I don't really care about what Mozilla does as a corp. My biggest concern about Firefox is that it spies. It's absolutely unacceptable!

I disagree. And I don't understand why you guys think this way. Maybe it's some specific Linux community thing... I don't care about code openness, I care about quality of code and what the code does. Thus if some piece of software is high quality, convenient to use and follows some right idiology/tradition, than it's good to me. But if it's crap and does unethical things, I don't care for its openness. If developer of WannaCry malware opens source code of WannaCry without modifying the virus, will you trust WannaCry malware and its developer more (even after some time)? Nonsense.

I think it's very easy now to convert GNU/Linux into spying operating system. All you need to do is to implement spying functionality in systemd and make it so noone can opt out. And there you go! Systemd is now pretty much in every distro and amount of distros adopting this technology grows. There definitelly will be distos without systemd but those will probably be marginal and not very good in general. Not a lot of people will use them. Like, 95% of desktop Linux users will use systemd-based distros and will be spied. So there you go, there's your free GNU/Linux (as in freedom, not free beer). :rolleyes:

There's no 100% solution to fix all this. The problem is in people and you can't fix them. It's both developrs and users. Developers do unethical stuff, users except everything they are fed. And this way nothing can be changed to something good.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke

The solution I have (at least for me) is:

1. Use browsers like Waterfox, Brave, SeaMonkey, Midori... Those don't seem to spy on you yet. I may be wrong about some of them.
2. Use search engines that don't spy, like duck, ixquick, startpage, swisscows...
3. Use mail services that don't spy, like startmail, protonmail, hushmail, lavabit...
4. Use "HTTPS Everywhere" addon to minimize what your ISP knows about you. Don't use VPN/TOR all the time: 1) you never know if they are trustworthy, 2) it puts you in a spotlight for ISP and organizations like NSA and whoever has access to your Internet traffic. People working in ISPs tell this.
5. Use uBlock Origin. It has lots of privacy subscriptions out of the box. The addon is really rich for blocking all sorts of unneeded webpage snippets. Don't waste your time using things like Ghostery. They are mostly based on Adblock and do nothing new than Adblock/uBlock already does.
6. Don't use smartphones and all other smart * (home appliances). "Smart *" == "spying *". Use regular dumbphone with buttons instead. Learn to survive with dumb home appliances.
7. Don't use social networks for personal stuff. Learn to communicate with people in reality.
8. Quit using online services like reddit, twitter, instagram, etc... for posting stuff. If you need them visit those unlogged in and clear cookies afterwards. Don't maintain personal accounts on there. Don't allow cookies to be saved in browser. Set your browser to delete them on exit.
9. Watch out what operating system you use. Don't use Windows 10. I don't know anything about Apple OSes, so can't specify. If you use Windows 7/8, watch out what updates you install on there as there are spying ones. Using Linux/BSD still seems to be fine. But not Ubuntu.

That's just what I do to minimize spreading data about me. But as I said, it becomes harder and harder by every year and someday I'll just say "enough is enough".

Yes. Couple of years ago some major changes happened in my life which made me to stop being a geek. That means quit tinkering with Linux and fighting it as it rarely just works. I installed Windows 7 for my PC to just work and do the job. Plus I quickly noticed that Windows is much more stable and allows more convenient software management.

Also to mention here, GNU/Linux degraded to a complete garbage. It looks ugly, it works barely, it has thrown out it's UNIX-like ideology and beauty of architecture (or it rather never had it).

So Linux is garbage and I am not inetersted in computers any more. Thus "Distribution: No more Linux. Done with it".

I am bored at work. Not much to do these days.

Windows 7 doesn't yet spy if you don't install certain updates of last years.

Oh come on... I don't get offended over nothing. I'm not a liberal.

I am beginning to conclude that Mr. Alex is merely a troll. He pretends to know something about Linux when he clearly doesn't (which may be why any of his trials failed) yet he chooses to come to LinuxQuestions.org to bitch and moan on not one but at least two threads.

Mr. Alex if Windows suits you better so what? Nobody cares. I certainly am not offended nor worried and you can take it to the bank that I don't habituate WindowsQuestions.org (generic term but hopefully you get it) just to rant about how much Windows bloze goats. So what do you expect to receive as a dividend to your "investment" here, Mr Conservative? (If I am jumping to conclusions that you think yourself a Capitalist, my apologies)

No. Mr. Alex is currently bored at work, as I said. And discussion is what you do on forums like this. So I don't know why trolling is what you see in my thread.

Was never pretending that. I was just using it and participated on this forum.

Far-right, to be exact.

Just having a good time reading what others have to say. Nothing more.

Forgot to add. I didn't fail. My life changed and those changes have nothing to do with computers. The fact that I switched back to Windows is conditioned by my new lifestyle where computers almost have no place.

From the beginning, I consider the original question a Lifestyle-question. I should not expect more from a thread under “General” but fall into the same trap sometimes.

Exactly.

One more thought...
 

I'm just curious which of my messages on here made you conclude that? You wrote: "He pretends to know something about Linux" when I haven't ever pretended that. Again, why do you think I pretended? And even if I did, that wouldn't make me a troll.

Why exactly did you call me a troll?

Don't worry, I'm not "offended". I am curious because it seems to me you have probably been "triggered". If so it makes you a liberal. Are you one?

This is a pretty decent list. I'm still using FF, although a hardened version, as I have said before. But I may still switch to Waterfox or Seamonkey. I always keep Seamonkey on my Slackware boxes, as I do like it quite a bit. The only other point that I haven't dealt with on your list is the smartphone. I do have an Android phone, although I don't really want it. The wife has been fairly insistent that I keep it, haha, but I may downgrade to a clamshell-style dumb phone, if I can still find one through my provider (Cricket).

Of course you'd trust them more, since your system would be patched to totally eliminate it. Because by seeing how it works you can also secure AGAINST it.

I hope you know this means war on a Linux forum....
That doesn't remotely sound like anything I run....want are you running? dsl, tiny core? ;)

Those "certain" updates are also sometimes security updates.....just saying.


I don't care what OS or browser you use... We use what works best for us.

I'll tell you how I keep my data private on my Windows 7 box(that I rarely boot). It's has never been and probably never will be, connected to the net. ;)

Lunduke IS A FAR RIGHT GOVERNMENT SHILL talking out his ass
If I could block his videos on youtube I would

So a few things Mr. Alex, after reading your recent posts they are to say the least, confusing or misleading...In one post you claim to use Windows, in another you claim to use GNU/Linux and to promote it, in another post you say GNU/Linux is complete garbage...Which one is it? It reminds me of a story about a man who claims to hate coffee, goes on a long diatribe of how coffee is destroying the environment, adding to slavery and indentured servitude, causing forests to be cut down etc... and then orders a refill of his coffee and pays with his Starbucks Gold card.

You are correct that just being opensource/FOSS, does not ensure immunity of programs, it does, however, lessen the chance and also increases the likelihood of those problems being discovered and corrected or if need be forked by another group. Look at openSSL versus LibreSSL, etc...

I can tell you that closed source/proprietary software almost ensures the likelihood of what you described. Microsoft called their OS Windows for a reason, they could have also used OpenDoor OS.

LOL...Keep in mind Far Right and Far Left are the same....just different wings of the same bird, flying in the same direction.

Bingo! Classic Troll! Bored at work posting some bullshit provocative thread designed to trigger others into an argument so that some excitement ensues along with a Schadenfreude joy and ersatz validation that the troll is basically superior by virtue of acting The Puppeteer, pulling others' strings. Sorry fella, I'm not tethered nor triggered. I just don't hide from a fight for accuracy and responsibility.

FYI it is ignorant oversimplification to see the world of humans as a binary Left vs/ Right division. People just aren't that simple, though many may try to be. I was an usher at Ayn Rand lectures and subscribed to The Freeman during the 60s and early 70s. I trust that the government which governs least, governs best. I am confidant that Laissez Faire Capitalism is indeed the economic expression of Democracy where dollars are votes. However I am also aware that the fundamental forces implied in "The Rich get Richer, while the Poor get Poorer" is real and tends to create a condition where the Haves will get Laissez Faire subverted to enact laws that benefit them at everyone else's expense, thus requiring some level of "reset" since we never begin with a level playing field. I am Pro Choice and Anti Death Penalty, the latter not so much because it is cruel to the convicted, but because it is cruel (and costly) to Civilization and especially those that must carry out executions but perhaps most importantly because so many convicted Death Row inmates have been proven innocent by such things as DNA. Police and government officials are quick to zero in and convict by any and all means and even by unlawful methods they hope to keep hidden since Death Penalty cases provide good PR and photo ops.

So, hopefully you can see that I don't fit some simplistic definition of Right or Left. In some areas I suppose you would consider me Liberal and in others further to the Right than a bicycle on the Autobahn, but I don't care for pigeonholes. They are convenient to closed minds to avoid critical thought at any expense so that what they view as the opposite can be written off with no thought process required. It is by nature, intellectually lazy and blind.... IMHO of course ;)

Where did I say I use Linux currently?

Depends on people. You sure can say anything about yourself and be something totally different. If I say I am far-right it doesn't mean I lie/pretend and am something else in reality even though people in politics do this.