This is straight out of Monsanto playbook going back decades. There’s a reason why a lot of countries have either passed laws legally shielding local farmers from accidental cross-pollination, or just banning GM seeds, not for any pseudoscience rational, but because of the way agro business uses natural cross pollination as a vector for lawfare and predatory business practices.
The inability to relock the bootloader is gigantic security vulnerability. It negates, or entirely voids, a significant amount of a devices physical security, including FDE.
There are other security issues with LineageOS, but that’s part of the trade-off. There’s nothing inherently sinister or incompetent about that, it’s just the nature of the beast.
Regardless, I’m not here to chastise anyone’s choice of OS, or to even imply that there is a right, and wrong ROM, there isn’t.
I was just pointing out that there are pros and cons, and users should be aware of them when making those decisions.
Security and Privacy are not the same thing.
Stock Google is absolutely a hit to ones privacy, but LineageOS is a often big hit to device security.
If you don’t have a Pixel, and therefore can’t use GrapheneOS, check and see if your device is compatible with DivestOS.
However, neither will offer root support for reasons that both devs have decent write-ups explaining within each project’s documentation.
I do realize that not everyone places security above all other factors when deciding on their smartphone OS, but I think they should be aware of the trade-offs so they can make an informed decision.
$849 and $1,649? Those pricetags are so absurd that this post should be removed on principle alone, nevermind that it’s stealth marketing masquerading as an article.
I don’t think they’re making a moral argument, but pointing out the reality of the situation as it stands.
This is a problem that can only be fixed through legislation and aggressive enforcement backed by large punitive actions.
Until that happens, it’s better to acknowledge and understand the reality of the situation, than to believe that a morally righteous condemnation will somehow unmake that reality.
It sucks. I agree with your philosophical stance, except for the payment for personal data, as I’d prefer a complete opt-out. However, none of that changes where we’re at right now.
I got as far as the second paragraph, which consists of the following quote from a Google VP:
“I’m not going to talk about Recall, but I think the reason that some people feel it’s creepy is when it doesn’t feel useful, and it doesn’t feel like something they initiated or that they get a clear benefit from it”
That’s somehow worse than I imagined. I can at least understand being intentionally sinister, or overtly anti-privacy, but that level of delusion is somehow actually more terrifying.
lol.
Just search for Purism customer support experiences.
I’m honestly amazed there hasn’t been a fraud, or some other consumer protection type criminal investigation.
All that baggage, and their hardware is also laughably outdated and overpriced.
Which is unfortunate, because the concept is amazing and clearly there’s a sizable market for it.
Here is an example of just ONE flavor of Purism customer experiences:
Announce current gen hardware and current pricing.
Customer pays
Customer receives hardware 5 years later, after being told approx. 362 times that cancellation refunds are down, or unable to be processed.
Customer tries to immediately return the 5 year old laptop that was just delivered and is told “No Returns”
There are other variations that you can read about on various forums.
There’s a lot more to sovereign monetary policy than currency exchange rates, such as the capital controls being exercised here
Look, the worst that could happen is that he murders you, but honestly, he probably won’t.
It’s more likey he’ll probably just wear you down emotionally until you support him financially, while he stays at home and takes out credit cards under your name.
On the plus side, I bet he’ll fuck like a racehorse on the rare days when he isn’t too dipped, or shit faced.
Edit: Just noticed you added that he’s a veteran with PTSD, and yes, that changes my answer: he will probably murder you.
Not just because he’s a veteran with PTSD, but because he’s clearly a massively damaged and dangerous person AND has war trauma.
Most likely outcome: strangulation.
No, it’s a way to say that Mint has become bloated and not a great experience.
I just switched to Fedora from Mint, and was impressed.
I recently switched my main Linux laptop to Fedora and I have to say, it’s probably the most stable and clean distro I’ve ever used.
Exactly. There’s no way that could ever go tits up.
You might want to start with a lease, with the option to buy out, or trade-in, after the original terms are up.
That… actually sounds pretty plausible.
VPNs don’t prevent tracking, especially when you’re logging into services.
They can help obfuscate your identity to varying degrees, but honestly this is a pretty odd decision. I’m guessing it has more to do with malicious activity, or some other type of activities that Reddit is trying to curtail, and they feel blocking VPN IP ranges will help them.
The topic in question here is not about government abuse of data, it’s corporate abuses, but okay, let’s set that aside.
You’ve said that it’s safer to roll your own VPN using a VPS service precisely because you can’t trust any VPN providers, or auditing organizations.
But you’re now saying that you can trust a hosting provider based solely on which jurisdiction they reside in.
You’re just arbitrarily picking which companies to trust with your connection traffic, but with added complexity, and significantly reduced egress locations for your traffic, which itself dramatically impacts any privacy benefits you were looking to achieve.
…so, trust the hosting provider to not log…and that you won’t screw up any config or update, and make sure to use anonymous payments, and…and…etc.
Depends. Are either of those companies bootstrapping a for-profit startup and trying to dupe people into contributing free labor prior to their inevitable rug pull/switcheroo?
This is 98% the right answer, but you drop them somewhere that keeps them intact, and believable enough so that people take them, and spend the rest of the weekend going to thrift stores trying to find an external floppy drive, and the next month trying to figure out how to get their iPhone to mount it.