mintCast 173 – Tinfoil Lite

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News:

The Main Topic: Tinfoil Lite

Tip:

  • How to browse the web anonymously with Google Chrome (and Tor) (xmodulo.com)

Podcast Announcements:

  • Watch for “Event” announcements in the mintCast Community on Google+ to find out when we’re recording!
  • The eleventh annual Ohio LinuxFest will be held on September 13-15, 2013 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Hosting authoritative speakers and a large expo, the Ohio LinuxFest welcomes all Free and Open Source Software professionals, enthusiasts, and everyone interested in learning more about Free and Open Source Software. (https://ohiolinux.org/)
  • OGGCamp October 19th & 20th 2013 at Liverpool John Moores university in the UK. (http://oggcamp.org)

More Information:

Hosts: Rob, Scott
Live Stream (Mondays at 8:00 p.m. Eastern): mintcast.org
Contact Us:

More Linux Mint info: website, blog, forums, community

Credits:
Podcast Entry and exit music provided by Mark Blasco (podcastthemes.com). The podcast bumpers were provided by Oscar.


3 Replies to “mintCast 173 – Tinfoil Lite”

  1. bananabob

    Of course there is no way of knowing who is really behind something like bitmessage. It could be that the NSA actually wrote the software and can still read all your mail. One way to make youe enemies think you cant read there stuff.

  2. richardquirk

    On the Debian developer’s mailing list recently there was a post[1] “Preventing government subversion in Debian, verification of binary package uploads” – which is concerned about the origin of binary packages compared to their source code. Ubuntu uses build servers, whereas all binary packages in Debian are uploaded by the maintainer, built on their local machines. The Ubuntu case could mean a compromised server would insert backdoors in all suitable packages, the latter would require “compromised” individuals and – given Debian’s web-of-trust – is much harder to completely break.

    On a related note, the prism-break.org website has recently taken a stance of not trusting Ubuntu and distros that use its packages – including Linux Mint – when recommending GNU/Linux for folks trying to “Opt out of global data surveillance”. It does still mention Linux Mint Debian Edition.

    There’s an interesting/paranoid discussion on the github issue[2]. The main point I got out of it was that Ubuntu added “spyware” so cannot be trusted, derivatives like Mint or Trisquel do not have the manpower to vet all of Ubuntu – they just pull in Ubuntu changes as-is – and thus cannot be trusted either. The prism-break folk don’t just attribute this spyware thing in Ubuntu to malice – it could be down to ignorance too they say (nice!). Debian, they argue, has a higher barrier to entry as a maintainer so it is unlikely that such a developer would submit a new package without auditing it somewhat for spyware. An Ubuntu dev is just “doing their job” and doesn’t really care.

    I don’t know what to think TBH. I’m writing this in IceWeasel running on Debian and my son’s on the other laptop running Ubuntu 12.04. All I know is that I’m glad I don’t use Windows or Mac! 🙂

    [1]: http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2013/08/msg00497.html
    [2]: https://github.com/nylira/prism-break/issues/334

  3. Adrian AC

    you missed the most functional and feature rich light weight desktop of them all: the gnome fallback mode of stock ubuntu.

    It is my go to desktop and the one I set people up with. 100% ubuntu (including software center and paid apps) and fully compatible with gnome/gtk3 apps but runs in as little as 200mb if you don’t load it up with startup apps. Ubuntu installer is much improved with the option to install proprietary stuff built in.

    Uncomposited for maximum graphics performance all the time (the latest graphics drivers don’t seem to video tear any more with youtube flash or vlc).

    Top notch hardware support and a full set of default apps are the cherries on the cake.
    Who needs xfce ? Many ubuntu users are totally unaware that they could make their system fly just by clicking a button on the login screen !

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