Aral BalkanJan 9, 2023

Today, you can choose not to drive a Tesla if you don’t want Elon Musk, Inc. knowing everywhere you go.

Tomorrow, you might have to limit where you live because you won’t live in a Google Home and reconsider having 20/20 vision again in exchange for the artificial lens company seeing everything you see.

Privacy is not something you can “vote with your wallet” on. We either protect it as a human right or we lose it altogether.

#privacy #humanRights #BigTech #peopleFarming #capitalism

Show threadMichael 🏳️‍🌈Jan 9, 2023
@aral A few years ago @frank_rieger started Microsoft Word, and before he could type a single letter it notified about 30 servers on the Internet. Microsoft claims to be conform to the EU law, but is not willing to specify the data and its usage. (https://www.heise.de/news/Datenschutzergaenzung-Microsoft-setzt-EU-Datengrenze-um-7447136.html)
Datenschutzergänzung: Microsoft setzt "EU-Datengrenze" um

Microsoft hat sein Versprechen, Daten europäischer Kunden nur auf Servern in der EU zu verarbeiten, jetzt auch im Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag nachvollzogen.

heise online
Show threadKyrre SjøbækJan 9, 2023

@bigmike

@aral @frank_rieger

How does that work for anyone working on confidential documents? Or classified ones? Are MS office products now a no-go for these applications, or is there a verified way to turn it off? Does the application run on an air-gapped network?

Show threadMichael 🏳️‍🌈Jan 9, 2023
@kyrsjo The easy answer is to not use Microsoft products.
You can’t stop the data gathering, it is deeply integrated in Windows, Office, and all other apps. That’s why the EU is working on this. If you disconnect your PC from the Internet for a longer time period, Office will no longer work, because Microsoft can’t verify that you are a legal Office user.
Sorry to say that, but this happens when there‘s only one big company owning the market.
Show threadKyrre Sjøbæk

@bigmike
Sure that's the easy answer, and the one that has applied to myself for a very long time. The risk inherent in closed formats and dependency on proprietary software is obvious to those that look.

But now that it's happened, i wonder what various agencies and groups *needing* to access data in MS office formats, by workers trained in MS office products. Surely the answer isn't "turn the firewall into a sieve", and I doubt the answer is "switch overnight to other products".

Jan 9, 2023 at 1:41pmWeb
Show threadMichael 🏳️‍🌈Jan 9, 2023
@kyrsjo The sad truth is that companies and states believe Microsoft and continue to use their products.
Even in education you find no course for word processing or working with spreadsheets (at least here in Germany). You only get Word and Excel courses.
For me Microsoft is not good in making products, their real obsession is to keep all markets free of competitive software.
Show threadKyrre SjøbækJan 9, 2023
@bigmike
Sure, but I'm this case, continuing to use MS office products would break several laws with actual teeth, not "just" anti-monopoly regulations and good sense which can be waved by building an office building in the right city.
Show threadMichael 🏳️‍🌈Jan 9, 2023
@kyrsjo A friend of mine switched to #LibreOffice for papers he had to provide. It works for him because his customers only need PDF documents.
Maybe you’ll find a similar solution.
Show threadKyrre SjøbækJan 9, 2023
@bigmike
As i said, I'm already on LibreOffice and LaTeX, has been for about 20 years... I was wondering what current MS office users for which this is unacceptable will do (and for how long this has been a problem), and wether there were work-aronds (100% offline versions etc.). Especially since I honestly don't have that much experience with MS office myself.
Show threadMichael 🏳️‍🌈Jan 9, 2023
@kyrsjo I‘m in the situation that I have to use Microsoft Office, because I have to share documents with others, and they are not able or willing to follow some rules that would make an exchange possible.
When I’m gentle and nice I would name their behavior ignorant. The argument is „why change something, it works fine“. The real answer is, they are used to use these apps and are not willing to learn new stuff. I’m the freak from their perspective.
Show threadMichael 🏳️‍🌈Jan 9, 2023
@kyrsjo It is not a lack of possibilities, it’s a problem to see that things have changed, and there is a need to find other solution.
This seems to be the case for many problems we’re facing these times.