Kyle Rankin

@kylerankin
144 Followers
9 Following
140 Posts
Linux sysadmin and security geek, author of Linux Hardening in Hostile Networks, and Linux Journal columnist. CSO at Purism
Kyle RankinApr 30, 2019
I'm moving my mastodon account over to https://librem.one. If you want to follow me going forward, you can find me at https://social.librem.one/@kyle #LibremOne #privacy
Librem One by Purism - We don't look at your junk... or anything else.

Purism is a Social Purpose Corporation (SPC), which means we put social good above exploiting people. Librem One is a bundle of services—chat, vpn, email, social, and more—from Purism, SPC. We believe that privacy and technology can be moral and convenient. Librem One allows you to reclaim your privacy, securely communicate to your friends, and does so easily with your freedoms intact. We bundle all the tools together for you to replace the privacy invading, locked-in, exploitative big-tech services. Putting you in charge of your digital life. We provide products and services based on values that society wants, that respect digital civil rights. Welcome to Librem One, socially responsible services from Purism.

Kyle RankinApr 22, 2019
Interesting that Sri Lankan govt. response to the terrorist bombings includes temp blocks on FB, Instagram, WhatApp and other social media both to "stop the spread of misinformation" and "to prevent further extremist attacks and retaliatory violence." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/world/asia/sri-lanka-bombing-explosion.html
Sri Lanka Attacks Live Updates: Terrorist Group Is Identified, and Death Toll Rises

Officials could not explain why a warning about a militant Islamist organization planning suicide bombings failed to stop the assaults, which killed at least 290 people.

The New York Times
Show threadKyle RankinApr 21, 2019
@kylerankin So ultimately human teachers become a luxury good and cash-strapped school boards save money by hiring fewer teachers and buying heavily-subsidized tech to replace them.
Show threadKyle RankinApr 21, 2019
@kylerankin You see this in Silicon Valley today. Tech billionaires send kids to private schools that tout being tech-free and hands-on with human teachers.
Kyle RankinApr 21, 2019
Education is moving to a divide along class lines: the rich are taught by humans in a tech-free environment. Everyone else will be taught by computers subsidized by Big Tech in exchange for data and lock-in.
Show threadKyle RankinApr 21, 2019
@kylerankin Of course they are using Chromebooks, so Google gets to share in the data bonanza.
Kyle RankinApr 21, 2019
Zuckerberg funded FB engineers to make a "personalized learning" platform for Kansas kids. Besides the educational concerns, how much personal data is this program storing indefinitely? Who gets access to it? #privacy https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/technology/silicon-valley-kansas-schools.html
Silicon Valley Came to Kansas Schools. That Started a Rebellion.

Public schools in Kansas rolled out a web-based learning platform backed by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Now students have staged walkouts and sit-ins. Their parents have organized.

The New York Times
Kyle RankinApr 18, 2019
How exactly do you "accidentally" write software that logs into an email account, pulls down the contact list and stores it in a FB database? #privacy https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-uploaded-1-5-million-users-email-contacts-without-permission-2019-4
Facebook uploaded 1.5 million users' email contacts without permission

Facebook said that the new privacy issue stemmed from a code change from May 2016.

Business Insider
Show threadKyle RankinApr 15, 2019
@kylerankin I'm encouraged by the new emphasis on ethics in engineering and how many engineers are starting to speak up (or vote with their feet) when companies order them to build unethical machines.
Kyle RankinApr 15, 2019
Software engineers are indoctrinated to believe: "People only hate ads when they aren't relevant." This doctrine has led to over 20 years of mass data collection. It's a lie, and if more engineers dared to question it, we'd get a lot further on #privacy.