It’s Ikey’s last show and Jesse’s last show for a while, and Félim is off sick. Graham Morrison joins us to discuss 2 factor authentication, Firefox OS, a new DNS service, Linux-Libre security, and whether we can move away from centralised social media.
News
2 factor authenticator for Linux
The final nail in the Firefox OS coffin
Cloudflare launches DNS service
Linux-Libre prioritises freedom over security
Good night, sweet princes
Ikey and Jesse have are experiencing some big changes in their lives which mean they are leaving the show; Jesse for a while, Ikey forever. But fear not! We have some stellar new team members ready to take their place.
Entroware
This episode of Late Night Linux is sponsored by Entroware. They are a UK-based company who sells computers with Ubuntu and Ubuntu MATE preinstalled. They have configurable laptops, desktops and servers to suit a wide range of Linux users. Check them out and don’t forget to mention us at checkout if you buy one of their great machines.
Decentralised social networks
In the wake of the Facebook scandal, we discuss some decentralised alternatives including Diaspora and some blockchain-based projects.
If you are planning to delete your Facebook account, why not trash all your data first?
If you are planning to keep using Facebook, using the new Firefox Facebook Container Extension would probably be wise.
See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
The show won’t be the same without Ikey.
It will be better!
I doubt it. 🙂
BTW, could you implement a feature where I get email notifications when someone replies to my posts? Thanks.
Tizen on the phone failed to gain traction because Samsung has no interest in promoting Tizen or generating developer interest in Tizen. Samsung, as one of the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturers has never released a Tizen phone marketed to developers, nor has Samsung released a Tizen phone available to the general public. Similarly, Samsung has never released a port of Tizen that can be installed on any generally available Samsung phone. Why? Because Samsung doesn’t want Tizen to succeed as an Android competitor.
Good for you Samsung. Tizen on the phone is always doomed for failure! I seriously doubt that even tea or water on a phone is a good idea let alone everone’s favourite 1970s sugary orange carbonated drink.
I’ve been toying with the idea of a distributed alternative to Facebook et al. where the storage and message delivery is based on email. That way there’s no advertising, no spying (well, aside from the NSA/GCHQ/etc. capturing all traffic), you choose your own email provider. One limitation is that finding people to connect with wouldn’t be possible since there’s no central service; you’d need some other way to find someone’s email address. (Some may see that as a feature.) Another limitation would be that you’d need some kind of app on any platform; just a browser alone wouldn’t suffice (unless some JavaScript library can act as a mail client, and the browser sandbox allows it?). So that would likely limit the uptake, without an easy way to try it out.
I’m far from the first to think of it. An academic paper was published for a protocol that could be used about a decade ago. Just a few days ago, this post described pretty much exactly what I was envisioning: https://hackernoon.com/email-re-skinned-as-a-social-network-c33b175f3a9e
Great show again chaps.
On the Stallman/FSF thing. When I grew up in the seventies there was a show called the Ascent of Man which had an episode called Knowledge or Certainty which I think RMS should take a look at. The episodes theme being the dangers of certainty. He has the certainty that he is righteous is his quest for software freedom but seems blinkered to the dangers of that certainty. It’s a great series and I watched it again a year or two ago and It still holds up to this day.
I have some misgivings over one of the new guys set to take Ikey’s place. Will the Ubuntu dude be able to have the same candidness as Ikey or will he have to tow the Canonical line? Time will tell. Anyway, i hope Ikey gets his work/life balance in a better shape.
Open privacy respecting phones aren’t going to happen. DOS, Windows, Linux succeeded because of the open PC platform. Imagine if there was never a PC platform and computer manufacturers were making their own for the past thirty odd years. You’d have a ton of platforms with a ton of operating systems, all locked down to their hardware. This is analogous to phones today. Today’s cellphone vendors are NOT going to make the same ‘mistake’ that IBM made by allowing clones unless, like I said in a previous post, someone with enormous pockets can flood the market with quality open hardware which adheres to open standards.
If I had my way, if a company like FB or Google wanted to slurp my information then they must have written consent, not just an ‘Okay I cant be arsed reading/thinking about the terms and conditions’ button on an effing web page. That includes you the BBC! What happens to all that amassed data if the Beeb ever becomes a private company? It seems that someone at the BBC is thinking loooong term.
Awesome to get Graham on the show, so sad with people leaving, but a great replacement ;0)
I understand peoples time is precious and these shows do take up alot of time to make. Perhaps you can get some guest spots from the rest of the LV team?
I am really sad to see Ikey go. Thanks for your time on the show, Ikey!
With regard to your critique of the Linux Libre Kernel not telling users about microcode, I want to add my perspective. I use the Linux Libre Kernel on two notebooks: One is a Thinkpad X60s with Libreboot, the other one is a Thinkpad X200s with Libreboot. Both are too old to be getting a Microcode fix by Intel, as Intel recently announced. So I honestly don’t give a f***, as I have to rely on the mitigations in the kernel anyway (which seem to work).
Also I think that nobody uses the Linux Libre kernel by accident. When Intel announced that they would fix these big issues via microcode, I thought: Oh, I will need to keep looking out for that, as my distribution won’t supply me with it.
Sorry to hear that Ikey is leaving. I always appreciated his passion, even if I didn’t always understand his point : ) Good luck to him and Jesse with their upcoming changes.
What do you all use for DNS? CloudFlare seems like a nice alternative to Google (from the “Anything but Google” perspective). The privacy component doesn’t seem that relevant to me. Unless you are using a VPN, your ISP can still see all of the IP addresses you are connecting to and can look up the DNS entries itself. If you do use a VPN, it should have its own DNS server.