Notices by Neil Brown (neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk)

What was the *first* #Linux distribution you installed / attempted to install?

For me - a Debian user - it was gentoo, around 2003, which was a mistake.

"open source" != "licensed under an OSI-approved licence"

"we value your privacy" != "we really care about data protection- and privacy-by-design and minimise data collection and usage in our products and services"

"we're sorry that you feel this way" != "an apology"

Boost: I want other people to see this post.

Like/Favourite: I want the author to know that I value this post.

Bookmark: I want to remember / see follow ups to this post.

Unfollow: I don't want to see this person's posts unless someone else boosts them, or they mention to me.

Mute: I don't want to see this person's posts (temporarily or otherwise).

Block: I don't want that person to interact with my posts, or to see theirs.

@dajb @clacke

It's a bit of a mess.

Some people argue that retraining is a necessity, and that the principle of data protection by design and by default requires a controller to have thought about this in advance, and factored it in. But it's not clear how many have done so.

Others argue that the right to erasure or right to object do not arise in the context here, or else that, if they did, it would be down to the presentation end to filter out the personal data.

I am impressed by how well @thunderbird handles the UX end-to-end encryption via PGP. Adding a key for a new recipient works well, and I haven't had to resort to command line gpg yet.

So far, really quite pleased with #Thunderbird.

@doot

Collectively, we send him our sympathies.

@doot What a ridiculously whiny piece.

The argument that journalists have a right to read everything and see everyone's posts, and that defederating from a journalist-heavy server is an abuse of safety features rather than a use of them, is laughable.

But it did make me chuckle that someone would make an argument about the unavailability of content *on a page with a paywall*.

@doot DootDOS.

I appreciate that this is going to upset some people, and I thought I was too shy to say it, but I prefer #BlueSky over #Mastodon:

Here's why:

https://neilzone.co.uk/bluesky_over_mastodon.html

Has anyone asked 1Password how it intends to comply with EU/UK law, forbidding it from accessing information (anonymised or not) stored on a user's device, for a purpose which is not strictly necessary for the provision of the service, without the user's consent? (Art 5(3) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2002/58/article/5)

Is 1Password claiming that this is "strictly necessary", such that it doesn't need consent?

"We’re Changing How We Discover and Prioritize Improvements | 1Password"
https://blog.1password.com/privacy-preserving-app-telemetry/

#ePrivacy

The key bit, from an EU/UK ePrivacy point of view, is this bit:

> we’ll also provide guidance on how you can opt out if you’d like to

A chance to opt out is not the same as "consent".

Consent requires a "yes" (preferably an enthusiastic "yes!"), not the absence of a "no".

FWIW, I think that Debian's "popularity contest" banner is a good example of an "active choice" approach to getting consent for anonymous on-device analytics.

Clear, instructions on how to stop it, no pressure or dark patterns, and equally prominent choices for "yes" and "no" with a default selection of "no" so that if you install by just hitting "enter" repeatedly, you select "no".

@swamptin @timb_machine @apps

Here's my approach to scheduled posts. It's not pretty, but it works.

https://neilzone.co.uk/2022/11/scheduling-posts-on-mastodon-the-hack-y-way

(And I think a few clients support this; mine is server-side.)

I've been using Mastodon poorly.

I have a long-standing habit of "favouriting" something as a way of bookmarking it.

So I don't hit "favourite" as often as I should, to tell someone that I like what they've posted, because it clutters up my bookmarking.

But... Mastodon has a "bookmark" feature. It's right next to the "favourite" button.

So there's an easy change: I will hit "bookmark" when I want to bookmark something, and "favourite" to convey appreciation to the poster.

Turn off VoLTE and VoWiFi, and remove the SIM from your device.

This isn’t security advice - it just means people can’t ring and bother you.

# Mastodon and Markdown

There's nothing stopping anyone using Markdown *now* but, as far as I know, no client renders it.

And if a client did:

* what about all the other clients that don't?

* what about people using non-Mastodon AP/fedi systems which don't have clients which support Markdown?

Do people on clients which don't support Markdown want to see Markdown-formatted posts?

Every now and again, I find myself on eBay looking for a 1U server, so I can tinker with VMs more easily than spinning up another Raspberry Pi.

I don't need anything fancy - workloads would not be heavy - but it still feels like a bad idea, especially with power the price it is.

Be careful what you're agreeing to, especially if one of your idols is involved?

Today's piece from @girlonthenet is more than just a superbly well-written series of suggestions about how a famous actress and a publishing company could (and should) improve the deal they offer authors for a particular writing project.

It's a comment on valuing people's work, giving them credit if they want it, and addressing imbalances of power.

https://mastodon.social/@girlonthenet/109794865392467201

Does *anyone* in the USA not have classified documents in their house?!

@kat Your lawyer is well known for arguing that they should be made available under a permissive licence...*

* this joke may not work based on my sketchy knowledge of US government and copyright.