Bonum Certa Men Certa

CAUTIONARY TALE: Ukraine's Story Shows Proprietary Software Ought to be Avoided

Video download link | md5sum deec0aa1969f60b26c30d6f5fe4573e8 Invasion of Ukraine: The Tech Side Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: There's a lot to be seen and to be said about what goes on in Ukraine from a purely technological perspective; at times of war nations are, in general, vastly better off with Free software, not "licensed" proprietary software from some other nation

THE other day (two days ago) Russia invaded Ukraine and we said we would refrain from making political comments, not because we lack an opinion but because it would distract from our focus. We're a technology site and we don't want to be derailed by politics like Mozilla or the EFF.



LinuxSecurityHaving said that, the video above covers apolitical aspects of what we've been seeing on the "tech" front. I've decided not to link to the FUD articles alluded to, instead just explaining what's wrong with them. The screenshot on the right is only minutes old (this latest news pick isn't an isolated incident but part of a longstanding trend, basically amplification of anti-Linux 'stories' without even the most fundamental fact-checking or smell test).

Basically, one or two media outlets mentioned "Linux" in relation to the cyberattacks; this is disingenuous because Windows is what cripples Ukraine (sometimes DDOS attacks), as noted deeper inside the text of articles is somewhere between the lines (names of things). We've added some links to that effect over the past few weeks (in Daily Links). Secondly, there has been a mention of NSA back doors in relation to "Linux" (and APT), but this is a distortion of the term, unlike what Microsoft does with (and for) the NSA.

"It's a reminder that paying with cash, anonymously, has some advantages, sometimes unseen or underappreciated until it's too late."Next, as noted above, there's the issue of electronic payments making one subjected to discrimination and sanctions. It's a reminder that paying with cash, anonymously, has some advantages, sometimes unseen or underappreciated until it's too late.

At the moment there's a lobby for sanctions through "app stores", impacting people whose devices are remotely controlled by some companies, which also control the software one "purchased" or downloaded. DRM "licence servers", as shown below, have already kicked into gear.

DRM Ukraine
Welcome to DRM-like "licence" servers



Weaponisation of tech monopolies and centralisation in general present a lot of moral and practical dilemmas. At the moment there are many "Stallman Was Right" moments.

An associate has added this morning: "The "phones" [which Stallman dubbed "Stalin's Dream"] are even more dangerous than Windows, for many reasons, including lack of security but also through how the towers track the signals. Probably many troops on both sides have smuggled such tracking devices into the field. Then there is the mysterious baseband processor which only the bad actors and a few manufacturers have access to."

"Even though both types of "smart" phone have subsumed a lot of FOSS technology they are effectively closed, proprietary systems, especially Apple's.'

Before readers jump to (wrongly) conclude that we're making excuses for Putin, may we remind readers that it was Microsoft, Apple, and Gulag jumping to ban Putin's critics? All for financial reasons...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 05, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 05, 2025
Links 06/10/2025: Science, Hardware, and Andrej Babis Making a Comeback
Links for the day
Links 05/10/2025: Slow News Day and Wondering About the Canada Post Walkout
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/10/2025: Telnet Debugging and The Programmer’s Brain
Links for the day
More Than "Just a Rumour": XBox Seems to Have Just Died
At this point, why would any studio out there target or partner with XBox?
How to Tell Your Community, Project or Company is Being Infiltrated by Saboteurs
How to identify nefarious social engineering
The Fortieth Birthday of the FSF Made Us Extremely Happy
It feels like the 'hacker community' is regrouping to discuss things and prepare for the next Big Challenge
Chat Control 2 Them, Not 2 U
Follow the advice of Dr. Patrick Breyer
Mozilla: Throw Away Your "Old" PC and Enable "Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
This is heading in a bad direction
Controlling Our Computing for Another Forty Years
40 years of freedom
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025
Watch the FSF Party Live (via Livestream)
It's in WebM format, which is widely supported by now
Advocacy of Software Freedom Changed, LUGs Became Less Relevant
The way we see it, support groups like LUGs sort of outlived their usefulness when it became easier to install GNU/Linux
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
When Microsoft "Integrates" Something With "AI" It Means It's Losing Money and Is Generally Hopeless
how did Bing fare after 36 months of LLM slop being hyped up as "replacement" for search?
Most Certificates Don't Improve Security, They Mostly Increase Downtime (for No Good Reason)
The 'Gemini sites' (capsules) are a growing force
The statCounter Site Has Data Integrity Problems
Maybe we'll get back to statCounter when its data becomes more "stable" again
10 Ways to Combat Software Patents
software patents are loathed also by proprietary software developers
"Just a Little Bit of Meat..."
Free software "absolutism" is not a radical stance, more so if the only "radical" belief the user possesses is that he or she must be in control of his or her software, and by extension his or her computer
Compromised by NVIDIA Proprietary Library
Meanwhile in Boston there are "[r]oundtable talk with FSF volunteers (both in-person and online)"
Red Hat is Ignoring the Free Software Community, It's a "Fortune 1000" Vendor
Red Hat's blog also participates a lot in promoting of Wall Street's latest pump-and-dump "AI" scheme
Free Software Foundation Party Has Begun
We shall be focusing a lot on software patents today
Former Head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Lina Khan Knows Whatever Microsoft Touches Will Die
Just like Skype (as recently as months ago) [...] When Microsoft grabs things, or when it buys things, it almost never ends well
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About LibreOffice in Austria and Wine 10.16
very short
Links 04/10/2025: "attempted Coup" Noted in Facebook, Russia Kills Journalists via Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Anesthesia and Baudpunk
Links for the day
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day