"im a henchman for a bad guy....and lemme tell you...I think we might be starting to do bad stuff...not sure yet..."
Thanks bud
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
"im a henchman for a bad guy....and lemme tell you...I think we might be starting to do bad stuff...not sure yet..."
Thanks bud
At some point we need to start welcoming people to the Light, instead of demonizing them for having been in the Dark. It's pretty difficult for me not to dunk on people as they wake up to the nightmare that they voted for, but a lot them ARE actually otherwise decent folks. Making America Great is going to involve deprogramming a lot of people.
That's all good and well and I agree with you, but I also believe if you have and are continuing to feed the machine, then you don't get to be put on a pedestal or respected for recognizing how bad the machine is. This person is repeating something that is already very well known and accepted and is simultaneously adding to the alarm while causing it. I have extremely low patience for that particular brand of person. They are continuing to cause the problem they are rallying against.
If I were face to face with this person, I'd genuinely say "either quit working there or shut the fuck up."
What about when it's your family? I am estranged from a lot of people that I care deeply for because they refuse to engage with reason. I'm not trying to put anyone on a pedestal, good or bad.
I just want people to know that they are welcome to change their minds, nobody is going to mock them for doing so, or say I told you so. That's what they expect, and pride is part of what holds many of them back from admitting that they were wrong. Because it's what they would do. Unfortunately, we're going to need to take the high road.
Unfortunately, not everyone has a choice in who they work for in end-stage-capitalism. Work is about survival, not ideology. The majority of Americans are not far-right capitalists, but the vast majority of CEOs are, and it's not really possible to survive long enough to start a small business in most of the US without investment from a far-right capitalist or inheritance (usually also from a far-right capitalist family member).
If you have the skillset and CV to work at Meta, you have a choice to work somewhere slightly lower on the scale of exploitation.
People gotta earn money to survive, I don't blame the employees for this. And this is not just a case of Meta's privacy being bad. This is close government involvement with potentially serious impacts and implications across all US based platforms.
"Are we the baddies?!"
It's funny how they're saying "You need to use Linux" and not "You need to get off Facebook". How's Linux going to save you from Facebook spying on you?
I think the be careful what you do on Facebook is implied. He's highlighting something that's less expected, where you may need to be careful what you do on Windows systems.
They mentioned Microsoft updating privacy agreements at the same time as other companies, and OP mentioned that the context was a discussion of a Windows ultra-keylogger type of feature, the implication is they're in on this shit too, and Linux is a way to not use Windows.
Back in 2020 when I took my class for my A+ cert I remember the instructor directing us to a Windows 10 debloating video tutorial to speed up a Win10 computer. If I recall correctly In that video the host point's out that one of the Microsoft services that ran in the background of every standard distribution of Windows 10 was a keylogger. It was one of the many things that got permanently turned off in the in the tutorial.
Its a bit odd to see an employee of a company that has always had a terrible privacy policy now be suddenly alarmed.
Things have changed. Before, the worst Facebook could do to its critics was ban them and those that they knew. Now Facebook can have ICE turnover your house without a warrant for a troll post. A private company is now working to suppress a specific kind of conversation that questions the judgement and actions of those in power. It's a subtle but very dangerous difference in why a bad EULA may not have previously caused concern but the new one is.
He is kinda whistle-blowing about the next level of evil. Up and coming.
That first comma is a bit out of place -
'why won't you just try, Linux?'
'seriously Linux, just try your vegetables'.
Protests crack down on the internet has been going on for quite some time, don't just blame it on trump but on the whole government and its infrastructure.
And Facebook as an integrated part of the international surveillance state has been firmly established since Snowden leaked the PRISM program.
Like, there are a lot of reasons to switch to linux and plenty of them are compelling. But its an absolute fantasy to believe you're somehow immune to surveillance because you're using the same software as Amazon's EC2. Does anyone really believe the NSA hasn't cracked Linux Mint yet?
Or, for that matter, that using a linux desktop is going to insulate you from being spied on via a public facing 3rd party social media forum?
I've done OSINT research and that alone converted me into a privacy advocate. Seeing how Alphabet, Meta, and MS have allowed creep to get training data... Whew. It's breathtaking and complicated beyond the ability to explain in 114 characters.
Y'all, we are cooked. Currently. Present tense. If you aren't freaked out already, you're missing about 85% of reality.
Yeah OSINT existing is proof that no backdoor is secure, not even mentioning what you can buy from data brokers, something authorities wouldn't need warrants for.
One should be have been assuming since Windows 7 and automated online updates that the Microsoft key used to sign OS updates is in the hands of at least the NSA (and hence probably the Israeli equivalent) and they can push whatever they want to your computer as an OS update, bypassing all protections.
In fact the same applies to Linux updates of certain distros - if they're maintained by a company based in the US they can be forced by FISA courts to provide the signing keys to the US Government.
More in general, just go read about FISA courts and their secret court orders - companies based in the US or hosting things in the US can be secretly forced to just "give the keys of the Realm" to parts of the US Government.
Since things like the Patriot act one should be treating companies based in the US as just as untrustworthy as companies based in China.
(By the way, some other supposed Democratic countries have similar or worse systems - for example the equivalent of FISA courts in the UK have things like secret court sessions were the side which is not the State is not authorized to have a legal representation, see most of the evidence or even know the decision of the court).
Have people already forgot most of what came out in the Snowden Revelations?!
Switching from Windows to Linux isn't going to block them from monitoring your use of online services. Facebook doesn't even do anything in the OS space.
I think what they are getting at is that Meta does this and they find it likely Microsoft might be doing something similar.
If this is the same person I think it is, I would take their comments with a huge pile of salt. Not saying they're wrong, but...
A couple years ago this Linux-Is-Best dipshit somehow got onboarded as a mod of the /r/massachusetts subreddit, started banning a ton of users for pretty unreasonable reasons, brought a few other seemingly random moderators on board and almost nuked it out of existence by being an unhinged little weirdo. They claimed to have worked at Facebook/Meta and I forget which, but they were found out either to have made it up or they were just a bottom tier content moderation employee.
You can go find some posts about it, but this person's not well at all even if you happen to agree with them. If this is the same person. They're not trust worthy. Privacy's important, big companies are creepy, do what you can to protect yourself and use linux if that's what gets you there, but again I would take anything this dipshit says with a grain of salt.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Massachusetts_US/comments/11wnjsk/removed_by_reddit/
https://www.reddit.com/r/massachusetts/comments/11xw44r/linux_is_gone/
imagine how great it feels to say this for like 10-15 years while getting dismissed as a conspiracy nut.
and then having it happen exactly as you said it would.
It's called the Cassandra Complex, named after Cassandra/Kassandra of Troy.
To all the people who are criticising this guy for working for Meta, I would like to remind you of the phrase, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer".
I am very much a left-winger, but I still read right-wing papers and articles, I like to know what the other side is thinking.
Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer”.
Bruh, it's not game of thrones. People just need to work.
The Linux Foundation itself is in the US jurisdiction - just sayin'.
Which is why I repeatedly called for the Foundation to move into Europe, potentially into Finland, back to its roots.
FUCK YEAH, YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP
I switched from Fedora to openSUSE recently and it has been painless. Would recommend to anyone who are looking to get away from US companies and US jurisdiction. Edit: note that it uses RPM package manager though, I don't know yet if that is problematic or not. If someone knows then please elaborate on that.
He clearly says "You need to try, Linux". He's talking to someone named Linux. Someone that needs to try.
Shit I was just about to install PopOs! Which is developed by a US company. It's maddening trying to find the right distro that fits all the requirements.
Edit: Opting for Mint.
OpenKylin, or one of the other Kylin(s) is what someone like you needs.
According to Distrowatch mint and Zorin are from Ireland, opensuse and manjaro are from Germany and more was lazy for more searching