About Alexa, privacy and other such matters

Lounge
21

Excuse me??!!
I wasn’t exactly addressing my post to you. I commented on what I saw happening here, yes! Partly due to what you wrote as well.

Me, the one who left and the rest of the users, aren’t we part of the EnOS? As far as I can tell, he wasn’t trying to sell the product through this site. You made your point and he said he didn’t care. But things didn’t stop there.

So please if that is the attitude you have towards anyone who wouldn’t follow your (EnOS?) philosophy to the letter, make a note on the download page so they don’t bother the dowload let alone using it.

I care too much about my personal freedom and freedom of choice. I make my own mistakes and learn from them. But I can’t stand someone shoving some philosophy or other down my throat for my own good.

Feel free not to respond! I am out!

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22

Privacy is often a divisive topic.

Well intentioned attempts to educate often turn into heated debates.

The problem is, it is difficult to avoid. The largest threat to privacy is ignorance. The groups that understand the privacy implications and either do or don’t care are both in the minority. The reality is that most people don’t understand the depths to which privacy is being attacked.

I respect the decisions of people who do understand the situation and have decided it is not priority. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth spending the time to educate others.

Forums like these are more than a communication between two people. They are visible to a broad audience who reads them later. Presenting all sides of debate so people can decide for themselves seems worthwhile to me.

If the poster of that item did not want to hear it, that doesn’t invalidate someone making alternative points. It also wasn’t an attack on the individual.

In the end, they decided to leave over a handful of posts and that is certainly their choice as well. However, they were in no way forced out and when the account was anonymized at their request it was made clear they were welcome back at any time if they wished to return.

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23

I also think that we should all remember that this a new year, and taking issue with how a point is made (perhaps in a second language?) is not how we operate here. Make sure there is not another way to take a statement rather than the first to spring to mind…

Happy New Year everyone…?

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24

You made your point and he said he didn’t care. But things didn’t stop there.

He told more than that:

Meh… Honestly, I don’t care if Amazon spies my data. Google also does on Android and we all use Android smartphones. We wouldn’t use anything if we cared that much about privacy.

Pity that he left here for that without trying to understand, but the nature of EndeavourOS is exactly a place where you know we care about private data, it’s in our ADN sorry if you see this as paternalism, it’s not.

I’m agree with you that I would prefer that @anon61999451 stayed here, unfortunately is not the first and wouldn’t be the last one to leave, it happened few times already, sometimes thing goes wrong. Let’s hope he will come back and reread all to see that there is no critics on his buying or a desire to break his pleasure but only an information about this product.

Then to finish with it, this subject is very sensitive today, there are 2 sides, the one who don’t care and the others who care on private data. It wasn’t a crime to remember that EndeavourOS cares about your privacy.

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25

@dalto please anonymize my account. Immediately. Thank you.

26

Oh, come on, please! Not you too! Please reconsider! This is going too far and I am truly sorry for my own part in it.

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27

@dalto please anonymize my account as well. Thanks

28

The thing is, you are about as polite in your responses as a shotgun to the face. If someone says they don’t care, DROP IT. This isn’t a security forum. It’s a forum for discussing an OS. It’s ok to let someone know, it’s not OK (IMO) TO HARP HARP HARP on it, AGAIN AND AGAIN so that you make people sick and tired of hearing it and they leave rather than continue to deal with you. I mean, I nearly want to quit the forums because you’re so authoritarianistic in your attitude and unweilding in your stance of “I was rigth, EVERYONE ELSE is WRONG!!!”

It doesn’t matter who’s right, EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO THEIR OWN OPINION. And you don’t have the right to try to ENFORCE your beliefs on someone else.

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29

Please don’t get me wrong! I do have privacy concerns. To such an extent and perhaps to my own detriment that for many years I refused to have anything to do with “smart” phones and personal computers. I had reduced my “online” need to a bare minimum that I took care of by using the computers in my local public library. Things changed and here I am…

To tell you the truth, I have been thinking to post a thread for asking for recommendations and instructions on how to harden/lockdown a Linux system for the best security and privacy.

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30

@BONK and other moderators, can we please break off the privacy discussion of this thread (posts 366-376 and 384-403) to a new topic? Let’s get this back to the fun sharing of purchases with our community and save these kinds of discussions for another thread.

Thank you.

Linesma

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31

Well my opinion is that privacy shouldn’t be discussed alone . Freedom gives us privacy i.e. the right to choose what we show or hide or share . That’s the main problem with google or amazon or facebook , etc . They don’t give us a choice . I know most people don’t care about privacy and some do very much . And between these two extremes there are a lot of people too . So our discussions should include these two ideas ( 1.start the discussion talking about freedom 2.try to find out where does the other guy fall in that wide spectrum )

Most importantly sometimes people say I don’t care with knowing everything and that’s part of their freedom and privacy , so we privacy advocates should stop our counseling session right there :grin:

OK I am out , bye bye
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32

And there’s still this elephant in the room whose first name is thin-skinned and last name is drama.

scnr

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33

Tech invading our privacy is a serious concern. I do believe that. But the more you try to get free of these wires, the more you need to work hard. And an average user still isn’t dedicated enough to fight for their privacy/security - me included.

Thats not saying that I don’t care for privacy at all. I’ve been trying to leave google services one by one. The only Google service I am a heavy user of right now is YouTube, because I still listen most of my music from there. I made to switch from windows to linux for good. I don’t plan to purchase an Alexa or any similar spy hardware. As one forum member did earlier, I also tell alexa buyers that they invested their money to purchase a high-tech snooping device. Some don’t care. Others are offended. Most of the people I know who have purchased Alexa use it only to play music. I’d prefer investing money in a speaker that doesn’t need to snoop on me and is more legitimate.

But can everyone understand this? We know the answer. These devices are going to be more popular than what I expected.

The more I learn, the more I feel insecure. I watched a video from Mental Outlaw about Intel Management Engine. And that makes me more paranoid.

I will learn, and hopefully evolve into having more care and respect for freedom.

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34

I believe we’re living in anti-utopia already, because…

2021 controversy on Linux forum in a nutshell:

a. I’ve bought this thing shiny new thing!
b. This thing’s only purpose is to spy on you and everyone around you.
a. But i don’t care, that’s my opinion you shouldn’t enforce yours on everyone!
b. I’m not enforcing anything, this is truth and it may be useful at least for those who may find it later and may want to research, you’re not alone in here.
a. I’m leaving!!1
…
c. I’m leaving too!!1
d. Please count me in!!11

I’m sorry, but that’s just ridiculous.
It’s pure linguistic manipulation, have nothing to do with politics, controversy or even perceived personal opinion.

Some just prefer to leave for no real reason, rather than actually engage in meaningful discussion.
I guess it’s not hard to think of why that happens and it is sad.

I could understand, if it were the case of opinion vs opinion, but it is a case of knowledge vs slavery.

Surely if it was some subject like:

a. Hey, i’ve decided to shot my face off!
b. I wouldn’t recommend it, as it’s bad for health…

Nobody would even try such cheap tricks to manipulate whole subject, but for some reason privacy is considered a grey area of controversy even on Linux forum, for crying out loud! :clown_face:

I say privacy is essential for our survival already (look at some regions of China, as glaring example of why), and with current level of “ignorance is bliss” mentality next 10-20 years it will be crucial all over the World for survival, even for those who think that it’s fine now.

P.S. I’d be very sad, if it weren’t for some irony to find in that and laugh on… :woozy_face:

Tux was pretty smart fellow to live in south pole :penguin:

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35

Yeah, those CCCHHHinese! How about

Number of cameras

The vast majority of CCTV cameras are not operated by government bodies, but by private individuals or companies, especially to monitor the interiors of shops and businesses. According to 2011 Freedom of Information Act requests, the total number of local government operated CCTV cameras was around 52,000 over the entirety of the UK.[108]

An article published in CCTV Image magazine estimated the number of private and local government operated cameras in the United Kingdom was 1.85 million in 2011. The estimate was based on extrapolating from a comprehensive survey of public and private cameras within the Cheshire Constabulary jurisdiction. This works out as an average of one camera for every 32 people in the UK, although the density of cameras varies greatly from place to place. The Cheshire report also claims that the average person on a typical day would be seen by 70 CCTV cameras.[25]

The Cheshire figure is regarded as more dependable than a previous study by Michael McCahill and Clive Norris of UrbanEye published in 2002.[25][109] Based on a small sample in Putney High Street, McCahill and Norris extrapolated the number of surveillance cameras in Greater London to be around 500,000 and the total number of cameras in the UK to be around 4,200,000. According to their estimate the UK has one camera for every 14 people. Although it has been acknowledged for several years that the methodology behind this figure is flawed,[24] it has been widely quoted. Furthermore, the figure of 500,000 for Greater London is often confused with the figure for the police and local government operated cameras in the City of London, which was about 650 in 2011.[108]

The CCTV User Group estimated that there were around 1.5 million private and local government CCTV cameras in city centres, stations, airports, and major retail areas in the UK.[110] This figure does not include the smaller surveillance systems such as those that may be found in local corner shops and is therefore broadly in line with the Cheshire report.

Research conducted by the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research and based on a survey of all Scottish local authorities, identified that there were over 2,200 public space CCTV cameras in Scotland.[111]

Just the other day, I heard on my “mainstream” :crazy_face: public radio channel that the number is one camera for every 11 persons.

But you know, those CCHHInese!
:sweat_smile:

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36

Yep UK was first to introduce such insane amounts of surveillance on the streets long ago, however it’s not about survival in there YET :upside_down_face:

When i was in London somewhere around 2006 i already had feeling of Big Brother watching every move…And he did :sweat_smile:

Btw, I thought by now it should be 11 cameras for each 1 person :rofl:

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37

Be patient, it’s January the 4th still.

BTW, keep a “vigilant” :upside_down_face: eye on this company from Sweden (what …Sweden??) behind many cameras around the world including many in China:

So let’s do some business first, and then we might chitchat about Human Rights (what would the public opinion back home think if we wouldn’t) over a fine cup of 西湖龙井茶.

ps.

Most of its products contain an embedded computer with some flash memory and run a custom version of Linux.
:clown_face:

38

I can tell you who the biggest spy of’em all is. It is…our cat. She knows exactly what we are doing and when the most inappropriate moment is to put a big … in her cat toilet :heart_eyes_cat:.

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39

Marginally off topic but I have tried several times to “de-google” my life. I set up a nextcloud server - good learning experience - but the calendar app couldn’t handle editing recurring appointments. Tried moving to MS but couldn’t emded an outlook calendar agenda view into my website etc etc. Always something. Google for the most part just works but I would not have an active smart speaker from google/amazon/apple under any circumstances!

40

and what is wrong with mycroft?