I have no opinion and am just seeking clarification as an admin who occasionally gets complaints that I’m unsure how to address.

Thanks!

cc: @TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml (the most active !privacy@lemmy.ml mod)


Edit to add an example edge case: DuckDuckGo is proprietary, but is anyone going to argue against its promotion? Isn’t Proton Mail similarly only FOSS on the client side?

  • Katlah@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 months ago

    Proprietary software = software thats not open source

    yes its still followed

    yes its still relevant

    if the software is closed source then you dont know if it respects your privacy or not, and 99% of the time it doesnt

    • LWD@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Can you define “source available”? I’m not sure if I understand the term.

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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        9 months ago

        Source code is a available but the license is unclear or doesn’t allow for the user to run, study, modify and distribute the source code.

  • Arthur Besse@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    fwiw, besides the “Proton’s Free plan now offers up to […] after completing certain tasks.” post earlier, i also just deleted some adverinfonewstainment tutanota spam blogpost ("Chat Control May Finally Be Dead: European Court Rules That Weakening Encryption Is Illegal") from this community.

    tutanota is just like protonmail except there is more evidence indicating that they are primarily a honeypot for privacy-seeking rubes (as opposed to protonmail where it is maybe only obvious to people knowledgeable about the history of the privacy industry).

    People should be skeptical of anyone selling a service involving cryptography software which has nearly no conceivable purpose except for to protect against the entity delivering the software. Especially if they re-deliver the software to you every time you use it, via a practically-impossible-to-audit channel, and require you to identify yourself before re-receiving it (as almost any browser-based e2ee software which doesn’t require installing any software does, due to the current web architecture).

    If you think this kind of perfect-for-targeted-exploitation architecture isn’t regularly used for targeted exploitation… well, you’re mistaken. In the web context specifically, it has been happening since the 90s.

    imo this community should not tolerate advertising (or other posts who’s purpose is to encourage using/purchasing) this type of deceptively-marketed service.

    • LWD@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      In his testimony, Mr. Ortis said that Tutanota was in fact a “storefront” for police and intelligence agencies. Rather than offering secure email, he testified, it allowed investigators to harvest users’ communications, which were then distributed through the intelligence alliance of mainly English speaking allies known as Five Eyes.

      Wow. Okay then.