Comments by "Terry Daktyllus" (@terrydaktyllus1320) on "Be a Subversive with Linux! We are under Attack!" video.

  1. It won't happen. The entire suite of Internet protocols are built on RFCs (Requests For Comments) which are open standards free for anyone to use. No new public communication protocols can be implemented without an RFC - sure, you can create what private protocols you like and do what you like with them in your own closed user groups, but who cares about that. Nothing will be banned - they can't even work out a single set of global legislation to keep minors from accessing adult material on the Internet, and that problem has been kicking around for decades now. You're being overly dramatic and demonstrating you don't understand the problem - it's not the open design of Linux or the Internet that's the problem, it's all the closed source stuff in MacOS, Windows, Google Android and iOS that's the problem, and they are what 99% of the world uses anyway.
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  2. "Contemplate" all you like but nothing changes until you actually do it. And do it the RIGHT way. Don't touch your existing PC because if you break it by trying to dual boot Linux, you will blame Linux. Get some use "piece of cr*p" PC, anything with a Core 2 Duo CPU in it and 3-4 GB RAM will work fine, that's any PC or laptop from around 2007 or after. Put Linux on that as a secondary machine and learn it there - if you break it, you just reinstall it and you don't effect your main PC and being able to use that. You're not SWITCHING to Linux, you should be looking to MIGRATE to it over a longer period of time.
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  3. You can run Linux perfectly well on an old Core 2 Duo laptop with 4GB RAM from 2007 and still surf the web and play a bit of YouTube. There's no shortage of cheap PCs for you to run Linux on.
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  4.  @78tag  There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube. My advice is don't dual boot Linux with your existing PC but instead find some old PC or laptop that nobody needs any more and put Linux on that - then you have time to sit and play with it, and if you break it then it doesn't affect your main computer.
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  5.  @melaniebaynes2730  Yes, absolutely. Therefore you need to know who you are communicating with and what platforms they are using.
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  6. Yes, but what are YOU doing to stop them?
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  7.  @ghost-user559  "They literally fund and code Linux. Look into the enn esss aye Linux connections. They are Linux lol." So what's your point here? Lots of organisations fund it, because they use it themselves and it is in their interests to do so. But it still comes down to the fact that they fund OPEN SOURCE which means anyone, even you or I, can scrutinise the source code before it goes into anything. Nothing nefarious can go into it. Encryption algorithms, something intelligence agencies are very interested in, are also *OPEN STANDARDS*, anyone can find out how they work - it doesn't matter because unless you have the necessary encryption keys for each instance, knowing how the encryption works doesn't mean you can decrypt anything. This is not a difficult concept to grasp.
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  8. Not in Linux - no backdoors for anyone.
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  9. No, not all of them - you still have to think about what happens when you communicate from Linux with others who are not using Linux themselves. Yes, you sat there on your Linux computer, you can be confident that it isn't trying to do something "behind your back", but other people can be "the weakest link" in your security strategy.
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  10. If you make sure that your software comes from trusted sources then that should not be a risk that you need to think about. The constant peer review of code is the strength of Linux.
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  11. You don't get it, do you? Nobody will leave you alone unless you do something to hide yourself from them. Nobody will do it for you.
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  12. But what about the login and password that you use onto your bank's web site? I agree, encryption is overused on the modern web - if you just need to know what time the next bus is from a timetable, there's no need to encrypt publicly available information. The problem is that the bus company probably isn't happy for me to browse their site anonymously, they want to know all my details which means I probably then have to set up a login account, and then they need to encrypt the site to protect my authentication information from being sent in clear text over the network. That's the crazy logic of today's world. Incidentally, I do consider a grocery list to be sensitive information. What about if a healthcare company sees your grocery list and decides to increase your healthcare payments because they see you eat too many sugary or fatty foods?
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  13. @hitogokochi So what, the core principle is the same. If the web site just consisted of millions of static web pages, rather than dynamic content, my browser would spend less processing time and power loading each page, and therefore less electrical cost, to render the page. Therefore the cost to me is higher when the web site gives my browser more to do. The principle is the same.
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  14. You keep talking and see how far that gets you. Me, I'll be here making and reconfiguring stuff, actually doing something practical to protect my data.
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  15.  @manicmarauder  I don't care. Paying a $70 entry fee for the permission to pay even more money to buy DLC for the next 18 months in the hope that I get a finished game at the end of it is not my idea of "fun". If self-entitled gamer-brats can't grow backbones and not buy into this "games as a service" nonsense then they deserve all that they get. "A fool and his money are easily parted".
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  16.  @crazysquirrel9425  Yes, so is using a carrier pigeon with a message tied to its leg.
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  17.  @JPs-q1o  I've been using Linux since 1996 and I compile my own kernels, but I have no idea what a "Kernel CoC" is. Would you care to enlighten me because it's not my job to go do "homework" and research to work out what it is your on about. Why don't you just make the assumption that some of your readers might not know the meaning of a "Three Letter Acronym" you're using and therefore have enough respect for them to explain your words better. Many thanks.
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  18. ​ @Dee-Ell  "lol how naive" I am always very pleased when replies that appear to be a bit long just let me decide in the first three words whether or not it's worth continuing - in your case I did not continue beyond them so you wasted your time writing the rest of it. Two points that may help you engaging with others on here in the future: 1. If you are going to make a lame (and ultimately failed) attempt to attack someone, then do it at the end of your comment because they will have read the rest of it by then, and 2. You've never met me, you've absolutely no concept of how my mind works and I'm here to talk about computing, not me - so your beliefs on my "naivety" are irrelevant to this discussion. So next time do try to keep up and stay on topic, there's a good lad. Discussion closed.
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  19.  @flashrandom  Probably, but "proposed legislation" and "actual legislation" are two very different things. And, once again, how are you going to make that legislation global when the world hasn't been able to agree on a single piece of legislation that keeps minors away from adult material on the Internet for over 20 years?
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  20. Well, the keyboards would cost a lot more and some smart engineer somewhere would post on social media "Hey, do you know this ACME keyboard has an OS built into it? Maybe we shouldn't be using it".
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  21. Never trust someone with an avatar of a St. George's Cross which is a symbol that has been stolen by the swivel-eyed loonies on the far right.
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  22. You are safer using any Open Source software that comes from a trusted source (like a distro provider's package manager) than closed source software. Firefox and Thunderbird are both Open Source.
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  23. @@markaspen If it's in the GPU driver for Linux then it's also in the GPU driver for Linux anyway. But you're talking complete rubbish because there are security experts over the world constantly doing packet traces on systems to see what they send out over the network at certain times, and that's the case for Linux or you beloved, bloated and privacy-hating Windows. Sure you may not be able to see what is inside an encrypted packet but you can see where it's going to and then you can start asking questions of the manufacturer anyway. This is one thing you forget in your blind Windows fanboy-ism - it applies for both OSes in Linux for adults and Windows for kiddies.
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  24. "Next stop, mandatory hardware module embedded in the CPU that scans everything regardless of the OS." So don't buy those CPUs then. For what reason would this be made mandatory? It's the same reason that for 20 years the world hasn't found a way to keep adult material away from the eyes of minors on the Internet - because nobody can agree a single piece of global legislation to make it happen.
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  25. Impossible to do. The same example that I've mentioned twice here previously - in 20 years, world governments can't even work out a single piece of legislation to keep adult content away from minors on the Internet. How do you think they'll work out a single piece of legislation to control source code?
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  26.  @DarkerCry  Then don't use Linux, what else do you want people to say here? You didn't come into this world knowing how to use a Windows PC or Mac either - at some point you spent time at school, work, college or just at home either being taught how to use it or just learning on your own. Everyone who says "Linux is too difficult" seems to forget that one simple point - so if you don't give Linux the same time and effort to learn how it works, then you are not going to be able to use it, are you? I've been with computers at home and work for 40+ years now, I use Linux on my computers (a little bit of FreeBSD too) and de-Googled Android on my mobile devices. No Windows, I get everything I need to done without it. Nobody is going to "wipe your backside" for you here, you need to find this out for yourself - there are a HUGE number of Linux tutorials on YouTube to start with.
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  27.  @volvodude101  I use Gentoo Linux and I have done for 20 years. I use it because it has a very high degree of customisation and it runs on many different platforms - in my home, everything from a Raspberry Pi Zero to a multi-CPU Xeon server. I would not discourage anyone from trying it, the installation manual is very good - but it has got a steep learning curve. I normally recommend Linux Mint to newbies.
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  28.  @annasword5042  No, not at all. I think you're just jealous of those of us who are clever enough to use it. Linux is not for lazy people.
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  29. @@markaspen "Linux was trying hard to become popular in the last two decades." It kicked Microsoft's a$$ in the server space, didn't it, Mark Aspen? "But Windows is still the most popular OS in the world." Incorrect. Android is the most widely installed OS across the globe. "People complain, but use Windows. Complain but use it." That's right, nothing like sitting there behind your keyboard and just whining about it, while doing nothing to stop Windows hatred of your privacy. "Because Linux is millions of times harder to use than Windows." Then that makes me a million times more intelligent than you, Mark Aspen who can't even create a pseudonym on here. I will take that as a compliment.
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  30. It is protected because nothing stealthy can be done on it. The source code for the various components of Linux is "Open Source" which means that people who are much better at coding than most of us can scrutinise the code - they can modify it too but modifications are controlled through software version control systems. It's called "peer review" and that is its main strength.
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  31.  @blar2112  I don't even know what that means.
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  32. You do a threat analysis and decide which hardware is open enough for you to trust it, and which hardware isn't. That gives you a basis for building computers that minimise what you consider to be a threat. I would argue that if hardware back doors were a big problem then many of them would have been discovered by now - because there are many clever people out there who would love to expose big corporations like Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, etc. for doing something nefarious. The security risk is extremely low through proprietary drivers - the bigger risk is system instabilities and crashing.
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  33.  @lordxan1  Clearly the drugs aren't working...
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  34.  @SDsc0rch  What plot is that twisting precisely? What have virtual machines got to do with any of this anyway?
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  35. No, they can't do that. It's the same for in over 20 years now, there's no single piece of legislation that can be agreed globally that keeps adult material away from minors on the Internet. You'd think that would be an easy piece of legislation for the entire world to agree on, but where is it? How are 200 or so countries going to all agree that all devices are locked down all at the same time?
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  36.  @familyplans3788  I have no time for either of those two morons, or for celebrity culture in general. I have things called "hobbies" to occupy my time without needing to waste it on voyeurism of people not worthy of such focus.
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  37. What is?
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  38. And a book about serial killers relates to computer encryption in what way?
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  39. It won't happen - in 20 years, world governments haven't been able to work out a single and good piece of legislation to keep adult material away from the eyes of minors on the Internet, something no voter for any of those governments would ever disagree with being implemented. So this idea that they can somehow agree on "specific" Internet services is madness - the Internet exists because of OPEN standards in RFCs, it is essentially "design by committee" that works in this case (albeit Web 2.0 sucks).
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  40. @@markaspen See my other response to this nonsense comment that you have just cut and pasted from elsewhere.
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  41. @@markaspen Run along now, sonny, mind how you go and stay away from sharp scissors. Discussion closed, come back and speak to me with about 20 years more experience under your belt.
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  42. "Hardware Custom Style Sheets"?
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  43. @@markaspen From the Tor wiki page: "The core principle of Tor, onion routing, was developed in the mid-1990s by United States Naval Research Laboratory employees, mathematician Paul Syverson, and computer scientists Michael G. Reed and David Goldschlag, to protect American intelligence communications online." Why are you even trusting the Internet now, Mark Aspen? Because that was invented by the US Department of Defense.
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  44. "I think these laws have nothing to do with your OS, although it's true that Winblows uploads a lot of stuff to the cloud and calls home, often without your consent." I haven't been a Windows user since support for Windows 7 ended but I don't believe this is done "without consent". There will be "legalese" inside the Microsoft EULAs that nobody ever reads anyway that will cover them taking that data. "I think the problem has more to do with user activity online and in that regard, it would be wiser to just flip a birdie to your governments and use tor or even start thinking about moving to projects like Veilid once it's completed, because that is the future." That's my opinion also - once governments try to impose restrictions on the masses, "the best of them" will find ways to get around such restrictions. It would be interesting to know how many citizens in China or the Middle East manage to get around the "government firewalls" that limit their access to the Internet. "If these people really wanted to protect children as they claim, they would put more effort into discouraging children from being online instead of trying to force everyone to be online by uploading their personal data to the "cloud" and making everything digital or offering it as a service." But that's the core point, isn't it? In 20+ years, global governments haven't been able to come up with a single piece of agreed legislation that keeps minors away from adult material on the Internet - a restriction that I am sure every single one of us would consider to be a good thing. If they can't even solve that problem, how are they going to ultimately agree on global encryption standards (or lack of encryption) when each government treats every other one with suspicion?
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  45.  @annasword5042  "What makes you think that his nickname is his real name?!" What makes you think it's not? "What is you IQ level?!" None of your business. "And you try to teach others about tech..." I teach nobody here. I provide advice based on 40+ years in the telecoms, IT and cybersecurity industry due to being interested in the discussions here. Mobile security and privacy was a weakness of mine, I have learned much from Rob in three years of watching his content, I am very grateful to him for that content. My job as a "good Internet citizen" is done when I post information here, I can sleep soundly at night at that point. Whether you follow my advice or ignore it is of no consequence to me - that is entirely your choice.
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  46.  @416shovel  "Why are you a silly person, making assumptions?" No, we're talking about computers, not me. "Me" is a topic you know nothing about, therefore you cannot debate "me". I didn't read the rest of your whining, the first sentence was enough. You wasted your time writing the rest of it. Next time do try to keep up and stay on topic, there's a good chap. Run along now, mind how you go and stay away from sharp scissors. Discussion closed.
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  47. I bet they are all quaking in their boots...
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  48. @@markaspen One question - why are you here in Rob's channel using your real name? You're claiming to have all of this knowledge of the insecurities of Linux but you haven't even done "Baby's First Steps in Security" here and chosen a pseudonym. Why is that, Mark Aspen?
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  49. So you're not going to do anything then, because there's no point?
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  50.  @chloe-sunshine7  My thoughts exactly, hence questioning the comment.
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  51. There is native support for NTFS, you need to do some research and look up the FUSE filesystem application in Linux. There is a degree of kernel support in Linux but I don't think the driver in the kernel is worked on that much any more because filesystem stuff tends to be done in userspace anyway.
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  52. @@markaspen "The sole fact of using Linux will not make you safer than nasa." Who mentioned NASA in the first place? Why is NASA even relevant to this discussion?
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  53.  @jeffharmed1616  What you believe is up to you. What I said to you previously remains unchanged. Yes, I compile kernel source code all of the time, that's how you do things in Gentoo Linux, the distro that I use. But I download my kernel sources from a trusted repository so I can be extremely confident that there is no malware within it.
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  54. @@markaspen "Hardware rules over the firmware, firmware rules over the bootloader, The bootloader rules over the OS, the OS rules over the apps." No idea what you are talking about.
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  55. @@markaspen "Why you don't warn people about proprietary closed source drivers on Linux?" Why don't you warn people about it? Am I some kind of "monkey boy" here to do your bidding? You've not posted anything of any relevance in the last three comments of yours that I have read through, so let's see you "buck the trend" now and actually post something that makes some sense. You sound like a person whose only knowledge of Linux is "that what a bloke in the pub" told him about it - i.e. very little. Come on then, let's see how much you actually know.
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  56. @@markaspen BIOS is irrelevant to this discussion.
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  57.  @bobwreck3775  Rubbish! Once again, let me repeat - global governments haven't got their a$$es into gear to work out a single piece of good legislation to keep adult material away from minors on the Internet in more than 20 years, a concept that I don't think any single person in the world would be against. If they can't even get through a piece of legislation that nobody disagrees with, how can you seriously believe they can get legislation through on encryption and "back door" when you've got governments in the USA, Europe, Russia and China that are all suspicious of each other's motives anyway? So stop with the conspiracy theories - it won't happen, especially as the entire Internet is built on Open Standards anyway, and no single closed standard is something all of the governments of the world could ever agree upon anyway.
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  58.  @Keymechanical  No, that's silly, because then you will never do anything. You create "threat models" by working out attack vectors and likelihood of attack - that in turn dictates how much trust you can put into each option or system.
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  59. And let me guess.... when they take their masks off, they reveal themselves to be lizards...
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  60.  @awomandoesnothaveapenis  "Code of Conduct, supposed to stop “people saying mean things” Let me stop you there, I didn't read any further. We're not discussing "me", you've never met "me" and therefore it's not a topic you can talk about with any authority. Besides, you clearly have your own issues obsessing about women with penises so you're probably not someone in a position to judge others anyway. Next time we meet, do try to keep up and stay on topic, okay? Run along now, mind how you go and stay away from sharp scissors, sonny. Discussion closed, go and obsess more about todgers.
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  61.  @JPs-q1o  "So you compile your own kernel from source but somehow it's MY job to check the changelogs and inspect the source files for you because you don't do your own "homework"?" I don't care what you do, that's up to you. If that's how you interpret the words I said, so be it. I didn't read beyond that point, you wasted your time writing the rest of it as an attempt to "grandstand" to a complete stranger on the Internet. Run along now. Discussion closed.
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  62.  @remigiuszbloch  Are you aware that I don't answer the questions of strangers on the Internet? Run along now, don't let me keep you any longer.
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  63.  @peterlittlehorse5695  "And it's all a sham because they have backdoor access to all the machines anyway." Incorrect because you miss out one extremely important and very relevant point - that with ever computer and computing device that gets released, particularly those linked to big corporations like Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Faecesbook, there are many thousands of people across the globe taking those devices apart, testing them and trying to expose flaws in their design - if for nothing more than because the kudos for exposing one of these big names as "evil" through some nefarious activities would be huge. Intel Management Engine, for example, has known POTENTIAL flaws that we should be aware of and we should protect against with firewalls and network access controls, but there are NO known real world exploits that have taken place using it - and had there been, they would have been exposed because of the people working very hard in the public space to find such things. "Even computers that are not connected to the internet are spied upon by a sub-processor within all of the computer chips manufactured since the early 2000's because these chips connect to the cell network, unbeknownst to the owner of the phone or computer." Utter nonsense which tells me you have no idea how the technology works, or you're just a paranoid loony - or both. A signal traveling down a piece of wire from point A to point B creates a detectable series of voltage changes. A signal traveling through the air from point A to point B is a detectable electromagnetic wave. Mirroring a switch port or creating a "man in the middle" access point is a very easy thing to do and allows you to look at all traffic going to and from the device you are looking at - as above, thousands of people are doing this all of the time anyway. So, again, if this was happening, many people would have seen it happening and let the rest of us know. "Nothing is hidden from them if they want to see it." Incorrect. Data can be hidden from them if you encrypt it with good encryption keys and ONLY YOU control those encryption keys. The metadata associated to that encrypted data can reveal a lot about you but this is where VPN and Tor help - as well as counteracting browser fingerprinting and cookies. These are all techniques that Rob has been teaching for years anyway, where have you been? "So them claiming that they have a right to demand your passwords is just a sham designed primarily to reinforce the peoples belief that their computers are secure otherwise." Wrong. They are demanding your passwords and your encryption keys because the LOONY ideas that you've ranted on about above are near impossible to implement in the real world for the reasons I have given. Having those to hand would mean they don't need the back doors that you claim exist anyway - so you're contradicting your own arguments because they would not request passwords and encryption keys if they had those back doors. "Remember a few years back when Apple and Blackberry were supposedly in negotiations with the government as to whether or not they would allow the government to have access to the encrypted communications massaging systems?" "Supposed to be"... so you've no evidence that it actually happened, then? Only hearsay? "Think about that for a minute." I have. You're a paranoid loony that doesn't understand how the technology works and how it can be intercepted - POTENTIALLY by governments, corporations and individuals. "Do you really believe that these companies would for a minute not comply with everything that the government demanded of them?" I believe these companies care about profits which depend upon maintaining their reputations and not paying millions of dollars in fines because of GDPR or PCI-DSS data breaches. They also employ teams of well-paid lawyers such that if we accuse them of data theft then they can point to a bit of small print in an EULA to say "but we told you that here". Data breaches occur because of bad internal processes and an unwillingness by corporations to spend money on the correct mitigations to avoid such things happening in the first place - but they also cannot hand over that data to anyone who asks for it, which is why search warrants and subpoenas are needed through legal means to get access to data in criminal investigations. Ultimately, the individual is responsible for protecting their own data and if they do not trust a particular company, then they should not deal with them. "When is the last time any company simply thumbed it's nose at a court order or government decree? Never." What's that got to do with anything you've said here? I see a "straw man" argument. "In this day and age of the Patriot Act, be serious." No government wants to spend tax payers' money on law enforcement or crime detection because high taxes lose votes - human officers are the biggest cost in that. Automated systems that collect and analyse logs and recordings are far cheaper to deploy, but to be effective they have to capture and analyse everything possible. Therefore the government wants our PERMISSION to analyse everything that we do and uses the "think of the children" argument to justify it. It is right that we continue to fight against that, and to use encryption and obfuscation as much as possible. That is down to all of us to understand the technology and to become better informed - that is what Rob does here, he provides that information. "These 'negotiations' were nothing more than 'fake news' with the intent of making people believe that these companies were on their side and that the government is limited in what capabilities they have for spying on the population." And you, Trump and any loony on social media can claim any piece of news is fake, so it's a completely meaningless point that you finished with anyway. The solution is to be better informed and "read between the lines" of any information that comes from a source that you don't trust. In summary, you're "all mouth but no trousers" as we say where I am from - lots of words whining about the problem but nothing about solving the problems.
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  64. That's not true. Once you have unlocked the bootloader to put a custom OS on it like Lineage OS, then any capability to remotely lock the bootloader has been nullified anyway.
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  65.  @genkiferal7178  You can make assumptions about absolutely anything - but I am an engineer and therefore try to deal in facts at all times. If there are occasions when facts are yet to be obtained, then reasoned discussion and argument are the next best thing.
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  66.  @brentsummers7377  I disagree. ChromeOS is nothing like Linux, I would suggest it works far more like Android. ChromeOS happens to be based on Gentoo Linux, which is my Linux of choice, and it's a demonstration of how something good can be turned into privacy-hating rubbish by Google. No, I would never use ChromeOS and my recommendation to others is not to use it either.
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  67. No, you need to get off your lazy a$$ and learn how to use it. Nobody's going to be delivering Linux to "Your Majesty" on a silver platter. Use it or don't use it. Your choice.
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  68. Encryption - and not having untrustworthy OSes that phone everything about your PC home to Microsoft, Apple, Google or the government. And hosting more stuff yourself (which Linux lets you do) with less reliance on Cloud services. There, easy. I bet you're glad you asked now.
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  69.  @xCheddarB0b42x  Sure, if it works for you then go have some fun! But the last thing I want to see is a newbie trying to do it, breaking their PC completely, and then blaming Linux for it.
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  70.  @moviedadmoviedad5471  Yes, absolutely. I delegate that even lazy people should be responsible for their own privacy and security - feel free to sue me.
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  71. And if you're not on GPS but on wifi or Ethernet connected to the Internet via an ISP router?
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  72.  @mrtuk4282  That's good to hear. It doesn't matter what distro you choose, it's whatever works for you. I've never used Pop-OS but I have heard good things about it. I use Gentoo Linux personally but it is a more "advanced" OS that takes time to learn but works well with my "engineer's brain". When I build systems for new Linux people, I usually give them Linux Mint and that seems to be a good starter distro for a lot of people.
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  73. @@markaspen "But don't forget to enable the windows firewall in Ubuntu, because it comes deactivated by default. Ask strangers in forums how to do it." Why do you need Windows firewall in Linux? It has its own kernel based firewall called "iptables" or "firewalld" that has done a perfectly good job for over 30 years without needing any of Microsoft's bloated and proprietary rubbish. I smell Windows fanboy who is feeling a bit butthurt.
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  74. @@markaspen "But don't forget to enable the windows firewall in Ubuntu" The one in your own words, Mark Aspen. I must admit, I had no idea what you were on about either, but I don't use Ubuntu. I'm not smoking anything, sonny. I'm sat here with a big box of popcorn and laughing at the complete clown show you are in front of me. Next point? I don't think I've made you look ridiculous enough yet.
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  75. @@markaspen "Oh, must be a typo." Good, an admission of error on your part. I'll take that as an apology from you. "I will let it that way for everybody to see." You do what you like, I already just see a clown. "Because it is a typo." It's called "due diligence", one of the first things you need to be a successful engineer. Proof reading is your friend here. "On Ubuntu I use ufw." I could care less.
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  76. The rise of RISC V processors is going to be the closest that we have to a practical and Open Source Hardware platform. ARM processors in mobile devices are a licensed design, RISC V is truly free and open. Unfortunately, that's not the difficult part to resolve. You need peripheral devices to connect to the CPU to give you necessary things like wifi connectivity, and wifi chips are made by specific manufacturers, are usually closed in nature and rely on firmware provided by those same manufacturers - that firmware is usually closed source, like that in baseband modems in phones, and therefore cannot be fully trusted. Manufacturers are going to be very reluctant to spend a lot of money on R&D to develop new hardware but then hand all of the design specifications over to the general public to scrutinise.
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  77. PS. The good bit of news I can tell you is that any of these devices can be connected to pass data through traffic analysers so a lot of good people out there can see what these devices are doing when they communicate across the Internet - sometimes the data sent is encrypted to not be readable but you can always see that a data packet was, say, going to Apple, so you know something is going on.
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  78. @@markaspen "Somebody can put on the cable a transparent listening device. But it is really hard to do in practice." This year I celebrate my 17th year working in corporate cybersecurity. I am fully cognizant of threat models, penetration testing and packet sniffing. Go lecture someone else, Mark Aspen using his real name on here. "The spying gov hardware can detect some infringement, but keep it inside a log file." Yes, that's right, every computer system can log stuff. Well done. "When the person uses the internet next time, the device can smuggle its own packet in between the stream of useful data." No, because someone would have discovered that. There are countless computing engineers out there who would love to uncover some nefarious government plot, or Intel's Management Engine doing something it should not. "Theory" is not the same as "real world". "Some big specialist is required to do spot such a thing. And even if he spots it, it will never be a solid proof. Just unusual behavior of the packets on the cable." I have no idea what that even means. Just made up phrases to slap together another straw man conspiracy theory.
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  79. Rubbish! The Internet has deployed more and more encryption over the years if anything.
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  80. Open Source protects itself, by design. Don't you worry about it. You worry about learning to use it to protect your data.
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  81. @@markaspen "The hardware does not needs your OS to send data over the internet." But any information that is was sending out over the Internet would be detected by one of many computer engineers across the globe who are constantly checking for such things. If it was there, they would find it. "There are even bios that have a web browser inside." Yes, Mark Aspen, it's called iLO (Integrated Lights Out) in HP's case and its there to provide remote access to servers when there are problems. Other vendors have their own versions of it, but you only find it on server-level hardware, not on consumer-grade PCs. Another "straw man" argument, Mark?
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  82. @@markaspen "Notice, in order to use wpa3 on a wpa2 adapter you need to get a new hardware or very occasionally, if you have luck, you can update the firmware." The user doesn't update the firmware on a WLAN board, Mark Aspen. It's usually done automatically as part of the driver update, given that the driver version is normally tied to the firmware version anyway. Straw man argument again.
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  83. @@markaspen "Before it, there was System Management Mode of Intel. Inside the CPU. Not in a chipset. It is a totally transparent spy. It pauses the OS and reads everything. And the OS is not even being noticed in no way." There are no known real world exploits in Intel Management Engine, Mark Aspen, they are all theoretical. Yes, IME is not a good thing but, once again, if it sends anything out over a network then it can be detected and highlighted. There are thousands of computer engineers out there who would just love to jump on Intel or AMD if there really was bad stuff going on. Yet more straw-manning, Mark Aspen, who can't even set up a pseudonym for himself on YouTube.
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  84. Arch is "the poor man's Gentoo".
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  85. And how do you think "charging for clock cycles" works today, given that Javascript and the entire concept of modern web browsers is that your own browser downloads the components to build each web page and then does a degree of computation to finally render it? Who charges for that currently?
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  86.  @notjustforhackers4252  Indeed, you got there first. There are definitely a lot of people that "are quite ready" to take on learning Linux at this moment in time.
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  87. @hitogokochi "But that's why we pay for broadband, as opposed to dial-up" That's a side issue - we are talking about processing on the client side or the server side - how much bandwidth is available really isn't relevant to the discussion. "unfortunately, some bad comes with the good." That means nothing, it's a throwaway statement. "Anyway, it's a bit different to a third party hijacking our computers for nefarious ends." Why? How many people actually know what is being processed on their PC when they access a web site? Have you never heard of "drive-by attacks" when someone can me made to run malicious Javascript on their own PC from a seemingly innocent web site that has been compromised? What about ransomware? How does that get onto PCs? "There is worthless EU legislation, for example, forcing every website to tell its users that cookies are being stored on their computers, when browser fingerprinting is the real threat to online privacy, along with software calling home without our knowledge or consent." I am in the EU, it is very valid legislation and good for privacy. One does not negate the other, they are separate privacy techniques - one controls cookies, the other controls the browser identity. It's a bit like someone saying that you don't need seat belts in a car if you have airbags. Completely nonsensical logic that doesn't apply in the first place.
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  88. I don't personally use systemd on my own systems because I think it's bloated (but I work on Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers at work and they use it) but I am unaware of anyone considering it a vulnerability in its own right. Any application on any OS that does things over a network can be subject to vulnerabilities as people uncover bugs in the software - at which point the developer of the application should fix the bug and give you an update to apply. Systemd is a complicated application, but it is no more vulnerable than anything else might be.
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  89.  @SteelDown  I suggest you can do a bit of research - there are no known real world exploits related to IME, they are all theoretical and, sure, are grounded in fact but there has been nothing reported up to this point. There are countless computing engineers and security specialists out there who would love to be the first to catch Intel out on this, they are checking for nefarious packets going out on networks all of the time. If it was there, they would have found it. If your personal threat model means you cannot put any trust in any computer system then, yes, stay offline. But you're hardly following your own advice now, are you? Given that you're posting comments here.
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  90.  @acex222  He just doesn't understand Linux that well. I haven't run GNOME since GNOME 2 but gnome-keyring is still a useful component to run in XFCE, which is one of the desktops that I use a lot.
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  91.  @wrongun635  I like Mint. I don't use it myself (Gentoo is my distro of choice, and for 20 years now) but I always start newbies off with Mint when they ask me to install Linux for them.
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  92. No, because it's not scalable. It's easy to pay three companies - Apple, Microsoft and Google - to put back doors into their operating systems, but not so easy to get hundreds or thousands of hardware vendors to do it. Do you see Chinese hardware vendors falling in line with European or US legislation to put back doors into their firmware for their hardware? My friend, for 20 years now the world hasn't been able to get its "lazy a$$" together to work out a single piece of legislation that keeps online adult content away from the eyes of minors, or how to shut down rogue and scamming call centres in India. So how's it ever going to agree on a single way of putting back doors into all hardware that they all agree on. It's different with the US government doing it to US companies - like Apple, Microsoft and Google.
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  93.  @CnCDune  I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Like I said, use it or don't. Put in effort to learn it or don't. I respect you enough to choose what works for you, and whatever choice you make is of no consequence to me. Good, we're done here and you're welcome. Discussion closed.
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  94.  @DarkerCry  And you are more than welcome to voice your opinion of course. But in a public messaging space, you don't get to say what others can or cannot say here, unless you have no self awareness and don't see how that makes you sound very self-entitled and a complete hypocrite. Of course my experience counts for something here, absolutely! And I will mention that whenever I feel it's appropriate to add strength to my points. I do not have to take instructions from you on how to either make or not make my points. You are free to ignore my comments, or disbelieve them, I really don't care. This advice I give is done as a "good Internet citizen" and once it is written here, my job is done. If you choose not to take that advice, I will still sleep soundly tonight. Good, I'm glad that is sorted, and it's the last time we talk about "me" because you know nothing about "me" and therefore cannot debate the topic of "me". Next time stay on topic and do try to keep up, there's a good chap because we were talking about computers anyway. Discussion closed.
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  95. I am in the UK too, I am being "bombarded" by nothing that I do not want to be bombarded by.
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  96. They can't ban Open Source. That's it. Nothing more to be said.
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  97.  @paulosullivan3472  And that's you proving my point for me, right there. You clearly don't know what Open Source is and you clearly don't understand the concept of "Defence In Depth" where the whole point of protecting your data is about doing a number of things to put layers in place to stop someone getting to your data. Deploying Open Source and Linux is just one of those layers, you need to do other things too. You also don't get the Linux is attributed as one of the biggest distributed projects that mankind has ever done, it's a global phenomena. Yet 20 years later, our governments can work out a single piece of global legislation that keeps adult material away from minors on the Internet, and that's something we'd all be happy to see! So don't give me this cr*p about every government being trusting of every other government enough to make some single and unified decision to make global bans. You do not know what you are talking about.
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  98. FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD and I've built some really solid NAS systems for friends and family with it. It does have its uses.
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  99.  @austincromwell  "actually they already do it with Intel management engine. " There are no known real world security exploits with Intel Management Engine, they are all theoretical attack vectors and vulnerabilities. Yes, it would be much better that IME was not there in the first place but there are thousands of computer engineers across the world sniffing packets on networks to see exactly what goes in and out of computer systems - any one of them would love to be able to catch Intel (or other big corporations) out on this. If something was actually happening, they would find and reveal it. "An entire linux os embedded inside your Intel CPU." Incorrect, it runs on Minix 3 which is a micro-kernel architecture - it's not even an entire OS, it's an extremely cut down embedded system. This stuff is very easy to research so that you provide correct information in your comments. "Which high performance consumer hardware can I buy that doesn't have a CPU from one of the big three?" No idea. You decide what your threat model is and if you can't live with IME being present with an already proven low risk factor then that's something you have to work out. Nothing to do with me. "Which viable hardware manufacturers are going to ignore government mandates to include this tech in sll their products and remain in business?" And these "government mandates" are where precisely? In 20 years, global governments haven't been able to work out a single piece of legislation that keeps adult material away from the eyes of minors on the Internet - and you think they've "got their sh1t together" enough to carry out this conspiracy theory of yours?
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  100. @@markaspen Well done! Your first comment among many that I actually agree with.
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  101. Because everything that Ubuntu or Mint publishes is still Open Source and the source code they use is still subject to constant peer review. It changes nothing just because they hand over the binaries. Snaps in Ubuntu are potentially more dangerous because they can be hosted on third party servers and are at risk of malware - I believe there was the case of a bitcoin miner application finding its way into the snap repositories just the other day. I personally don't use "universal package managers" like snaps, appimages or nix because they bring in an unnecessary third party into package management.
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  102. Buying a Steam Deck does not make you a Linux expert in the same way that buying an X-Box doesn't make you a Windows expert (given that's what it runs too, or at least a variant of it). Only time and effort to learn it will make you an expert.
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  103.  @notjustforhackers4252  Sure, absolutely. But playing games on a Linux console doesn't make you more secure on the Internet. And if you're going to teach yourself Linux then do it on a 15-year old cheap-a$$ PC where it doesn't matter if you end up breaking it. Do you really need this kind of logical explanation written out for you? Can't you work this out for yourself?
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  104.  @sillysad3198  So your definition of the "Dunning Kruger" effect is when someone gives you the solution to a problem you highlight? That's a new one...
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  105. Then don't use it. But you being unwilling to put in time and effort to learn it (as you did with any OS you use today when you just forgot that you had to learn it at school, work, college or just playing around with it at home) is not a Linux problem - in the same way it wouldn't be the car's fault if you took one out for a drive before taking driving lessons. I think people like are actually just jealous of people like me who are that knowledgeable with computers that we can choose what OS we want to run - that's why people like you call us "gatekeepers", "elitists" or "toxic", because you actually find our knowledge and experience a threat.
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  106.  @notjustforhackers4252  A Steam Deck user is not necessarily a Linux user, in the same way a PlayStation 5 gamer probably hasn't got a clue about the OS that runs on that either. If it was designed as a device on which to learn Linux then Valve would not have hidden Linux as much as possible behind the Steam interface. If you like Steam Deck for what it is then go have some fun - but don't portray it as something that it isn't.
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  107.  @notjustforhackers4252  You know exactly what I am talking about, stop trying to play "verbal semantics". You can read my comments here again if you're a bit "hard of thinking" and they need a few attempts to sink in. Run along now, you've stuff to do for yourself to help you understand the world better.
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  108.  @dailykaizen8313  And that affects someone who has used Linux since 1996 and as his main OS since 2003 precisely how? I just find it funny that people that aren't clever enough to use Linux think that those of us who do use it have any interest as to whether is exists on 2% or 92% of desktops. The whole point of using Linux is to "think differently" about how to use computers. If all people like you do is only use what's popular, then clearly you're part of the "Hive Mind" and are then definitely not the right people to be using it anyway. So I think there's a "mutually beneficial equilibrium" here - you don't want to use Linux and we in the Linux community don't really want you using it, because we want to help people who do want to put in time and effort to learn it.
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  109.  @annasword5042  If you want to put words into my mouth and then argue against them, then only you look foolish. We all came into this world knowing nothing, the only difference between a newbie and an expert is the amount of time and effort both put into learning something new. But ultimately, you possess no self awareness and you're just bitter and twisted that someone knows something more about a topic than you do but you're not willing to take on the challenge of getting your knowledge to their level. Whether that's just laziness or self entitlement, I don't know - and I care even less. I have no interest, for example, in learning to ride a horse. But I don't hang around equestrian channels on YouTube posting comments about how everyone in there is wasting their time because I know that, to them, I'd look like an idiot - and it's my having self awareness and self respect that stops me doing it. "The shoe is on the other foot" in this case. If you have no interest in Linux then what benefit do you get coming in here and trying to disrupt those of us who do? The only motivation for that can be your own jealousy and small mindedness in recognising a community that could ultimately care less about what you do or say - and that's your issue to resolve. I'm done with you now, you look very silly and sound very bitter. Run along now. Discussion closed.
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  110.  @dailykaizen8313  "omg this is so typical of penguin heads." Sure, that's just makes two of you that prove my argument for me. Am I sat here calling you "WindowsHeads" or "MacHeads"? No, because I am not jealous of people who use either OS or know more about them than I do. I simply don't care about what they use. You and your new "pretend Internet friend" make this too easy for me - your feelings of self entitlement completely overwhelm any feelings of self awareness to the point where neither of you can see how you're just a pair of jealous and spoiled brats. I also stopped painting little faces around words that I write when I got to age seven and first learned joined-up writing. Just saying - people that write English like a teenager probably should stay away from the Linux command line.
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  111.  @dailykaizen8313  "you asked how it affects long time Linux users... here is the answer." Let me stop you there, I didn't read the rest of your comment. I asked you nothing. I don't care about your opinions, do you have "learning difficulties" or something, because I made that clear in my last reply to you? Let me make this easy for you - run along, mind how you go and stay away from sharp scissors. Discussion closed.
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  112. Nothing stops you attaching a bluetooth mic and speaker to the phone, putting the call on hands free on that and then just recording the audio that way. We used to call capture over the network when I first got into VoIP about 20 years ago but encryption is used on most calls these days to stop packet sniffing. But the "low tech" method I suggested first should work.
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  113.  @bulbousblues1  You're welcome.
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  114.  @thomasdobson3823  ...and you choose to procrastinate and talk a lot?
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