, if you weren't out at the time you shouldn't be, then nothing bad would have happened to you.
-snip-
Please consider this: What is legal today might not be legal in the future. Your past browsing, contacts, affiliations, etc. could be used against you in the not so distant future. A couple of decades might make a big difference, depending on who has political power in the interim.
There are numerous recent historical examples. The former East Germany comes to mind immedately.
30 • In case there's any confusion (by Obviously anonymous on 2013-09-04 03:49:03 GMT from United States)
I'm agreeing with Landor,
31 • @19, 29, 30... (by Chanath on 2013-09-04 06:09:05 GMT from Sri Lanka)
"If one has nothing to hide there is nothing to hide from. "
Hmmm...why people are wearing clothes then? All are hiding something, and some are hiding form something...
32 • search engine clutter (by zykoda on 2013-09-04 06:52:11 GMT from United Kingdom)
What search engines provide seems biased to what they deem your search to "mean" in terms of previous history, search terms etc... That the screen is then ever more cluttered with ads and other irrelevant "information" is a concern. That on a netbook (you may remember them!) the screen is wider but not so high as a mobile, creating a shape "issue"; Often half the screen, vertically, is wasted by such clutter. And the trend continues to worsen. The sharp edge of search is thus rendered blunt in the general morass of linguistic babel. Searching may now be "faster" but is it really getting the job done for the customer?
33 • Missing the point (by MZ on 2013-09-04 07:05:58 GMT from United States)
Saying you have 'nothing to hide' is all well & good, but it completely misses the point. The fundamental problem with the modern surveillance state is that it ignores the need for probable cause. I really don't care what anyone has to hide, I only care that those who have the authority to conduct a search have good enough reasons to think there is something to find, & get a warrant. If anyone cares so little about their rights & freedoms that they start seriously making the 'nothing to hide' argument, I would encourage them to move to Iran or China where they will feel more at home. Of course if you realize how bad things can be in a place where the state insists that you must have nothing to hide, you might become thankful for projects like Tor.
----------------------------------------
@ 21
Why would I download Cinnamon when it's the default DE for the distro on my laptop? For everything else I use KDE. Both are very satisfying, & even downright intuitive for anyone that has used a PC before. If anyone needs to use a computer of mine I can just sit them in front of it & let them give it a go. I still can't figure out why the Gnome team thinks that removing obvious visual cues like buttons makes thing better, but whatever.
34 • RE: 26 Privacy (by ladislav on 2013-09-04 07:17:06 GMT from Taiwan)
You have your blinds up and lights on - that's YOUR choice. But having your email and phone communication monitored by a total stranger - that's no longer your choice, it's your government's choice. YOU have absolutely no say over the matter.
35 • DuckGoGo? (by medialup on 2013-09-04 10:20:02 GMT from Poland)
Search results aren't really accurate, when they will improve their system maybe they will convince me to make the switch. Meanwhile, still using Google.
36 • "Nothing to hide" = no privacy (by Somewhat Reticent on 2013-09-04 10:27:59 GMT from United States)
And thus no intimacy, no respect, no security. Also no solitude, no rest, no freedom, no choice, no autonomy. Most importantly, no control.
It is the sneer of the subjugator, the slanderer and the terrorist; the refuge of the snoop, the voyeur, the busybody, and the gossip.
And who will watch the watchers? Absolute power corrupts. And those who sacrifice privacy for security have already lost both.
- - - - - - - -
Meanwhile, we clearly need at least two compartmented, separated search systems: one for shopping, another for research.
37 • DuckGoGo.com --> Startpage.com (by Bob on 2013-09-04 10:31:32 GMT from Austria)
@35 Why don't you use startpage.com? Seems to provide for better search results than DuckGoGo.
38 • @26, Irrelevant to privacy concerns. (by LinuxMan on 2013-09-04 12:13:57 GMT from United States)
Your blinds up and lights on have nothing to do with the privacy we are talking about. You are bordering on misdirection with that comparison. You are under the mistaken assumption that most people in the world think the same way you do. Value the same things that you do. Use the same failed logic that you do. Trading freedom for imagined security. I do believe that places you in the minority. The NSA has been violating the privacy of citizens for some time now. Has it helped? Not in the least. Ask the people in Boston? Using your logic, it's just fine to give unquestioned allegiance to a government deity. You bow down before them and offer your children's freedom as a sacrifice it seems. You toss aside the future our forefathers had planned for us. You put your trust in an agency that can't even take care of themselves. The sad part of it all is that you see no problem, no harm, no foul. So sad.
39 • Re.: 38 - Irrelevant to privacy concerns (by anon on 2013-09-04 13:13:21 GMT from Norway)
While I fully agree with LinuxMan's thoughts and sentiments above, I think it is important that we realize a basic fact: Once a secret intelligence operation is set up, there is no way to control it. Especially for 'outsiders', like politicians, and difficult in the extreme even for the organization's own administration. The Prism disclosure clearly demonstrates both points.
Yes, we/politicians can do our best to arrange for 'checks and balances', as it were, but we can never know if they work, or to what extent they work.
Thus the paradox becomes: The more, secret or less secret, control mechanisms are set up, the more out of control a society becomes. Literally.
40 • search engines (by bowlgood on 2013-09-04 14:14:39 GMT from United States)
thanks for the suggestion (Zeekly.com) was a keeper also ixquick.com is another one which is before startingpage and ghostry says no trackers on all 3.
google nows treats most searches from TOR as automated searches and tries to reject them unless you do a captcha.
41 • @39, How True. (by LinuxMan on 2013-09-04 14:32:41 GMT from United States)
That is one of the points that I try to emphasize to people that I talk to. A secret intelligence agency will be just that. Secret. There are very few people in the loop who knows what is going on and to what extent. Most of us are not in that loop. That is one of the reasons that internet security and privacy are so important. As much as we can we need to protect ourselves from the unknown, as it were. TOR is just one of the many tools a person can use to protect themselves and their families. We must continue to remember that when we loose our privacy that is when we lose our freedom.
42 • #23 MATE (by mcellius on 2013-09-04 15:31:51 GMT from United States)
Just a picky and not-too-significant correction that it's time to make:
It is MATE (or Mate), not Maté. The accent, which is not written, is on the "a". The latter means "I killed" in Spanish and is NOT the name of that desktop. This was straightened out by the creator some time ago. (He's from Argentina, and "mate" is a tea-like drink that is extremely popular in Argentina, and part of that nation's culture and heritage.)
For some odd reason, adding the accent at the end is a common error that is repeated too often. It might not matter much in English, but in Spanish it gives a different meaning to the word.
43 • @42 correction (by hylas on 2013-09-05 05:51:36 GMT from United Kingdom)
Actually you're quite wrong:
http://mate-desktop.org/about/
'Where does the name come from?
The name "MATE" comes from yerba maté, a species of holly native to subtropical South America. Its leaves contain caffeine and are used to make infusions and a beverage called mate.'
44 • @43 (by mcellius on 2013-09-05 13:07:17 GMT from United States)
Huh? No, I'm neither "quite wrong" nor wrong at all. That's exactly what I wrote about; those leaves are used, steeped in hot water and with sugar added, to make a tea-like drink.
That article does incorrectly write the name with the accent. That is WRONG! Again, with the accent the word means "I killed," and does not refer to the drink.
For some reason, a lot of English-speakers added that accent near the beginning of the MATE project, and have perpetuated it so the incorrect spelling persists on lots of web pages. It is incorrect.
45 • On mate (by mcellius on 2013-09-05 14:31:58 GMT from United States)
By the way, I should add that I have lived in Argentina and speak the language. Since the desktop environment was named for the drink, there is simply no question: it is "mate" and NOT "maté."
When the original announcement was made by "Perberos" (https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=121162) he spelled it "Mate." He's Argentine, and said he doesn't speak English really well, so he probably doesn't follow the English-languange discussions very much.
You can see a much earlier discussion on this (2011) that involves mate's creator and that resolves the matter (you'll see that I was involved in that discussion briefly, too): http://mate-desktop.org/2011/12/05/hello-world/
46 • Gnome and DuckDuckGo (by Sanjay on 2013-09-05 14:51:16 GMT from India)
Linux means freedom and thanks to Gnome decision to choose Duck Duck Go, We can't accept everything from Google ....
47 • DuckDuckGo (by LinuxMan on 2013-09-05 15:28:57 GMT from United States)
Another money making decision by Gnome. DuckDuckGo is DragDragSlow in my opinion. I'm sure it will get better. Using another search engine just because it's not Google is just silly. Now using another search engine for better privacy is smart. I believe that is what Sanjay has in mind. I've tried startpage and it seems to be the best as far as the search results goes. Startpage does say that it's the most private but it is really hard to tell. Now Bing, Google, Yahoo, Conduit and many others will leave a trail of breadcrumbs to your doorstep. That's what they do and they don't really try to hide that fact. They are just part of the typical business world. Startpage, Duck Duck Go, AVG secure search, and others can also be used as another tool in helping a person regain their privacy and freedom.
48 • In Support Of Privacy (by Serge on 2013-09-05 20:27:22 GMT from United States)
I believe that privacy is a natural human right. That is, it is something that we are entitled to by default, rather than something that we must earn or receive as a gift or privilege.
It bothers me to see people attempt to paint those who wish to protect this right as selfish and those who wish to restrict this right as noble. I generally do not support judging people as selfish or selfless. However, if we are going to resort to arguing about selfishness vs sacrifice, I must state that I believe that those who wish to restrict the natural rights of others are in fact more selfish than those who wish to preserve those rights.
However, because I believe in freedom, I fully support RobertD's right to leave his blinds up and lights on if he so chooses. I just don't support him wanting me to be forced to do the same.
49 • Duck Duck Go (by MZ on 2013-09-05 23:17:12 GMT from United States)
As everyone seems so interested in the topic, I thought I'd mention that I've been using Duck Duck Go for years and have been perfectly satisfied. I take their support of open source projects as a sign good faith on their part, and will continue to enjoy their search results and added privacy. Of course no search engine is perfect, but I find they're mostly the same, so I always go with DDG to start with, and will happily click a relevant ad to support a company that shares my values. I feel like it's part of being a conscientious consumer consumer to support the right kind of internet company.
50 • privacy for sale (by GaryW on 2013-09-06 02:21:16 GMT from Australia)
If you have nothing to hide, there's no reason for the state to spy on you. More to the point, history shows that these large databases of formerly private information are inevitably abused by criminals and corrupt officials.
51 • @50: Fixed it for you (by Marco on 2013-09-06 15:56:21 GMT from United States)
More to the point, history shows that these large databases of formerly private information are inevitably abused by corrupt officials and other criminals.
Remember, power corrupts.
52 • Something to hide (by demosthenese on 2013-09-07 02:26:00 GMT from United Kingdom)
Blanket surveillance includes politicians. How many of these have skeletons in their closets putting them at the beck and call of their new security masters?
cf . Edgar Hoover, from Wikipedia:
"Hoover amassed significant power by collecting files containing large amounts of compromising and potentially embarrassing information on many powerful people, especially politicians."
53 • The TOR Donation (by Peter Besenbruch on 2013-09-08 02:33:13 GMT from Romania)
I want to thank Distrowatch for its donation to the TOR project. I currently use TOR for most of my browsing. I combine it with the Firefox extension Secret Agent. This gives potentially multiple IP addresses, and other browser fingerprinting options per page load. The NSA spies on people, but so do countless other organizations. I may "have nothing to hide," but I want to be harder to pin down, anyway.
54 • Privacy for sale (by ange on 2013-09-08 14:02:16 GMT from Hungary)
I remember when shred removed from KDE....
"Shred was removed from KDE 4 (and as consequence Krusader-2 for KDE 4). The main reason is probably that shredding is filesystem dependent and even if you overwrite the file 100 times, it is not sure, that it will be deleted from the disk finally. Quote from the kgpg posts:»The shred feature has been removed from the KDE library. Kgpg will not support this feature anymore. Moderns file systems use journalisation. So the shred feature should be implemented in the file system. Not in kgpg.«"
It's funny.
Number of Comments: 54
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