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De-centralization and open source was always the better way. Technology started on this path and the corporate powers have done everything they can to sabotage and destroy open tech.
Been this way with every new tech I reckon. See also DVD burners and DRM/regional codes.
The problem you are describing is not malware or viruses. They’re just the tools.
The problem is capitalism, which turns everything free into something on which a profit can be made
No… It’s malware. It’s not a virus, it’s malicious. It’s malware.
If there’s anyone here that cares about their privacy and doesn’t know this already:
If you have a choice between accessing the website through a browser and installing an app, use the browser. Browsers (typically) at least try to protect the types of information that gets sent, whereas there are much fewer restrictions (again, typically) for apps.
Everyone wants you to install apps because apps (typically) get access to much more data.
The worst is many of these apps are just websites repackaged as apps. They just want the elevated access being an app gives them.
Aggressive capitalism coupled with user ignorance is the main issue. The advice still remains don’t install all this shit, but people growing uo with smartphones have bought in to this idea that it’s reasonable for Google to spy on your every move, so why not every other app?
So many users have no idea how their devices work - even an inkling - now what apps do, how to keep devices secure and private, and what happens with their data. Business has taken advantage of that - people want things to “just work” so business use that as a way to abuse users and make every app a trojan horse for data mining.
Even Google, Apple etc privacy settings are bullshit - they’re just figleafs of psuedo privacy that enable them as the platform makers to dictate the terms.
I switched away from Windows to Linux on PC, and I use FOSS alternatives on my Android device (even considering replacing android with FOSS system - difficult with some work essential apps unfortunately). But even if you stay on windows/android there are plenty of things users can do to protect themselves - they just don’t know how or worse can’t be bothered by the whole issue.
I spent 12 hours once downloading a limp bizkit song on dial up and it wasn’t even a limp bizkit song. I feel nostalgic for that kind of deception. It feels so quaint.
My fellow americans, I would once again like to say I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
That’s why Foss will always be better, and we need to support these developers. They also need to protect their software better from capitalist ghouls that will profit from it for free
Protecting FOSS is impossible, there will always be a company that uses your codebase, credits you and includes advertisements to your program.
We need to make using FOSS projects the default and using the corporate options as the backup option.
What I mean is better licenses that make sure you get paid if companies profit from it, and harsher penalties for those that get caught infringing the license
Such a license wouldn’t fit the free software or the open source definitions, but I find it interesting that there has been a small, yet apparently growing, group of people unsatisfied with our current open licensing, for different reasons, and proposing new ideas and concepts that wouldn’t fit these definitions.
