[LINK] Of Walled Gardens and Their Dangers

[Rick Welykochy]

Frank O'Connor wrote:

> Yeah ... the problem with major OS developers and hardware producers is that more often than not they get to the point where it all becomes marketing and PR and not enough attention is paid to the technology development  and adding to the user value thingie.

A bigger concern is that security services in the USA (there are at least
ten such agencies across domestic and international surveillance) are coercing
the commercial providers of everything digital, from encryption through routing
through protocols and finally hardware and software in general to add backdoors
and weaken end user privacy and security.

I would not be surprised to discover versions of Linux that have been tainted.
After all, even open source is no guarantee that software will not be tampered
with. Who is going to desk check hundreds of thousands of lines of code?

In the area of telephony, as sheeple start to realise they are bein tracked
24/7 even with their phones turned "OFF".

Is there are market for an ultra simple cell phone that meets the following
specifications?

* screen display, or buttons, look pretty well like a push-button POTS telephone
* no apps
* no texting
* no memory of anything, save perhaps "REDIAL"
* no Internet connectivity
* no software beyond that required to operate as a POTS phone
* option to encrypt voice traffic with a compatible connection
* guaranteed built-in "do not track" capabiliy, i.e. customer privacy
   and security is primary, all other considerations secondary

The downside? You'll have to cart around your phone numbers in a little
black book. And all the other dangerous things you do with a smart phone
will have to be relegated to the old school, i.e. the much more secure way
to do it from the 20th century. Often a pencil and paper are the best solution.

The advantage is that you've secured yourself beyond anything possible with a smart phone.


cheers
rickw


-- 
------------------------------------
Rick Welykochy || Vitendo Consulting

You people think not getting caught in a lie is
the same thing as telling the truth?
      -- Robert Redford in "Three Days of the Condor"