7 ms·

I have also sadly noted that there is little interest from my peers in such matters. It is also hard to change. I work with technology everyday. I planned to:

by junto 11y ago

I have also sadly noted that there is little interest from my peers in such matters. It is also hard to change. I work with technology everyday. I planned to: - move away from Gmail to Fastmail - move away from Dropbox to Spideroak or Owncloud - move away from G+ Photos to ? - move away from SMS and WhatsApp to TextSecure The results? I'm still on Gmail. I still have a Dropbox account and I'm slowly moving stuff to Spideroak. I'm the only one who uses TextSecure and I end up sending SMS in the clear to my friends. I've tried a multitude of photo apps and none of them do what I want. All a very sad state of affairs.

feld 11y ago
It's ok to admit you don't care enough to make the switch. I've been on Fastmail for quite a while, don't use a Dropbox alternative, Smugmug for photos, and whatsapp mostly because my friends switched once long before Textsecure and don't see the benefit of switching again It's really not that big of a hassle
nota_bene 11y ago
There is also the "network effect" that is keeping users locked in these services. In other words: "I leave only if my friends leave". That's the problem https://www.iWouldDo.it https://www.iWouldDo.it can solve for you.
tedunangst 11y ago
What does one gain by moving from gmail to fastmail? Do you think the AU government has no leverage? Or that the NSA is incapable of infiltrating their servers?
- kazazes 11y ago
  FastMail isn't scanning your emails to generate a profile of you in order to serve you highly targeted advertising all over the web. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en
  - tedunangst 11y ago
    And what does that have to do with snowden? Googles monetization strategy was well known long before. What did snowden reveal that makes one think fastmail is better than gmail?
    - dombili 11y ago
      Google's alleged involvement with the PRISM program however, wasn't.
      - tedunangst 11y ago
        And we know fastmail wasn't involved because...? That one prism slide listing companies was the exhaustive list of all of such programs? Dick Cheney turns to a minion and says "I want to fuck up dombili's life. Get me his inbox." You think the minion is going to say "sorry, boss, he uses fastmail" and that's going to be the end of it?
      - mpyne 11y ago
        Which given that PRISM just automated warrant/NSL compliance once the company's legal department agreed that the warrant/NSL was valid, means what exactly? Does FastMail get to ignore their country's own warrants if they wish?
        fineman 11y ago
        We know the NSA was planting code and hardware and employees at will into our country's top infrastructure. It's highly unlikely PRISM was the only program which would get user data out of Google without their permission. If you prove one of my servers is infected I'd be wrong to assume it's only got one backdoor.
        dombili 11y ago
        I don't disagree with you. I'm not siding with Google or Fastmail and I don't use their services but I can see why would someone leave Google and choose Fastmail just because they don't want to be tracked by Google. Of course that's not to say their email is safer than it was with Google because the vast majority of people use Gmail anyway and your plaintext emails find their way to Google's servers one way or another. NSL's are also a factor, but that depends on your threat model. Not a lot of people will be bothered by the threat of government agents seeing their emails by getting an NSL, so eliminating the company tracking will be enough for them to feel secure. Which is, of course, a false sense of security and is bad.
rsync 11y ago
I don't think most of those that you list are really substantive moves. Certainly moving from dropbox to spideroak or ... someone like spideroak ... would give you the ability to encrypt independent of the provider, perhaps with duplicity[1] or this other method I like[2]. But moving from gmail to fastmail doesn't seem like ti buys you much. I think the two biggest, substantial moves you can make are providing your own email and providing your own dialtone. I do the former, and have for almost 20 years ... but I haven't gotten my act together yet to do the latter. What you gain, provided you own the equipment and rent the rackspace, is you are the recipient of lawful orders and legal actions. you are contacted and you are required to respond. Not your ISP, not your provider, not some third party ... That's a big, substantial difference. Sure, you still need to worry about your traffic out in the wild, but as far as the host itself, you have complete control. Cost is a difficulty, but consider a 3-4 year old 1U server from ebay ... more than ample to handle this very light workload ... and then maybe $50/mo for 1U of rack and power, given that you won't use much bandwidth at all. Then there's some kind of VOIP peering/connection/whateveridontevengetit that you can get for $x per month. Basically, instead of getting a POTS line in your rack, you get some kind of voip peer from a bigger voip provider. Or something. But consider what you're buying here: You are a peer on the network. You're not a consumer - you are actually taking part in the Internet. Legally you are a peer as well, as you are a property owner, not a rentier, and you are secure in certain physical rights to your rented space. That's a substantial step. [1] http://duplicity.nongnu.org/ http://duplicity.nongnu.org/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6554313 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6554313
- lisper 11y ago
  > providing your own dialtone Is that possible? How do you do it?
  - lfam 11y ago
    Yes, I'm very interested in this. Can someone point us to some good info on setting this up?
eevilspock 11y ago
Convenience makes hypocrites of us all, as John Naughton wrote recently. “We have our beliefs, our morals, our instincts. We have our dislike of douchebags, our mistrust of bad behaviour. We have all that. But in the end it turns out that if something’s 10% cheaper and 5% faster, we’ll give it all up quicker than we can order a sandwich.” Convenience, in other words, makes hypocrites of us all. It explains why we may moan about surveillance but continue to use Gmail and Facebook; why we shudder in distaste at what goes on in the Chinese factories that make Apple products yet continue to enjoy our iPhones; and why we are horrified by lethal fires we read about in Bangladeshi sweatshops and yet pounce gleefully on T-shirt bargains in retail outlets whenever we can find them. Interestingly, our addiction to convenience has recently received a powerful boost from another regrettable human failing – our craving for instant gratification . We’ve gone from being satisfied with “3 to 5 working days” delivery estimate to next-day delivery. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/28/uber-amazon-tech-concierge-economy http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/28/uber-am...

by junto 11y ago

feld 11y ago

It's ok to admit you don't care enough to make the switch. I've been on Fastmail for quite a while, don't use a Dropbox alternative, Smugmug for photos, and whatsapp mostly because my friends switched once long before Textsecure and don't see the benefit of switching again It's really not that big of a hassle

nota_bene 11y ago

There is also the "network effect" that is keeping users locked in these services. In other words: "I leave only if my friends leave". That's the problem https://www.iWouldDo.it https://www.iWouldDo.it can solve for you.

tedunangst 11y ago

What does one gain by moving from gmail to fastmail? Do you think the AU government has no leverage? Or that the NSA is incapable of infiltrating their servers?

kazazes 11y ago
FastMail isn't scanning your emails to generate a profile of you in order to serve you highly targeted advertising all over the web. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en
- tedunangst 11y ago
  And what does that have to do with snowden? Googles monetization strategy was well known long before. What did snowden reveal that makes one think fastmail is better than gmail?
  - dombili 11y ago
    Google's alleged involvement with the PRISM program however, wasn't.
    - tedunangst 11y ago
      And we know fastmail wasn't involved because...? That one prism slide listing companies was the exhaustive list of all of such programs? Dick Cheney turns to a minion and says "I want to fuck up dombili's life. Get me his inbox." You think the minion is going to say "sorry, boss, he uses fastmail" and that's going to be the end of it?
    - mpyne 11y ago
      Which given that PRISM just automated warrant/NSL compliance once the company's legal department agreed that the warrant/NSL was valid, means what exactly? Does FastMail get to ignore their country's own warrants if they wish?
      - fineman 11y ago
        We know the NSA was planting code and hardware and employees at will into our country's top infrastructure. It's highly unlikely PRISM was the only program which would get user data out of Google without their permission. If you prove one of my servers is infected I'd be wrong to assume it's only got one backdoor.
      - dombili 11y ago
        I don't disagree with you. I'm not siding with Google or Fastmail and I don't use their services but I can see why would someone leave Google and choose Fastmail just because they don't want to be tracked by Google. Of course that's not to say their email is safer than it was with Google because the vast majority of people use Gmail anyway and your plaintext emails find their way to Google's servers one way or another. NSL's are also a factor, but that depends on your threat model. Not a lot of people will be bothered by the threat of government agents seeing their emails by getting an NSL, so eliminating the company tracking will be enough for them to feel secure. Which is, of course, a false sense of security and is bad.

rsync 11y ago

I don't think most of those that you list are really substantive moves. Certainly moving from dropbox to spideroak or ... someone like spideroak ... would give you the ability to encrypt independent of the provider, perhaps with duplicity[1] or this other method I like[2]. But moving from gmail to fastmail doesn't seem like ti buys you much. I think the two biggest, substantial moves you can make are providing your own email and providing your own dialtone. I do the former, and have for almost 20 years ... but I haven't gotten my act together yet to do the latter. What you gain, provided you own the equipment and rent the rackspace, is you are the recipient of lawful orders and legal actions. you are contacted and you are required to respond. Not your ISP, not your provider, not some third party ... That's a big, substantial difference. Sure, you still need to worry about your traffic out in the wild, but as far as the host itself, you have complete control. Cost is a difficulty, but consider a 3-4 year old 1U server from ebay ... more than ample to handle this very light workload ... and then maybe $50/mo for 1U of rack and power, given that you won't use much bandwidth at all. Then there's some kind of VOIP peering/connection/whateveridontevengetit that you can get for $x per month. Basically, instead of getting a POTS line in your rack, you get some kind of voip peer from a bigger voip provider. Or something. But consider what you're buying here: You are a peer on the network. You're not a consumer - you are actually taking part in the Internet. Legally you are a peer as well, as you are a property owner, not a rentier, and you are secure in certain physical rights to your rented space. That's a substantial step. [1] http://duplicity.nongnu.org/ http://duplicity.nongnu.org/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6554313 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6554313

lisper 11y ago
> providing your own dialtone Is that possible? How do you do it?
- lfam 11y ago
  Yes, I'm very interested in this. Can someone point us to some good info on setting this up?

eevilspock 11y ago

Convenience makes hypocrites of us all, as John Naughton wrote recently. “We have our beliefs, our morals, our instincts. We have our dislike of douchebags, our mistrust of bad behaviour. We have all that. But in the end it turns out that if something’s 10% cheaper and 5% faster, we’ll give it all up quicker than we can order a sandwich.” Convenience, in other words, makes hypocrites of us all. It explains why we may moan about surveillance but continue to use Gmail and Facebook; why we shudder in distaste at what goes on in the Chinese factories that make Apple products yet continue to enjoy our iPhones; and why we are horrified by lethal fires we read about in Bangladeshi sweatshops and yet pounce gleefully on T-shirt bargains in retail outlets whenever we can find them. Interestingly, our addiction to convenience has recently received a powerful boost from another regrettable human failing – our craving for instant gratification . We’ve gone from being satisfied with “3 to 5 working days” delivery estimate to next-day delivery. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/28/uber-amazon-tech-concierge-economy http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/28/uber-am...