Bonum Certa Men Certa

Free Software Will Become a Critical Discussion Point When 'Commercial Spaces' Perish Temporarily (or Are Permanently Phased Out)

Territorial differentiations blurred

Smog: Work from the office; Work from home



Fat man: What your boss thinks of you at work; What your boss thinks you do at home



Summary: The move from offices to homes is beneficial to the planet; it may not, however, prove beneficial at all to our human rights (especially if we're governed by malicious gadgetry)

THE DAILY Links we post here contain some non-tech news, including purely political news picks. Suffice to say, we watch these things closely. We limit ourselves to tech only when it comes to articles we publish originally. We must focus on subjects we understand better and topics that suit our longstanding audience. Having worked from home since 2007 I feel comfortable covering this subject.



"Suffice to say, those 'apps' are proprietary software (Free software would enable removal of malicious 'features') and suddenly we come to consider the ramification of non-free, user-hostile, malicious proprietary software in the context of "remote work" (actually, working from one's home is more local than remote)."Now, without going into all the pertinent details and references, set aside politics, let's just say it has become apparent (in several large nations) that jobs people can do from home will be done from home for the "foreseeable future" (to quote or at least paraphrase London's Mayor) if not permanently. At the same time we've learned about increasing levels of surveillance, even inside one's own home, using so-called 'apps' particular employers will force workers to install and keep running. Hardly the 'win', eh? The pertinent details may not matter as much as the intention or these attitudinal aspects. Bosses assume they 'own' their workers and are coming to expect that it's acceptable to know what people are doing while 'outside work' (or 'working hours') in their own private spaces. This is bad. It's regressive and potentially dangerous to one's liberties, including freedom of expression, movement and association.

Suffice to say, those 'apps' are proprietary software (Free software would enable removal of malicious 'features') and suddenly we come to consider the ramification of non-free, user-hostile, malicious proprietary software in the context of "remote work" (actually, working from one's home is more local than remote). Is there "no place to hide" so to speak, not even one's own bathroom?

We urge readers and encourage everyone out there to raise the possibility that Free (as in freedom) software would ensure a transition from "the office" to "the home" can still secure all the same labour/workers' rights that were guaranteed in the "older" workplaces. There's no reason for us to accept degradation, such as spying on our loved ones, spying outside working hours, and surveillance in our private spaces, including bedrooms.

"What next? Employers forcing staff to wear "smart" bracelets and maybe microchips with secret code? Pacemaker-like implants that can be remotely taken over? (A subject often discussed by the SFC's Ms. Sandler)."When it comes to the environment -- an issue I care about greatly and many geeks generally relate to -- this whole "remote work" thing (the word "remote" is misleading as the false supposition is that you're "away" whilst home) is a positive thing. But there's potential for harm, especially to our basic privacy, dignity and intimacy.

Debian's Erich Schubert has just published this very detailed article on why "Contact Tracing Apps are Useless" (with focus on Germany) and we recently remarked on the way António Campinos as President of the EPO in Munich violates the privacy of staff in their own homes (Benoît Battistelli violated privacy of staff, visitors, and applicants, even in their own homes, e.g. doctor visits). This is not acceptable. The move to eliminate unnecessary commute isn't meant to be accompanied by abundantly unnecessary 'tradeoffs', such as elimination of personal privacy in one's private space. What next? Employers forcing staff to wear "smart" bracelets and maybe microchips with secret code? Pacemaker-like implants that can be remotely taken over? (A subject often discussed by the SFC's Ms. Sandler).

Funnily enough, in the push for public panic the governments now try to encourage people to install "Contact Tracing" so-called 'apps' and transmit our heartbeats for medical assessment in real time (yes, some already push this far!) whilst openwashing tactics are being used to make these 'apps' sort of 'feel' almost "ethical". They typically outsource the code to a proprietary platform of Microsoft (GitHub), never mind the elephants in the room. Will rhetoric escalate to the point where people without a mobile 'phone' (surveillance device that can also make calls) cannot make any payments because "cash is dirty" (or dumb, or for criminals only) and those who reject "Contact Tracing" be treated like unvaccinated lepers? Stigma is a powerful social control mechanism/driver, just like self-loathing/shame.

The public health crisis is real; but those in positions of power -- looking to oppress for fun and profit -- will not let it "go to waste..."

We must fight back.

Recent Techrights' Posts

SoylentNews Grows Up, Registers as a Business, Site Traffic Reportedly Grows
More people realise that social control media may in fact be a passing fad
 
Engadget is Still a Spamfarm, It's Just an Amazon Catalogue (SPAM/SEO), a Sea of Junk Disguised as "Articles" With Few 'Fillers' (Real Articles) in Between
Engadget writes for bots now, not for humans
Richard Stallman's Talks in Switzerland This Week
We need to put an end to 'cancer culture'; it's trying to kill people and it is even swatting people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 28, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, March 28, 2024
[Meme] EPO's New Ways of Working (NWoW), a.k.a. You Don't Even Get a Desk at Work and Cannot be Near Known Colleagues
Seems more like union-busting (divide and rule)
Hiding Microsoft's Culpability in Security Breaches and Other Major Blunders (in the United Kingdom, This May Mean You Can't Get Food)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is vast
Giving back to the community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 28/03/2024: Sega, Nintendo, and Bell Layoffs
Links for the day
Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries