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Comment: Re:Compare with a mobile phone (Score 1) 338

by iceeey (#33306216) Attached to: Is RFID Really That Scary?
People don't realize this, but it's technically possible for cell phones to be used as bugging devices for the Government/Cell carriers/whoever else has access. All they have to do is make the phone send microphone data to them even when you're not making a call. They already have walky-talky functionality, it's not like they couldn't switch on the mic when they want to monitor certain people's conversations and they have their cell phone with them. And considering how locked down phones are these days, how would you know? and if you did, they'd say something like "it's for national security purposes". When you think about how many cellphones are out there, along with GPS/triangulated position information, it's like having millions of moving bugs on a map. They could even do this when the phone is "off" (or, appears to be off). It boils down to cheap and easy bugging of anyone in proximity to someone carrying a cellphone. I hope I just didn't give someone an idea....

Comment: "Cloud computing" calls for a balance (Score 1) 621

by iceeey (#25212121) Attached to: Stallman Says Cloud Computing Is a Trap

"Cloud computing" is such an ill-defined term. RMS is talking about services like GMail, where users give up privacy and reliability for convenience. Network accessible services that store your personal data have huge ramifications for privacy abuse as well as a very real possibility that they shutdown the service (and if the service doesn't have any data portability, how can you back it up?), or start charging money for the service (maybe a greater amount than you're willing to pay).

This doesn't mean you should give up network services entirely, but you should consider the aspects of the particular service and see whether it's worth it to sacrifice some freedoms for convenience.

The Franklin Street Statement by the FSF represents a good set of guidelines for users and developers of network services.

There's also a developer side to "cloud computing", which are on-demand virtualized web hosting services like Amazon's EC2. I don't think RMS would have a problem with that. As long as the developer retains control over the software and data, there's no difference between that and co-located web-hosting. Except of course if you are using EC2 to build some service like GMail.

As for developers, I've seen many applications that could very well have been desktop software, but the developer decided to make it web-only so they could make it an ad-supported or a subscription service. It's very enticing for developers. They don't have to worry about piracy, their users are locked into the service due to the data being stored there, and you're profiting based on the continued use of the service, rather than a one-time fee. On the other hand, users face substantial risks. As a developers, we have to think twice before we develop such an application that could possibly restrict the freedoms of users.
