Category Archives: Digitality

Always using free software is not being an extremist

I only use free software. There’s not a single proprietary software on my computers, well except for some nonfree blobs on the Linux kernel on my phone which runs LineageOS. The thing is that some people consider me a free software or [GNU+]Linux extremist.

Always and only using free software is not being an extremist. First of all, free software users and advocates don’t use free software to oppose other software, we use free software because it respects us and gives us freedoms.

Using free software puts your computing in your hand so it’s you that controls the computer. Using proprietary software puts your computer in control of you and your computing.

Secondly, there’s always a free software to use instead of a nonfree software. There’s a lot of freedom respecting programs to use instead of proprietary software to satisfy your computing needs.

I always use free software because it’s respecting me. Imagine a person who only has friends who respect that person. Is it being an extremist? Of course not. People won’t call that person an extremist because it has respect for itself.

Using free software and privacy-respecting services is the same. We’re not extremists because we respect ourselves. Instead of nonfree (free as in freedom) and privacy-violating services, we respect ourselves and use free (as in freedom) and privacy-respecting services.

I agree that only using free software has its own problems. For example, completely libre operating systems (such as PureOS GNU+Linux distro) may not be compatible with your hardware or not many people may use Mastodon instead of Twitter and Facebook but for us, at least, it doesn’t matter because we respect ourselves more than we feel need for these services.

I may leave the whole digital life one day but as long as I’m living this digital life, I’m living it with respect and freedom for myself and I believe you should too.

Apple’s encryption is not enough

Apple encrypts your data but Apple also can easily look at your files and information, exactly like FBI, CIA, NSA, and other agencies. Apple can look at your photos, read your private notes, save a copy of your messages and chats, and follow up your communications easily.

Apple does encrypt your data but only with its own private key. Your sensitive data are not encrypted with your own key, rather with what Apple controls. It means whoever encrypts the data (in this case, Apple) can also decrypt them.

Apple is very proud of its privacy policies and advertises a lot about it but what Apple doesn’t explain about this encryption, is how it works.

Apple dances around the encryption saying that your data are encrypted “in transit” and “on server” but this encryption is as unacceptable as Zoom’s, Facebook’s, or Google’s encryption.

While ago, Zoom announced that it’s going to encrypt users’ data “end-to-end” only for paying users and a lot of people complained about it. If what Zoom does is wrong, so is Apple.

iCloud and our device backups hold a lot more of our sensitive, private data than our video calls do, and over a much longer time-span.

Zoom doesn’t end-to-end encrypt the contents of individual calls. Apple fails to end-to-end encrypt your entire device backup, which contains your complete message history for every single iMessage and SMS conversation you have ever had on the device, without time limitation.

Free software/free culture does not accept discrimination

Update: After reading the full notice on Fedora download page, Mr. Stallman says that Fedora didn’t require users to promise anything therefor it’s not a violation of free software terms.

If you study it carefully, it does not require the downloader to promise not to do certain things. Rather, it requires the downloader to affirm awareness of these US rules, which may or may not apply.
Because of this, it does not contradict the GPL.
However, as our discussion shows, it is easy for people to misundestand and get the wrong idea about what it actually requires. They mey THINK it requires something that would violate the GPL even though it actually does not.
Richard Stallman

Original note:

Following my email message to Mr. Stallman, I had a lot of other discussions with different people but I think the best response was from Mr. Stallman himself.

He stated that the notice on Fedora download page makes it nonfree and the limitations are not compatible with GPL license.

Here’s Mr. Stallman’s email message:

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden’s example. ]]]
> I believe parts of this notice are violations of software freedom. The notice says that Fedora complies with “Unites States Export Administration Regulations (the =E2=80=9CEAR=E2=80=9D) and it’s prohibited for use in connection with the design, development or production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, or rocket systems, space launch vehicles, or sounding rockets, or unmanned air vehicle systems.”
As stated, that would make Fedora nonfree. However, Fedora cannot impose such requirements on GPL-covered programs unless Fedora has the copyright.
The GNU Project encryption programs were developed outside the US and I think users get them without passing through the FS.
> The other part says “You may not provide Fedora software or technical information to individuals or entities located in one of these countries or otherwise subject to these restrictions.”
Isn’t it a violation of freedom 2 (The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others)?
Yes, it would be — but I don’t think anyone can enforce it on you if you are outside the US and you download Fedora. That is why I did not make a fuss about it.
> So does that mean that I, a typical user of free software, am restricted from using and distributing a software that is licensed free? Do you and free software movement accept this discrimination?
The reason for section 8 is to prevent patents from being used to make a program effectively nonfree.
If in country C some company Q threatens to make the program priorietary by suing the users using Q’s patent, that would in effect make the program proprietary.
Using section 8, the developer can say, “You can’t make my program proprietary. With section 8 I make it not available at all in country C. Give my program liberty or give it death!.”
In other words, “I’d rather destroy my program than let you turn it into your proprietary product.”

RMS's email regarding Fedora's discrimination and violation of software freedom terms.

Does free software/free culture accept discrimination?

Update: Mr. Stallman responded.

A while ago I wrote a blog post about moving from Fedora. After a lot of discussions with my friends, I finally decided to send an email message to Mr. Stallman about Fedora’s notice. I’m now waiting for Mr. Stallman’s response. Here’s my email message:

Dear Dr. Stallman,
Howdy.
Mr. Stallman, I’m a free software activist for more than 7 years now and I’ve using free software since I found out about the concept of software freedom. There’s not a single proprietary software in my computers. I even didn’t have a smart phone till a year ago. My phone currently runs LineageOS.
My operating system was Fedora untill I found out about a notice on Fedora GNU+Linux distro download page. https://getfedora.org/en/workstation/download/
I believe parts of this notice are violations of software freedom. The notice says that Fedora complies with “Unites States Export Administration Regulations (the “EAR”) and it’s prohibited for use in connection with the design, development or production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, or rocket systems, space launch vehicles, or sounding rockets, or unmanned air vehicle systems.”
Isn’t it violation of freedom 0 (The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose)?
The other part says “You may not provide Fedora software or technical information to individuals or entities located in one of these countries or otherwise subject to these restrictions.”
Isn’t it a violation of freedom 2 (The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others)?
The four freedoms doesn’t mention any country or specific software so I believe the terms of software freedom are applicable to all software no matter what country they’re based in.
A friend of mine told me that section 8 of GNU General Public License version 2 accept this discrimination.
“8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License. “
So does that mean that I, a typical user of free software, am restricted from using and distributing a software that is licensed free? Do you and free software movement accept this discrimination?
All my life, I fought for freedom. I’m an Iranian and I live in a country that basic human rights are violated and I fought for freedom and my people’s rights in the streets with my bare hands. If free software movement, FSF, and you sir, accept this discrimination, I no longer will fight for free software as it’s just a lie to me.
I know that companies and maybe projects based in U.S. should comply with USA’s laws but it’s not a good reason for discrimination like this. If free software can be restricted for some people or it can only be used by a group of people a country or a company chooses, then I believe free software movement is not what it says it is.
I remember you once said that free (as in freedom) software leads us to a free society. If this freedom is only for some people, then it’s just a lie, isn’t it?
Can you please explain to me and my friends how free software movement reacts to this?
Thanks a lot.
Ali Reza Hayati

Free software is about freedom, not price

I almost always call “free software”, “software libre” to avoid misunderstanding between price and freedom. Whenever I say free software, I should explain to people that by free software, I mean a software that respects freedom.

Free software is different with freeware. When we say free software, we mean free as in freedom. That’s why I call it free software. But there’s still some questions for people.

One of the questions people ask me is that if a software is libre, how can we make money from it? My answer is always simple and short. You can make money from free software the way you make money from proprietary software.

Continue reading →

Google is helping China to censor internet

Two days ago, Palmer Luckey reported on Twitter that Google (YouTube) is deleting his comments about a Chinese propaganda.

YouTube has deleted every comment I ever made about the Wumao (五毛), an internet propaganda division of the Chinese Communist Party. Who at Google decided to censor American comments on American videos hosted in America by an American platform that is already banned in China?
Palmer Luckey

Ninja Logic, another user, also replied that Google (YouTube) also deletes entire chat if you send certain words.

YouTube will also delete the ENTIRE chat replay from a livestream if a single person types the phrase 共匪, 五毛, or any of the other blacklisted terms critical of the CCP. Might be disruptive if people typed these phrases en masse in all the popular stream chats.

Might be disruptive if people typed these phrases en masse in all the popular stream chats.
Ninja Logic on Twitter

This is internet censorship. Lots of Hong Kong people are protesting against Chinese government because of discrimination and inequality and they are dependent on these services. Hong Kong people are fighting for justice and what Google is doing is helping Chinese government suppress these protests.

YouTube is one of the platforms for sharing videos and flow of information about protests and human rights and Chinese government is violating this right with the help of Google.

This is not acceptable. America claims to be the leader of free world and yet its corporations are violating human rights every day. Something should be done about this.

What’s the Solution?

This is just another reason for us to move towards software freedom. Free software protects people from this. By using free programs, you’ll be sure that your freedom and rights are respected and if any violation happens, you can simply make your own platform with your own rules.

Free software makes sure you have essential freedoms of regarding your computing, therefore it can be used to protect your freedom when you’re fighting, like Hong Kong people fight.

If you’re in touch with any Hong Kong protester, please let them know about free software alternatives such as Peertube. It’ll help them talk freely.

Use free software OS on your phone

Using free software is always important, no matter what kind of computer you use. Whether it’s a laptop or a mobile phone, our computers should do our computing the way we wish.

Using proprietary software makes corporations and computers do what they like, not what we want. However, free software gives us the power to control our computing and own our systems.

One kind of computers we use daily is our mobile phones. Mobile phones are also computers so they should also run free software. An important part of our mobile phones’ software is the operating system.

Now, Android itself is free software but usually phones come with a Googlized Android. Googlized Android is no longer free software but there’s something you can do, use LineageOS.

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Hello again, Pixelfed

I created, changed, moved, and deleted a lot of accounts on fediverse, I’m not going to lie. Some of them were Pixelfed accounts. Since 2018, Pixelfed is bringing photo sharing to people without violating their rights. Pixelfed is free software and has much better privacy settings than Instagram.

I’ve had quite few Pixelfed accounts before but photo sharing was not my thing but since I’m trying to be more socialized and connected to people, I try to keep this account. I’ve explained about fediverse before, here’s a small note about Pixelfed.

Continue reading →

I’m switching from Fedora to Ubuntu

Update: You may also want to read this too regarding my problem with Fedora.

I’ve been a user of Fedora for a long time but I recently noticed a statement on Fedora download page:

By downloading Fedora software, you acknowledge that you understand all of the following: Fedora software and technical information may be subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (the “EAR”) and other U.S. and foreign laws and may not be exported, re-exported or transferred (a) to any country listed in Country Group E:1 in Supplement No. 1 to part 740 of the EAR (currently, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan & Syria); (b) to any prohibited destination or to any end user who has been prohibited from participating in U.S. export transactions by any federal agency of the U.S. government; or (c) for use in connection with the design, development or production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, or rocket systems, space launch vehicles, or sounding rockets, or unmanned air vehicle systems. You may not download Fedora software or technical information if you are located in one of these countries or otherwise subject to these restrictions. You may not provide Fedora software or technical information to individuals or entities located in one of these countries or otherwise subject to these restrictions. You are also responsible for compliance with foreign law requirements applicable to the import, export and use of Fedora software and technical information.

I believe this statement is an obvious violation of freedom of software. They didn’t talk about Fedora trademarks, they have only said that some people who are determined by U.S. government won’t have the right to use Fedora “software”.

This is the end for me and Fedora. I do encourage you to move away from Fedora (if you’re using it) and install another free (libre) distro. There’s a good list of free (libre) distors on gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html.

I’m very disappointed. Fedora was one of my favorites. I should mention that I continue to use QubesOS.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) and privacy (part 3)

I’ve been informed that there’s many apps in various app stores to track people during coronavirus pandemic. Right now (May 24), there’s more than 5.3 million cases of coronavirus and near 350 thousand people are dead.

I believe many of them were also tracked, not only by these apps, but by Google and Apple too. Apple and Google are helping governments to track people‘s location status. This tracking technology release is an obvious violation of privacy.

People are convinced that these technologies and tracking is helping them but disadvantages of it is far more than its benefits. While people can be informed of the dangers in various ways that are not violation of privacy, these corporations are collecting personal information, obviously not to help people but for their own benefits.

People should be able to be safe without their basic rights being violated. Privacy is one these basic rights. Nobody should be forced to destroy its privacy. No matter what are the reasons.