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08-16-2013, 05:33 PM
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#1
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Posts: 18
Rep:
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Looking for a non American/European distro
Well the day has come, in the "land of the free" Orwells Big Brother (NSA) is invading our privacy. Personally I am sort of used to it, as I live in Argentina where personal freedom has had very dark ages. But I don´t want that any more.
I am looking for a Linux Distro whose parent company or whatever is NON American and NON european. I want to be sure the programmers of such distro dont have NSA to cave in to.
Till now I was mainly a Linux Mint (American company) and Ubuntu (Canonical is British) user. Also Crunchbang for old notebooks or PC's but I don´t know where they are from
Is there any main stream distro (fedora, etc) NON American or European? I am sort of noob in linux so it has to be sort of user friendly, with gnome, kde, lxde, some modern graphical front end and packaging system.
What would you guys recomend?
THANKSSSS
Last edited by ElQuia; 08-16-2013 at 05:35 PM.
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08-16-2013, 05:41 PM
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#2
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Moderator
Registered: Oct 2008
Distribution: Slackware [64]-X.{0|1|2|37|-current} ::12<=X<=15, FreeBSD_12{.0|.1}
Posts: 6,313
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I don't think that GNU/Linux Antarctic Edition from Penguin Inc. would be safe.
Globally, we are entering a new dark age, for real, with the US happily leading the way.
I would pick a distro that puts you in charge, then take responsibility for every package, and install nothing that is unnecessary.
I would not use ANY internet communication, messaging, email, or other application with confidence, FREE or not. Take charge of your own privacy with full knowledge of the risks.
If anything comes down to trust, I would select a distro like Slackware not owned by a conglomerate, and ask Pat Volkerding if he has knowingly allowed any such compromises. If he says "No", you can trust him, but take that as the starting point, but not a blanket statement of safety - even he cannot know every line of code 100%.
It will get much worse before it gets better.
Last edited by astrogeek; 08-16-2013 at 05:46 PM.
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08-16-2013, 05:46 PM
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#3
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LQ 5k Club
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Oldham, Lancs, England
Distribution: Slackware64 15; SlackwareARM-current (aarch64); Debian 12
Posts: 8,311
Rep: 
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You might be safest with one of the FSF recommended distros, I think Ututo is Argentinian.
http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html
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08-16-2013, 05:50 PM
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#4
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LQ Newbie
Registered: May 2012
Posts: 23
Rep: 
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I know the Chinese have their own distro: Red Flag Linux. I don't think China is the bastion of freedom you're in search of.
Some Googling lead me to Venenux aimed at Spanish speaking users in South America. The write-up I read says it adheres strictly to the guidelines of the Free Software Foundation, so you might have to work a little at compatibility, or make some compromises (MP3 or some video codecs come to mind).
I am interested in anyone else's opinion as to whether or not Linux distros originating from the US, UK, or Europe should all be under suspect of collusion.
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08-16-2013, 06:01 PM
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#5
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Moderator
Registered: Oct 2008
Distribution: Slackware [64]-X.{0|1|2|37|-current} ::12<=X<=15, FreeBSD_12{.0|.1}
Posts: 6,313
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 0x53h
I am interested in anyone else's opinion as to whether or not Linux distros originating from the US, UK, or Europe should all be under suspect of collusion.
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Although I do not discount collusion at the distro level - it certainly happens - but I think the bigger risk is from things common to all distros.
Code - I think it would probably not be possible to ever know with confidence that there was not a backdoor, exploitable bug or any other hole in any of the core packages, including the kernel itself.
Encryption - I would never trust any of the major encryption methods - it has already been demonstrated that several of those have some sort of "master key" built in, and you should not expect otherwise.
Networks - and you must realize that anything that crosses a network is visible to anyone who truly wants to see it.
SO in the end, I think you pick your best distro shot based on whatever criteria, secure it as well as you can - then just be very careful about what you expose and what methods you use for a given task.
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08-16-2013, 06:07 PM
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#6
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Posts: 18
Original Poster
Rep:
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Thanks guys
What about Fedora, Or some BSD like PC-BSD?
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08-16-2013, 06:09 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Registered: Jul 2007
Location: Directly above centre of the earth, UK
Distribution: SuSE, plus some hopping
Posts: 4,070
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ElQuia
I am looking for a Linux Distro whose parent company or whatever is NON American and NON european. I want to be sure the programmers of such distro dont have NSA to cave in to.
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Linux Deepin or Red Flag Linux work for you? I think they wouldn't take you forward, but they meet that criterion. I'm sure they are used by many. but that's not quite the same as 'mainstream',
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElQuia
... and Ubuntu (Canonical is British)...
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Probably, in no useful sense. Yes, there is an HQ in the UK, but under the overall control of a South African and with programmers spread all over the world. Quite what the NSA do and to whom in order to get what they want (at least the bit that is inimical to you), is unclear, and the details would probably leak out, over time.
Remember that NSA can already get a whole bunch of stuff - apparently, more than they can actually analyse - without anything of the kind.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElQuia
What would you guys recomend?
THANKSSSS
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- Worry about stuff that you can change
- Inspect some code - I don't know what you are expecting the distro to do, but a lot of stuff will be either 'kernel' or 'gui', and that will primarily be supplied from upstream, so you might want to wonder whether the upstream could be 'compromised' and what you could do to mitigate that risk
- Worry about XKeyscore, metadata, and what you are giving away without any need for operating system hooks
I doubt that any of this will change what you do, but you did ask for recommendations.
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08-16-2013, 06:14 PM
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#8
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Posts: 18
Original Poster
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 0x53h
I know the Chinese have their own distro: Red Flag Linux. I don't think China is the bastion of freedom you're in search of.
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Nope ;-)
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08-16-2013, 06:23 PM
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#9
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Posts: 18
Original Poster
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by salasi
I doubt that any of this will change what you do, but you did ask for recommendations.
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I am looking for alternatives. For me and clients. I always tell my familly, friends and clients: "don't post anything on facebook that you dont want your wife, boss or kids seeing". Privacy on the net is quite an elusive thing. If you are not in the CIA or whatever bad guys list with an VPN, some TOR, TrueCrypt and something like hushmail you can get along. Assuming al the links in the chain use the same stuff.
Using MS, G**gle, Apple is sort of a garantee that sooner or later you CAN be spied on. I am just looking for a way to avoid MY gov from invading my privacy and my clients privacy... If the CIA o NSA wants to get in to my or any consumer stuff they have enough firepower to do it easilly. But I dont want to make it THAT easy as using facebook haha
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08-16-2013, 07:45 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Registered: Feb 2011
Location: Australia
Distribution: Debian Wheezy, Jessie, Sid/Experimental, playing with LFS.
Posts: 2,900
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The problem with what you are asking is not where individual distros are from but where their parent distro is from. Fedora is based on and supported by Red Hat. Red Hat is based in North Carolina USA.
While Ubuntu is a distro in its own right it is, heavily, based on Debian. Ubuntu may be based in the British Isles but Debian is based in the USA with many developers based in the USA and Europe.
Slackware is American, and while I respect everyones right to say "if <insert any name here> says something you can trust him/her" it is up to you, the end user, to take responsibility for what you use.
To put it simply, you will not get away from European or American influence in any version of Linux. Even the Kernel is developed by Europeans and Americans (with other nations and continents also involved) and is based in the USA.
My suggestion is that each user takes resonable steps and care to ensure their own privacy is protected. Don't blindly trust what others say instead do your own research using a wide variety of resources. Doing that means you have taken responsibility and therefor blame if anything untoward happens.
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08-16-2013, 08:15 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Florida
Distribution: CentOS/Fedora/Pop!_OS
Posts: 2,983
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ElQuia
Thanks guys
What about Fedora, Or some BSD like PC-BSD?
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Fedora is the experimental desktop of RedHat, i say experimental as every few releases the bases of Fedora become the bases for RHEL. Fedora 19 is the kernel/systemd/etc base for RHEL 7 that will be released later this year.
RedHat is an American company that fights the NSA and other Federal agencies as it can, but it is an American company.
I use a fork of their server, CentOS, for my NFS/media server and I use Fedora for my laptops. With full disk encryption, heavy p/w and a fairly locked down LAN/WiFi network along with liberal use of PGP and other techniques Im as protected as I can be living in the USA as we know the FBI and the NSA can even track stupid people via TOR.
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08-16-2013, 08:43 PM
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#12
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Posts: 18
Original Poster
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by k3lt01
. Don't blindly trust what others say instead do your own research using a wide variety of resources.
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That is my friend, exactly what I am trying to do :-)
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08-16-2013, 08:55 PM
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#13
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Posts: 18
Original Poster
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lleb
CentOS, for my NFS/media server and I use Fedora for my laptops. With full disk encryption, heavy p/w and a fairly locked down LAN/WiFi network along with liberal use of PGP and other techniques Im as protected as I can be living in the USA as we know the FBI and the NSA can even track stupid people via TOR.
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Sort of my idea, my basic scheme would be a debian based distro, like Mint LMDE or Ubuntu based, be that Mint + CrunchBang or debian proprer or Ubuntu proper + Lubuntu, truecrypt disk based encryption (already have all my androids encrypted), SSL + strong passes, gmail for shitmail, hushmail for serious stuff, tor or freegate or ultrasurf or jondo premium for the net and look arround some in the darknet to see whats there. Will have to set this up for personal use and for about 50 or 60 clients that are sort of bugged by gov meddling where it should not (they all pay their taxes. For work that REQUIRES MSWin (autocad, some MS office) ... box with Windows 7 NOT connected to net with full disk encryption, no usb ports enabled, etc. Same for accounting.
BTW: have not seen an upgrade to true crypt in a year more or less, anyone knows if it is still being worked on? or its just uefi and GPT thats slowing developement?
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08-16-2013, 08:58 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Registered: Feb 2011
Location: Australia
Distribution: Debian Wheezy, Jessie, Sid/Experimental, playing with LFS.
Posts: 2,900
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ElQuia
That is my friend, exactly what I am trying to do :-)
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I know you are but trying to get away from American and European influence in Linux won't happen. That is why my post is directed towards making sure the user, in this case you, understands this and takes other measures to ensure their cyber privacy.
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08-17-2013, 04:11 AM
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#15
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Senior Member
Registered: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,385
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Hi,
what you ask has no sense. In this period so dark, do you think that a chinese distro is safer?
http://distrowatch.com/search.php
you can filter for "Country of origin"
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