Re: Spying, privacy, and Octave

[Ben Abbott]

On Jun 26, 2013, at 10:22 PM, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:

>> but don't think is relevant in our activities. Everything we do is
>> available to anyone.
> 
> Not everything, no. For example, Rik is a very private person, despite
> working on Octave. He works hard to keep his privacy online, and he's
> a good example of what we should strive for. We also have a number of
> contributors who do so using pseudonyms. I still have no idea who is
> "forkandwait", despite being a prolific contributor on the help list.
> Possibly the NSA knows, but I hope they don't.
> 
> In a similar vein, I think it should be possible for someone to attend
> OctConf, and if they so wish, not broadcast to the world what they are
> doing and where.
> 
>> So while I object to PRISM in principle, the suggestion that we
>> boycott all modern communication systems
> 
> I didn't suggest we should boycott "all modern communication systems",
> unless you think Jitsi and Ekiga are outdated communication systems.

Why do you think that Jitsi and Ekiga are immune to PRISM?  Is their 
communication encrypted?

> Skype's non-free nature makes it harmful to society in many ways, most
> obviously by being wiretapped. There are alternatives. We should
> consider them.

I'm all in favor of a GPL alternative.

Ben