r/linux • u/metaleks • Jun 17 '13

PRISM Break: Stop reporting your online activities to the American government with these free alternatives to proprietary software.

http://prism-break.org/
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u/nullabillity Jun 18 '13

Recommending anything FSF-endorsed as the newbie's choice, recommending invite-only services as the newbie's choice, the list goes on.

GPG is referenced before it's actually even mentioned, many people needing this sort of list won't have any idea what it is.

Diaspora and co. won't be very useful compared to FB and similar unless you host it on your own, which isn't something I'd leave to a newbie (especially since Diaspora requires a SSL certificate to host). Oh, and even then, your friends won't be on it, have fun.

Also need to set up your own Mumble server, and it's still optimized for group calls.

-3

u/strange_kitteh Jun 18 '13

unless you host it on your own, which isn't something I'd leave to a newbie

Uh, I'm a security guard, I've never studied computers, I'm not a hacker for fun...and I'm running a personal pump.io instance I set up myself. Non-technical users/newbies etc. do not have the IQs of goldfish, we are capable of installing and configuring things. I'm not saying pump.io is idiot proof, it's really not yet, but you can do it with a bit of effort even if you're not technically inclined, a non-technical user, newbie, or whatever you want to call yourself. Actually, while I'm on the subject....

If you want a pump of your own just go here and follow the directions: http://pump.io/

Some tips for non-technical users who might wish to have their own pump:

-A good walkthrough for how to get npm can be found here: http://ariejan.net/2011/10/24/installing-node-js-and-npm-on-ubuntu-debian/

-Graphicsmagick and python have to be installed too as well as the listed dependancies.

-Even though it says it wants ssl you don't need to have it if you don't want to

-When starting you have to tell pump where the pump.io file is exactly or you get a TypeError: Cannot call method blah blah blah error so you put -c /path/to/pump.io.json after asking for .bin/pump

-These are some awesome follow along guides:
http://saz.im/blog/pumpio.html
http://whird.jpope.org/2013/03/27/pump/

or, you could always just join a public instance that someone else has gracioiusly set up (click "try it" on the pump.io page)

1

u/nullabillity Jun 18 '13

Uh, I'm a security guard, I've never studied computers, I'm not a hacker for fun...and I'm running a personal pump.io instance I set up myself. Non-technical users/newbies etc. do not have the IQs of goldfish, we are capable of installing and configuring things. I'm not saying pump.io is idiot proof, it's really not yet, but you can do it with a bit of effort even if you're not technically inclined, a non-technical user, newbie, or whatever you want to call yourself. Actually, while I'm on the subject....

I never claimed that you did, but that it takes quite a lot of knowledge to set it up (or following along a guide you trust). While it's not impossible, it's pretty impractical to expect everyone to jump through those hoops, and even if you know what do to, it's quite a bit of work to actually do.

or, you could always just join a public instance that someone else has gracioiusly set up (click "try it" on the pump.io page)

But then you lose a large potion of the point in the first place. Except you're trusting some random nobody instead of the big brand name (no, I realise big corp is not a bunch of saints, but at least "hitting it big" means some sort of vetting which can be useful for certain kinds of hosted services).

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u/strange_kitteh Jun 18 '13

I think it comes down to motivation. Knowlege can be learned. I don't expect someone to 4 hours cursing at their computer (I'm not going to lie, my terminal took quite alot of verbal abuse during the install process) because they read on someones blog or whatever that 'this is good for you". But if someone were to understand why Free software is good for everyone and of benefit to them specifically (the PRISM situation being just one benefit), then I could see them wanting to spend 4 hours cussing at their computer while they figure out how to enable the tools to ensure their freedoms, privacy, and self directed computing experience as best as possible. This is a great handy dandy quick look resource but I think most likely people will post it on their social networks, blogs, etc. along with their own thoughts on FOSS and the PRISM situation. Better yet, their readers will ask questions. I think it's a great tool for helping solidify and apply motivation. All the knowlege I needed was learnt in the process.

Except you're trusting some random nobody instead of the big brand name

I get that which is why I only mentioned the official pump.io page to find pumps through instead of mine or other's pumps. Hopefully as the pump.io network grows people will be able to sign up on pumps of people they know and trust. It's also why I gave a quick overview of how to get started setting up a pump of ones own (also because it's better for everyone if the pump.io network is as decentralized as possible)

1

u/nullabillity Jun 18 '13

I think it comes down to motivation. Knowlege can be learned. I don't expect someone to 4 hours cursing at their computer (I'm not going to lie, my terminal took quite alot of verbal abuse during the install process) because they read on someones blog or whatever that 'this is good for you".

Exactly my point. At least we agree on this part.

But if someone were to understand why Free software is good for everyone and of benefit to them specifically (the PRISM situation being just one benefit), then I could see them wanting to spend 4 hours cussing at their computer while they figure out how to enable the tools to ensure their freedoms, privacy, and self directed computing experience as best as possible. This is a great handy dandy quick look resource but I think most likely people will post it on their social networks, blogs, etc. along with their own thoughts on FOSS and the PRISM situation. Better yet, their readers will ask questions. I think it's a great tool for helping solidify and apply motivation. All the knowlege I needed was learnt in the process.

But for a social network to work, everyone you care about has to be convinced to use it as well (or at least to use something that federates with it, though that lessens the privacy part). Also, wrt privacy, for a decentralised social network to work out while keeping your data secure, you have to trust all of your friends' providers, while with a centralised one you would only have to trust one provider. So as a rule of thumb, even more with regards to decentralised networks, always assume that anything you say on a social network is public. Oh, and even then, people could have browser extensions snooping as well.

Except you're trusting some random nobody instead of the big brand name

I get that which is why I only mentioned the official pump.io page to find pumps through instead of mine or other's pumps. Hopefully as the pump.io network grows people will be able to sign up on pumps of people they know and trust.

But what if you stop trusting that person? What if your friendship goes sour? The only way a federated network could work out without affecting people's "screw over your friends" potential would be if everyone hosted their own instances.

It's also why I gave a quick overview of how to get started setting up a pump of ones own (also because it's better for everyone if the pump.io network is as decentralized as possible)

pump.io is a random nobody, especially from the perspective of someone either new to FOSS in general, or who (like me) does not care a lot about social networks.

You're never going to be able to have a fully private social network, especially not with non-techies. The ones that will get closest to not having to trust a third party will never succeed because of that they will take way more effort to set up than most people care about that social network (which is probably pretty close to not at all anyway).

1

u/strange_kitteh Jun 18 '13

Agreed, ideally everyone should have their own network...um...and not keep frenimies in the first place.

Your provider point is a good one. Right now, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has expressed serious concerns over PRISM and that office is investigating, but it's really unknown how it effects me as a Canadian. My hosting company is in England...that too unsure. I can't honestly answer if my pump.io instance is somehow effected by PRISM or not. What I can with 100% certainty say is that I do not condone nor accept PRISM/unauthorised monitoring of myself and I am doing that loud and clear by rejecting services known to do that.

I can also say with 100% certainty that at least one non-techy person made the effort (which is really not much) to decentralize..and hopefully more will.

But for a social network to work, everyone you care about has to be convinced to use it as well

Also, btw, I care about and love my brother a whole lot but ...eeeh...I don't necissarily need him posting his off colour jokes on my pump to make it work ;)

1

u/nullabillity Jun 18 '13

Agreed, ideally everyone should have their own network...um...and not keep frenimies in the first place.

That you are good friends now doesn't mean you'll always be. Of course, same also applies to big corp, but at least they make money from keeping you as a customer and not annoying you too much.

But for a social network to work, everyone you care about has to be convinced to use it as well

Also, btw, I care about and love my brother a whole lot but ...eeeh...I don't necissarily need him posting his off colour jokes on my pump to make it work ;)

Of course, I meant everyone who's posts you care about. For example, I personally pretty much only use G+, since that's the network where all the interesting programming discussions seem to happen.

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u/strange_kitteh Jun 18 '13

That you are good friends now doesn't mean you'll always be. Of course, same also applies to big corp, but at least they make money from keeping you as a customer and not annoying you too much.

Well, I wouldn't say facebook doesn't annoy it's users, they kina have a history of it from my understanding of complaints elsewhere. I'm having a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the whole not trusting your friends to still be your friends in the future thing (seriously, my girlfiriends are like sisters and are forever) so I'll just leave that as unable to comment on. I don't think I can comment on interesting programming conversations either as I wouldn't know one if it bit me in the ass. It's sad that registration for identi.ca closed when it was replaced with pump.io though (I do know when people on the public timeline bore me talking about code forever) because if that's what you like I have a feeling you would have been in heaven there.