Posted to the Fediverse yesterday. This is a stark warning about how technology can do what it wants, and how when we don't have access to the code that makes it work, we don't know what it is doing.

A good reason to support software freedom

• Amazon's Ring used to spy on customers

You are better off with a RaspberryPi and a Camera Module along with a suitable programming language such as Python and hacking your own.

We can perhaps discuss at a future STEM Group.

Tags

#Amazon#Ring,#Privacy,#Spying.#Alternative,#FreeSoftware,#Python,#RaspberryPi,#CameraModule,#Hardware,#Hacking

Most people know about the most common tools and programs that are available, if you are looking for a free and open source alternative there are many options, this can be hard to find if you are not sure exactly what a piece of software is called.

The site Alternative to has a comprehensive set of resources to suggest alternatives to common tools, applications and software. Well worth checking out.

Tags

#Software,#Alternative,#FLOSS

This news has just broken.

Could have some interesting implications, even though the UK has left the EU, the UK has adopted the GDPR.

A good step for people currently using google analytics would be to swtich to something like Matomo (see link below) which is an alternative.

Links

• Article
• Discussion
• Matomo

Tags

#EU,GDPR,Ruling,#GoogleAnalytics,#Illegal,#Alternative,#Matomo,#Data,#Privacy,#DataProtection

A discussion on Mastodon on Sunday, resulted in being directed to this excellent list of privacy tools, There is a lot to go through here so if you are looking for alternatives to proprietary solutions this is very worth checking out.

Links

• Privacy friendly tools

Tags

#Tools,#WebServices,#Software,#Privacy,#Alternative,#Replacements

The #Fediverse list of services is growing: * #Mastodon – #microblogging #twitterdown * #Peertube – #videosharing #youtube * #Pixelfed – #photosharing #instagram * #Friendica – #socialnetwork #facebook * #Pleroma – #microblogging #twitter * #Lemmy – #linkaggregator #reddit * #Nextcloudsocial – #filesharing #filehosting * #Mobilizon – #eventplanner #facebookevents * #Funkwhale & #Reel2Bits – #audiosharing #soundcloud * #WriteFreely – #Federated #Blogging #Plume #diaspora – #Decentralised #SocialMedia #Facebook #Alternative #GNUsocial – #Federated #MicroBlogging #misskey – #Distributed #Microblogging #LBRY – #Video #Sharing #Decentralized #Blockchain Coming soon * #flockingbird – #professionalnetworking #LinkedIn

Others not on the Fediverse but still useful

#OpenStreetMap – alt to google / bing maps

#fediverse,#activitypub,#services

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