[Tfug] [Bulk] Re: Stallman vs Ubuntu

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Rich,

On 12/15/2012 6:51 AM, Rich Smit wrote:
> Sure, Ubuntu is invasive to your privacy … so long as you pay for
> everything with cash, didn't have to submit to a background check to get
> your job, don't ever drive through a CCTV monitored revenue trap, keep your
> cellphone switched off until you need it, and definitely never post photos
> online that you took with a smartphone. So that about narrows it down to
> one individual who (unfortunately) shares my first name.

The problem with "spyware" (whether clandestine or acknowledged)
is that it is insidious.  It watches (or *can* watch) EVERYTHING!

You can *decide* to pay with a credit card or cash on a transaction
by transaction basis.  You can opt to apply for a job that will require
a background check -- or not.  You can avoid traveling roads with
photoenforcement -- or not.  You can opt to leave your cellphone
on -- or off.  And, you can opt to take a photo -- or not.  Each
"item" is a conscious decision on your part -- to trade *your*
convenience for *your* privacy.  I've never been arrested, active in
any industry or job that *required* such a check or otherwise "brought
to the attention of law enforcement" -- yet my fingerprints are "on
file".  A choice I had to make...

Spyware happens continuously.  It doesn't just track the fact that
you spent $27.43 at Target -- it tracks the *items* that you purchased,
which cashier handled your purchase and what other departments you
visited while in the store (as well as any people you may have spoken
to while there, what you said and the clothes you were wearing!).

Do you remember what the terms were for each smartphone app that
you installed?  Or, just that they "seemed OK (-ish)" at the time
you installed it?  Perhaps your eagerness to play with the app
overrode any concerns you might have had regarding the issues
that were raised in the agreement.

When you signed up for that "store card", it was for the appeal
of "special sale prices" ("Ooooh!  3c off on bananas!").  There
didn't seem to be any downside to the decision (obviously, the
store has your best interests at heart, eh?  :> ).  Six months
later, the good prices are gone -- replaced by the same general
"sale" prices that the other, "non-card" stores have (except
you *need* that card in order to keep shopping at that store!).

When my sister went through her divorce, I was able to tell her
lawyer *who* her husband was "playing around with", the days that
he had "skipped work" to engage in trysts -- along with *where*
those took place!  All from the convenience of *my* home 2000
miles away!  Imagine if I had access to *all* the data that was
available to the entities with which he interacted!  And, if
I wasn't limited by the gray matter between my ears but could
more effectively notice subtler patterns in that data...

I.e., had he *thought* about the papertrail that he was leaving,
he might have reconsidered the "privacy" that he was forfeiting
in favor of "convenience".  But, this is a subtle, insidious
thing for folks -- once they've started down that slope.